A Body Turned Against Itself

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**This article attempts to give background information regarding difficult autoimmune disorders that affect millions of people.  It starts with a philosophical background to give perspective and symbolism.  It will then present two primary questions that remain a great mystery about these disorders.

Self-love is one of the greatest gifts on the planet.  Whereas some people have a steady abundance of self-love, others struggle regularly with the painful feelings of guilt, anxiety, regret, and shame.  Self-love may come in short moments, only soon to be shadowed by fear and self-judgment.  These stressful emotions are not healthy.  The person suffering with them grapples with an enemy that goes everywhere with them, even if they are alone.  They cannot escape, except perhaps temporarily through artificial mechanisms that numb the mind (such as alcohol intoxication or other addictive approaches).

The source of such negative emotions comes from the sensation of an ego split.  It is as though there are two people: one being the person simply trying to live a meaningful and fulfilling life, the other being a judge who can be quite ruthless against the self.  So which part of this ego split is the true person?  The answer is both and neither (of course LOL!).  They are both about self-identity.  Self-identity (or ego) is merely an act of reflection: reflection of “who I am.”  When you examine yourself, your responses, your thoughts, and your emotions, you can come up with an identity.  You might say, “Oh, I have hostile thoughts toward my neighbor.  I must be a hostile person.”  But who is doing the examining?  You can give an identity to that examiner as well.  “I am a hostile person.  That’s not okay.  I don’t like thinking that I’m hostile.  I don’t want to be hostile.  That’s not the real me.”  And so the judge-identity comes out and condemns the self-identity.  Splitting of the ego.  It’s a poisonous game the ego tries to play with you.  The author sees this play out quite often with shame or guilt.

Animals such as dogs lack this sense of reflection.  They don’t worry about how they look, or if they’ve done well, or if they’ve given more than received that day.  They simply live their lives without this reflection.  And they’re pretty darn happy!

 

In a strange way, the physical body mirrors the reflection of self-identity.  The immune system is primarily responsible for self-identity.  To know what is “me”, and what is “not me” is the role of the immune system.  That which is “me” is preserved.  That which is “not me” must be destroyed.  This is not an easy task!  For example, a cell can be perfectly “me.”  But if its DNA becomes mutated, suddenly the body needs to be able to destroy it.  That cell is “no longer me.”

The physical identity issue is quite similar to mental identity.  For example, the judge-identity might say that “this behavior I just did makes me unlovable” or “I want to change this aspect of me.”  In contrast, the immune system says “this microbe is not me” or “this Burger King I just ate is not me.”

While this determination of “me” versus “not me” is critical to life, sometimes it can go awry.  The body makes a mistake.  It believes that a normal part of the body is suddenly the enemy.  Then the judge, jury, and executioner comes out and incises (cuts out) that “enemy” body part.  In the medical world, this is called an autoimmune disorder.  “Auto” means self, so an autoimmune disorder involves the immune system attacking the self.  Indeed, autoimmune disorders are still very much a mystery, and so this article will attempt bring some light into that darkness.

Examples of autoimmune (AI) disorders and the associated cells that are attacked are:

  • Rheumatoid arthritis: synovial membrane of joint capsules
  • Multiple sclerosis: myelin sheaths of neurons
  • Celiac disease: gliadin protein found in wheat gluten that is ingested, so the small intestine is primarily affected
  • Type 1 diabetes mellitus: the insulin-producing beta-islets of the pancreas
  • Hashimoto thyroiditis: thyroid gland
  • Sjogren’s syndrome: moisture-producing glands, commonly in mouth, nose, and eyes

In each of these disorders listed above, the immune system mistakenly sees the affected cells and structures as the enemy.  It then slowly destroys them, which causes symptoms based on the specific cells that are lost.  For example, mutliple sclerosis involves strange neurological changes as neurons are damaged and form scars;  Sjogren’s syndrome causes dry mouth and eyes as the moisture-producing glands are destroyed; and rheumatoid arthritis involves painful inflamed joints as the membrane surrounding the joints are attacked.

While much is known about autoimmune conditions, their causes remain a mystery.  The two primary mysteries of AI disorders are:

1. What causes the immune system to make such a tragic mistake? 

2. And why do they primarily affect females?  (for example, nine out of ten people with Sjogren’s syndrome are female)

Part Two of this article will address these questions, with the intention to bring more understanding to them.  Through better understanding, we can hope to better help those who suffer with these disorders, and help prevent the disorders in those with genetic susceptibility to them.

An overlooked message from Easter

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Well, Easter has come and gone.  Now that the buzz of Easter eggs, double-dipped chocolate bunnies, and Dyngus day (look it up, it’s hilarious!) are over, I feel inspired to open a conversation about Easter.  The Christian celebration of Easter involves the power that Jesus exemplified.  Incredible power.  The power to resurrect the body.

 For countless centuries, people have told the miraculous stories of Jesus.  Turning of water into wine, miraculous healings, and even resurrecting his own body several days after his death and appearing before those who knew him.  He transcended the physical because he knew (truly knew) that the physical is simply a manifestation of the divine.  Perhaps you have heard that while he was alive Jesus said, “I have overcome the world,” referring to the fact that he no longer fell prey to the illusions found within this earthbound world.  What does it mean to no longer believe the illusions?  It means he was completely free to choose love at every step.  And he didn’t take things so damn personally!

 Yet it seems that one of his greatest messages continually goes overlooked.  All along the way, Jesus proclaimed that he embodied God.  He claimed that he IS the way (implying that he is more of a process than a physical entity).  He claimed that he IS love.  And yet we have difficulty realizing one more point that Jesus made perfectly clear: Every one of us has the opportunity to experience these truths for ourselves.

 Jesus never wanted to be idolized or worshipped, in the ego-sense of things.  He never claimed to be superior to others, or inferior.  It wasn’t about ego.  Instead, he simply claimed his truth (quite emphatically, mind you!).  If you truly knew you were pure conscious love, would you proclaim that you’re not?  If you knew that you were simply awareness, would you declare that truth to others?  If you knew that you are not your body, your thoughts, your emotions, or your personality, would you state this without reservation or hesitation?  If you knew that nobody has ever done you harm because you and them are one, and that we are all the embodiment of God, would you tell others about this truth?

 Jesus knew these truths, and he declared them!  However, his message, as powerful as it was, seemed out of reach for most people.  Yet they craved it.  His message, as simple as it was, fell prey to misinterpretation because of the difficulty we have in believing that we are so purely love, loved, and lovable.  I too have difficulty with this sometimes, believing myself to be separate and unlovable sometimes.  And yet Jesus’ message was that he is no different than us, except for one thing: he no longer bought into the illusions of the world.  He made it clear that we didn’t have to buy into those illusions either.

 Jesus claimed that he is the embodiment of God.  Then he turned around and said that you (yes, you) are also the embodiment of God.  If you see God as a vengeful, angry, punishing type of God, that might seem a little scary!  But if you see God as pure conscious love, what a relief it might be to know that you, too, are pure conscious love.

So on Easter we do not celebrate the victimization and martyrdom that we sometimes assign to Jesus.  Instead, we celebrate Jesus’ message that his Truths are evident within each one of us.

 Do you believe in the truths that Jesus declared?  Would you be willing to publicly declare those truths as your own truths as well?  It takes a lot of courage!  Gotta hand it to Jesus – he had a lot of courage.

 ”What Would Jesus Do?” we ask.  Well, if Jesus was Love, then so are we.  So instead we can ask potentially the most powerful question in our lives:

               ”In this situation, What Would Love Do?”

 Thank you for reading this exploration.  I hope you had a wonderful Easter and have a good rest of your week.

First week as a first-time raw vegan…

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Well it’s been an interesting week. For the past week I have followed a mostly strict raw vegan diet. I recently met a lady who was a raw vegan and she absolutely glowed. I have always been a meat eater my whole life. I believed that I could not survive without meat, but just did not know that for a fact. So it was time to test out the theory and experience how it would feel to go mostly vegan, 95% raw.

Over the past week, I have noticed some substantial changes. The scale says I lost 2 pounds, but weight always fluctuates depending on how much you’ve eaten/drank during that day, so it’s more likely that the weight has stayed about the same. I noticed a steadiness to my energy, and sharpened mental processes. I also noticed a great enhancement of my olfactory acuity.

Near the end of this week, I also noticed that I felt a cooling of the body. It seemed that my core body temp was dropping. Didn’t like that! I’ve heard other people eating raw say the same thing. It’s hard to explain physiologically, and am not yet sure whether it’s a healthy transition or just a sign of lack of calories. Or maybe the wrong type of foods.

Another aspect is that I am continuing to weight train at the gym and do extensive hiking. To continue to work on building muscle while getting rid of my previous major sources of protein (whey powders, chicken, fish, etc) has been a challenge. It does feel like I’ve lost some muscle mass, although I don’t know that to be true. Adequate protein intake is essential for weight training. Usually 50-100 grams per day. However, I have read that the body does not actually need nearly as much protein as we think, and eventually a healthy efficient body can do just fine on 40g per day. This may be true, but is likely not true for someone hitting the gym 4-5 times per week. So I will continue to eat additional protein. Besides, my metabolic type is one that requires more protein and fats to function well. Others do better with carbohydrate-laden foods such as fruits, but I feel better with protein and fat (love those avocados!).

I am also adding a substantial dose of superfoods during my day. Superfoods are considered nature’s most potent source of raw nutrition. They are loaded with antioxidants, enzymes, minerals, etc. For example, here is the smoothie that I just made for dinner:

  • 1/2 avocado
  • Handful of goji berries (superfood)
  • 1/2 banana
  • 3 organic strawberries (organic is a better choice for berries)
  • Handful of organic blueberries
  • 2 leaves of swiss chard
  • Several leaves of organic kale
  • 1 raw organic carrot, peeled
  • Handful of raw almonds
  • Handful of Himalayan golden berries (superfood)
  • 1 tsp of mesquite powder (helps stabilize blood sugar)
  • Several spoon fulls of raw fresh coconut meat (spooned right from the inside of the coconut)
  • Flax seed oil
  • Unsweetened hemp milk
  • Supergreens powder (mostly barley grass, enzymes, etc)

….and blend! Maximum nutritional potency, low glycemic index (except the half banana). Sounds disgusting? Ha, it actually tastes pretty good and feels so alive! I followed it up with a Multi-Green kombucha. I get most of the supplies at Whole Foods or Sprouts. Whole Foods is definitely more expensive, but has many items that Sprouts does not (such as raw cacao nibs and golden berries).

It will be interesting to see how things continue to shift physically and mentally. I’m open to comments, questions, or suggestions.

Article: Can Bikram Yoga Reverse Cancer Processes

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I am honored and grateful that this article has found its way into Bikram yoga studios around the world.  If you are a studio owner/director, please feel free to add this article to your website, or print/laminate and keep in your studio available for your practitioners.  – Dr. Joel Brame

Dr. Brame – Can Bikram Yoga Reverse Cancer Processes

 

On the air again…

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As many of you know, three years ago my domain name was taken from me when I had failed to renew it (the usual reminder cards never arrived in the mail).  Somebody bought the domain name and placed pharmaceutical drug ads on the site, hoping to generate ad revenues (at my expense).  My apologies to those of you who ventured to my website looking for natural health information, only to find ads for drugs :-0.  Recently I was finally able to secure the domain name again, and I will not let it go again!!

Thank you for visiting and for your support.  Over the many years, my interests have been in helping people create health and wellness in their own lives (teaching them to fish in a world that just wants to give us the fish).  It has been a daunting task.  Due to my experience as a naturopathic physician, I have focused on natural remedies, with a healthy dose of psychology.  Healing ain’t just physical, ya know!

My joy of creating inspiration, and illuminating a clearer path, continues today.  Perhaps even stronger than before.  I always start with “the man in the mirror”.  However, I am now much more willing to bring the mysterious spirit into the picture.  I believe that when we consciously embrace spirit as part of healing and life, we create more well-rounded opportunities to feel energized, strengthened, and fulfilled.  Please know that spirituality is NOT the same as religion.  If I make any references to religion, it’s usually just to describe the intentions of that religion’s founder.  Religion is a system created to help others achieve the same experience of its founder.  It takes that which is beyond words and tries to analyze and systemize it.  Any system will work for some people, and not for others.  For this reason, I do not focus on religion.  I simply focus on the hope and promise that we all have been given: a better, more fulfilling life.

You’ll also notice that this site does not focus only on health.  Instead, it focuses on bringing out your best self in every situation, especially the challenging ones.  Healing on one level can make a positive difference on so many other levels!  As you peruse, please feel free to comment as you’d like, even if you’re in disagreement with the author.  Engaging in dialogue where one expresses their truth, and that truth is received without judgment, is more healing and invigorating than almost anything else.

Thanks for visiting.

Dr. Joel E. Brame

New findings reveal how NOT to manage Hypothyroidism

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Hypothyroidism is one of the most commonly diagnosed ailments in the western world.  It is also one of those disorders that could qualify as a mystery – for some reason the body’s response to thyroid hormone stops.  Mysteries such as this are quite common, but hypothyroidism is especially pronounced because of the millions of prescriptions written each year for Synthroid (levothyroxine, or artificial T4).

A person who does not understand the thyroid gland will be completely in the dark when it comes to hypothyroidism.  They will rely solely on the advice of their trusted health professional.  But the good news is that a little background information can go a long way toward illuminating this mysterious illness.  This background information will likely NOT be the information you find at typical medical websites such as the NIH or WebMD, therefore I hope it has additional value to you.

The thyroid gland produces several hormones, but the most prominent one in hypothyroidism is thyroxine, or T4.  T4 increases the metabolic rate of the body.  The body’s metabolism will certainly run without thyroxine, but thyroxine accelerates it.  Thyroxine is active, but once it becomes converted into T3 (triiodothyronine) in the body, it becomes much more active.  T3 will accelerate the metabolism to a much greater extent than T4.

One more hormone to mention is TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone).  This hormone is released from the pituitary gland that hangs from the base of the brain, and travels in the bloodstream to the thyroid gland.  TSH “tells” the thyroid gland to release T4.

If the thyroid gland is “sluggish” in its production of T4, the pituitary gland will release more TSH in an attempt to “fire up” that sluggish thyroid.  For this reason, hypothyroidism is often diagnosed based on an elevated level of TSH in the blood.  Often, a physician will do nothing but run a TSH test and, if the levels are high, automatically give a diagnosis of hypothyroidism and prescribe Synthroid.  If the patient listens to this advice blindly, he/she will be on Synthroid for the rest of his/her life.  I am not opposed to the usage of Synthroid – it can be very helpful to people suffering tremendously – but hey this website is about exploring the mystery underlying hypothyroidism.  If that mystery can be solved, the person won’t need to be on treatments anymore (medical or natural).

A bit more physiology: Once T4 is released, its conversion to T3 can follow one of two paths:

T4 —(5′-deiodinase)—> active T3        or

T4 —(5-deiodinase)—>inactive T3 (called reverse T3)

 

In the first situation (common), T4 is converted into active T3 using the 5′-deiodinase enzyme.  This is normal and will increase the person’s metabolism.

In the second situation (less common), T4 is converted into reverse T3 using the 5-deiodinase enzyme.  Reverse T3 is inactive.

In hypothyroidism, the body does not respond to the thyroid’s efforts to increase metabolism.  There is a breakdown somewhere in the system.  It could be one of several possibilities:

  • No TSH is being released by the pituitary in order to stimulate the thyroid gland to release T4
  • The thyroid is no longer producing T4
  • The T4 that is being produced is not able to be converted into the more potent T3
  • Or…something is blocking the conversion of T4 into T3 (blocking the enzyme), causing the body to utilize the other pathway (T4 into the inactive reverse T3)

In clinical practice, many professionals have an interest in finding out the source of the problem.  Other professionals don’t care about the source, and just choose to prescribe Synthroid.  Unfortunately, the dosage of Synthroid often does not bring about the desired improvement in symptoms, necessitating an adjustment in the dosage or a change in medication.  This challenge brings into the patient’s life the mystery surrounding the thyroid gland and metabolism.

Recent findings show that blood levels of TSH, free T4, and free T3 can change significantly within 30 minutes.  They also vary day-to-day, and week-to-week!  In addition, physicians can use other signs to determine the presence of hypothyroidism, including lowered body temperature (measured daily), slowed Achille’s tendon reflex, and electrocardiogram voltages.  Findings are showing that the levels of TSH, free T4, and free T3 don’t really correlate with these signs.  To put this more bluntly, the standard medical tests for hypothyroidism are rapidly losing their validity as being reliable indicators of hypothyroidism!  Dr. John Lowe, a thyroid expert, considers them to be “useless.”

This confusion then begs the question: How does one recognize hypothyroidism?  Is it through the blood tests, or is it through signs and symptoms?  Countless patients have plenty of symptoms of hypothyroidism, but few of the predicted changes in TSH, free T4, or free T3.  In cases like this, should the patient be put on Synthroid?  Or even dessicated thyroid (called Armor thyroid)?  If so, how would we know it’s working?

Indeed, hypothyroidism holds many more mysteries than the makers of the TSH test would like to believe.  For example, you might not be aware that high mercury levels AND chronic levels of stress can put a permanent lock on the 5′-deiodinase enzyme.  In this case, the body cannot convert T4 into T3.  Instead, it shunts the T4 into the other pathway and converts it into reverse (inactive) T3.  Reverse T3 has no physiological effects, so when body is trying to create T3, it instead creates an inactive form.  This manifests as “hypothyroidism” because the person’s metabolism cannot go up as intended.

There is much debate on how often this particular situation happens.  But for those who have high levels of mercury or chronic stress, they might find themselves suddenly dealing with hypothyroidism.  Is the answer a lifelong subscription to Synthroid Digest?  No, the answer may simply be to reduce their stress levels and clear the mercury out of the body.

There are many other factors involved in hypothyroidism.  They include deficiency of certain minerals in the body, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, thyroid cancer situations, Dr. Dennis Wilson’s findings, and pH levels being too acidic for cellular uptake of iodine (iodine is needed to make T4 and T3).  The purpose of this article is not to elucidate all of these factors.  Instead, I simply am hoping to bring to light some the mysteries of the thyroid gland.  Hypothyroidism is incredibly common these days.  Yet it remains somewhat difficult to treat effectively, due to our lack of understanding about the true source of the problem.

For the person who is facing hypothyroidism, I would suggest getting blood work that includes TSH, free T4, free T3, AND reverse T3.  You may have to pay out of pocket for the reverse T3, but the results may be revealing.  I would also suggest working with a physician who looks at ALL the signs of hypothyroidism (such as a delayed Achille’s tendon reflex), and who considers all the possible underlying causes of hypothyroidism that could be reversed, including blocks of the 5′-deiodinase enzyme (a great term to share with the family at the dinner table :-)

What is the greatest gift we have ever been given?

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*Note: The author’s intention in this article is to present both the opportunities and challenges of free will, so that you can bring your best self forward and live a more joyous life.

What Happens After the Fistfight

How would it feel to be able to truly choose how you feel in response to a situation?  For example, consider when a horrible situation arises against you, and you choose to respond with compassion and kindness.  Seems farfetched?  In reality, the only thing that matters in life is how you respond.  Circumstances are sometimes under our control, and sometimes not.  When times are difficult, how do you cope?  (consider a painful illness, a financial disaster, or perhaps a severe frustration with your child with behavioral difficulties)  Do you lash out in anger at your loss of control? If so, then your experience is simply one of fear.  Do you express loving kindness, even if it doesn’t seem to do any good?  If so, then your experience is one of being a loving person.  Do you become a victim and say “poor me” and complain to all your friends about what’s happening “to you”?  If so, then your experience is simply one of gathering a collection of misery from a group of people.  So there, you’ve had the experience that you chose…now what?

There is no “right” way to handle a given situation.  In many cases, regardless of how you respond, the situation is still there.  If you resolve a disagreement with a fist fight, regardless of if you win or lose, what happens after the fight?  You still have to see the other person!  So what matters most is simply asking yourself the following question: “Given the myriad ways of responding, is this how I would choose to respond?”  This is the essence of the greatest gift we have: Free Will.

   Your Requirements

Please understand that you are not required to act lovingly or kindly.  You are not required to be strong and courageous.  You are not required to have compassion.  You are not required to do anything at all.  Simply consider what you would like to experience, and then make a conscious action toward that choice.  Any “requirements” of behavior that you feel are simply beliefs that you have learned from other people.  For example, guys might say, “Grown men don’t cry.  My father always taught me to be tough and not show my feelings.”  These are beliefs that you have learned from others – who probably learned it from others, who probably learned it from others, and so on.  Why should one person’s decision about how to respond on a Monday afternoon 200 years ago define your response right now!

  Yeah, But….

Any restrictions on how you respond are in violation of your free will.  On a deep level, you might sense this is true.  And yet you might feel a tremendous amount of resistance to this idea:

- “But I have to act properly.”  Why?  Says who?

- “But I know the Bible and this is blasphemy.  God gave us the Ten Commandments which we have to follow.”  Well why would God give you free will and then punish you if you exercise it?  If one commandment says “Thou shalt not kill”, well what if it’s a bear attacking you in the forest?  Will you make a choice in that life-threatening moment to go against God’s will and kill the bear?  If so, would God punish you for simply saving your life, or should you have just let the bear kill you because that’s what God would have wanted?  “Oh but it’s okay to kill a bear, just not a human.”  Oh really?  Would you change your mind on that if it was a human attacking you?  Again, any “rule” will violate your capacity for the freedom to decide for yourself, in every moment.

- “But this is ridiculous – it means we wouldn’t have to obey any rules of society.”  Which would require you to make up your own mind about what you choose to do…that’s a lot of decision-making!  Rules that somebody else decides are so much easier and require so little thought.  But considering the chaotic state of society, how effective have these rules been in bringing forth a conscious, loving, embracing society, where children have all their needs met, relationships are dynamic and joyful, others are respected, and the elderly are cherished for their wisdom?  With our current set of “rules”, are we moving in that direction, or are we heading in the opposite direction?

- “What about this: I’m not allowed have sex before marriage, but I’m horny as hell.”  Again, any man-made “rule” violates your capacity for freedom, regardless of what you’ve been taught.  You are inherently free – free to decide who you are, free to think whatever thought you want to think, free to say what you want to say, free to behave the way you want to behave.  You are free to act well or act poorly, based on the “rules” that you have been taught.  There is nothing wrong with these rules, except when you choose to break them based on the situation.  Then you have either joyously updated your identity, or you feel tremendous guilt that keeps you in prison.

- “But what about the rules of marriage – we make a lifelong commitment to stay together no matter what!”  Consider the 20-year marriage that has fallen apart due to severe violations of trust and constant verbal abuse.   Half the world believes you should not divorce no matter what, and the other half believes you have a right to be happy.  If you believe you should not divorce no matter what, and then find yourself in this exact situation, will you continue to follow the “rule” that you have believed all this time, or will you decide to break that rule?  What if the marriage contained physical abuse – would you change your mind in that case?  If the marriage feels like a “prison,” that’s a feeling that comes from a loss of freedom.  Isn’t the loss of freedom what prison is all about?  If you break off the marriage, didn’t you just exercise your freedom to create your own rules?  (I’m not condoning divorce, but it helps to see your vows as a choice and opportunity rather than prison bars LOL!)

The North Face of Free Will

Oh yeah, this list can go on and on.  Feel any resistance?  If you can suspend your learned judgment on this issue for a moment, there is another part of this idea of free will that we must consider.  It’s called evolution.  Humans have a natural tendency to evolve toward “higher” ways of being.  Have you ever been in a relationship breakup, and asked yourself what went wrong so that you can do the next relationship better?  If so, that’s your natural tendency to evolve.  If you play video games, have you ever died and had another “life” to try again?  If so, wouldn’t you use that “life” to do better in the game?  Strange example, but it’s your natural tendency to evolve.  In the movie Groundhog Day, Bill Murray is given countless times to experience the same day.  He struggles at first with doing the same thing (and getting the same uncomfortable outcome), but then realizes that he truly wants to “do it better.”  And so each day becomes an opportunity to discover how he would choose differently, given the same circumstances.  Eventually he made choices based on love.  And then he was free.

When it comes to responding to situations, you always have unlimited choice.  Again, there is no “right” way to respond.  There is only what you choose, and the outcomes of that choice.  If you don’t like the outcomes, choose differently.

Incredibly, this free will does not only come once a day.  It is a non-stop, constant opportunity.  In every single moment, you can choose differently than you have chosen before.  Or you can choose the same.  But it may help to know that whatever has happened in the past is no longer real.  The past is an illusion.  It is only in our mind (and to some extent in our neurochemistry and neuron plasticity).  In every present moment, you have full 100% opportunity to declare Who You Are in that moment, and who you choose to be from then on.  Even if you have been a jerk or an asshole or hurtful, in this moment right now you can declare who you would like to be.  And you can declare this again and again, every single day.  There is no limit.  You can declare that you choose to be as loving as possible.  Again, we all have a natural tendency to want to evolve.  You can decide Who You Are in this moment and bring your best self forward, right here, right now.  And then you can do it again…….now!

To conclude, you have been given an incredible gift of unlimited free will.  You can say, think, or choose any response you would like.  Knowing this, you always have the opportunity to decide if you’d like to bring your best self forward in any moment.  The Master is fully aware of this, and can make a conscious decision out of the infinite options every time.  But as you have likely experienced, this level of awareness is easier said than done!

How does one get to the point where one’s response is a conscious choice in the present moment, rather than a reaction fueled purely by the past?  The article “How to Tap into Your Free Will” will address this topic.

The Mirror Named Obama

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A quick review of the lifestyle of the President of the United States while he is in office shows that the public evaluates every move he makes.  Glaring in the headlines we see “President Obama caught picking his nose!”  Why do we as Americans love to monitor every move our President makes?  Because his movements reflect the part of ourselves that we would most want to admire.  If we see him as strong, then we watch to see if his strength is real.  We want to know if we can really depend on his strength.  If he falters, we feel let down.  Why?

He is a reflection of our inner leader.  Do you trust your inner strength?  Do you feel confident with it?  My experience shows that when I am feeling strong, I don’t mind if other people falter in their strength.  I don’t judge them for that (although I might tease them), because I feel secure in my own strength.  When I feel insecure or feel doubt about my capacity to be strong, I might begin to look for that strength in others, because it’s missing within me.  If they falter, I am much more likely to judge them because their level of strength has become a direct reflection of my own strength.  Otherwise, if I feel secure in myself, I can have an “oops” moment and laugh about how we all make mistakes sometimes.

This principle of looking to the outside to reflect what’s inside is a natural, normal human response (a great book called “I Am” by Howard Falco explains this response in depth).  In regards to leadership, when we see someone that we would describe as a “leader,” we see qualities in them that we love to see in ourselves – perhaps courage, or strength, or vision, or control, or clarity, or decisiveness, or simply loving kindness.  What qualities do you personally assign to qualify someone as a “leader” or “not a leader?”  List them out right now.

Once you make this list, you will gain tremendous insight into qualities you admire in your own self.  You will begin to notice that your personal description of a leader has much more to do with what’s inside you, rather than the way some outside source might describe leadership.

Once you have developed an initial “picture” (yes, I’m a visual learner) of what a leader looks like, the next step toward leadership is acting on your principles.  For example, consider what “strength” looks like in your own life.  What do you do that makes you feel strong?  Take a moment right now to list these out…

With this fundamental awareness, you can begin to act in ways that make you feel strong.  Maybe you set up firm boundaries.  Maybe you speak your truth when you’ve been withholding it.  Maybe you avoid being emotionally swept away when an intense arrives, instead choosing to remain calm and focused.  Whatever it is, do it!

As you begin to act on your own self-reflection of leadership, then you might notice you become less dependent on the outside world to reflect it for you.  This means you focus on your own expression of leadership, instead of looking to others to know your own self.  In fact, others might not share your definition of leader, but at this point you no longer care!  You know yourself, and you have confidence in yourself.  Now doesn’t that sound like a quality of a true leader?!

When Medicine Fails

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The author of this article has an extensive and rich history of the examination of health and healing issues.  He has learned from a broad variety of healers, including physicians, nurses, shamans, acupuncturists, mind-body medicine practitioners, and many more.  He has studied healing practices in many different countries and cultures.  He has spent years focusing on understanding cancer.  He teaches anatomy and physiology and has practiced as a physician.  As such, he has an insatiable craving to understand how the human body truly works, with an authentic reverence for its mysteries.

“As soon as you think you understand the human body, it will surprise you.”  The human body would not be as intently studied if it did not have this nasty tendency to break down, sometimes in the most damaging of ways.  We want to help those suffering with these breakdowns, and hopefully prevent it from happening to others.  The ultimate breakdown is death, and yes there are plenty of researchers would love to prevent that from happening too!

The more this author has learned about health and illness, the more he has turned to wonder.  To intentionally sound pessimistic, healers are quite limited in what they can do.  Many medical doctors focus on giving medications that simply block the synthesis of enzymes or block their receptors, or block certain chemicals from being able to have an impact.  The results can be dramatic and can improve a patient’s quality of life.  However, this approach is on a chemical level, and that is the limitation of this form of medicine.  A true “cure” (regardless of what the FDA says) is not achieved in most cases.

Some healers work on a more energetic level.  These include practitioners of homeopathy, reiki, therapeutic touch, qi gong, and acupuncture (acupuncture helps regulate qi, which is considered to be an energy).  Much research is currently being done on the level of epigenetics, where factors that impact gene expression are identified and modified.  All of these approaches have their strengths and limitations.

It’s easy to find examples (most of us have seen one or more in our own families and friends) where medicine has failed.  Even with the most gifted healers, the most intelligent physicians, the most advanced technology, the disease pattern is unable to be overcome.  This includes the many times when a cancer was unable to be reversed.  How does one make sense of this?  And if the disease is able to overcome all attempts at resolving it, how is it possible that the person who is dying is able to “fend off” the impending death until certain family members have arrived in town?  For example, the man who is dying of cancer but wants to see his brother and make personal amends before letting go of his body.  He stays alive for several days, defying all odds, waiting for his brother.  Once his brother arrives, he makes amends, and then when the brother steps outside to get a drink, the man’s spirit releases from the body.

Are we predestined to have certain illnesses?  For example, think of the woman with asthma who has tried a variety of medicines and natural remedies to alleviate the asthma, but with no success.  She accepts that she must adapt her lifestyle to living with asthma.  This means no pets in her household.  Her partner with whom she has lived for a year does not want to let go of her own dog that she has owned from before the relationship, and so their relationship breaks up over the puppy.  Then this woman with asthma decides to be a surrogate mother for another couple, and after the pregnancy, the asthma disappears.  Doesn’t it seem strange that the medicines did not work, forcing the relationship to break up, and once that was over, the asthma went away on its own?  Or was this just coincidence?

In this situation, consider the healer’s perspective.  His best methods did not help with the asthma.  He might say, “My methods failed.  They are not effective.”  Or he might say, “I failed as a healer.”  But no matter what he had utilized, this woman’s asthma was meant to continue because her relationship with her partner was meant to fail.  It seems that the only limitation of his healing methods was fate itself!  Situations like this happen all the time, in myriad ways.  How does one make sense of all this?

This is why the author turns to wonder so often.  From a spiritual perspective, the body in housed in the spirit, not the other way around.  Indeed, Kirlian photography can capture pictures of the person’s aura on the outside of the body.  Where one person’s spirit ends is impossible to say, because there is no difference between that spirit and everything else.  The author has often heard the comparison with the air in a house.  Where does the air in the kitchen end and the air in the dining room begin?  Isn’t it all the same air?

On a deep level, the spirit makes a decision about what it would like to experience in this lifetime before it arrives here.  It chooses the parents to be born unto, it chooses the city, the house, the circumstances, everything.  It even chooses the body’s conditions.  Some people are born with certain illnesses that it seems they would never have consciously chosen, such as leukemia.  Imagine the 6 year old child with a leukemia that resists modern chemotherapy.  Her parents don’t understand why most other children’s bodies respond to the chemotherapy but their daughter’s body resists it.  Soon after, the daughter passes away, leaving them grief stricken.  In their grief, they form a support group for other parents who have lost a child, and in doing so make a valuable contribution to the world that they might not have otherwise made.

Was the death of their daughter a tragedy?  In one sense, yes.  But in another sense, perhaps the daughter’s spirit had made a contract with the parents on the spiritual plane, and she knew the only way to make the difference she wanted to make was to die from leukemia.  If her body had responded to the chemotherapy, she would not have been able to make this difference.  Therefore, did modern medicine “fail”?  Yes, in its objective to create longevity of life.  But in the spiritual sense, it was not allowed to succeed due to contracts that were already in place.

What about the person who has a chronic, terminal illness and is suffering tremendously?  Consider the elderly man who is suffering from a painful terminal illness.  Why would the spirit voluntarily choose to enter a life that would have so much painful suffering?  We will never consciously know the answer to this question.  Perhaps this person might have an awareness that the spirit makes a choice below the conscious level of what to experience.  Would that make the pain subside?  Probably not.  But this person would have the opportunity to learn to become very present.  Pain presents an incredible opportunity for this.  The past and the future really don’t matter when the body is in intense pain.  So the person comes out of their mind and becomes fully aware of the present moment.

The capacity to be in the present moment gives us the opportunity to see things more clearly.  It affords us the choice of how we choose to respond.  In this man’s case, the pain from the illness brings him into the present, and he now has the opportunity to choose how to respond.  He can choose to respond with anger.  He can choose to respond with victimization (“poor me”).  He could also choose a way of compassion, where he chooses to bring as much joy to wife and grandkids as he can - and yes, to get his morphine dammit.

Suffering is a very quick way to bring us into the present moment.  Especially the life-threatening kind of suffering.  When one is hiking through the woods alone and sees the bear nearby, suddenly all the constantly churning mental noise about relationship and financial problems goes away.  The person is intensely present, and from that place they can choose a response based on the present moment.

The author once had an experience where he was entrapped (voluntarily) in an extremely hot environment.  The heat would burn the airways with every breath, making breathing almost unbearable.  All external worries about relationships and finances disappeared very quickly, and his only concern was survival.  The minutes seemed to string together, as though it were one continuous single moment.  He was more present during that experience than ever before.

Some people may say that suffering is meaningless and pointless.  They may dispute this article and ask why would a spirit choose to suffer with painful health issues.  And yet for the person facing that pain, no matter what thoughts they have, the pain is there.  Even if they have an outburst of anger, the pain will still be there.  Eventually (hopefully) they will come to a place of presence and clarity.  They can use the pain to channel something good into their lives.

Indeed, the people who suffer from the health issues (including the family members who are affected) have a true opportunity to come into acceptance of the present moment.  Once in the present moment, one has the opportunity to come to a place of stillness, of nonresistance, and of compassion and love.  If the medicines being utilized succeed, this will bring about an improvement in quality of life, which is a gift.  If the medicines fail, this will bring about an opportunity to move into the present moment, which is also a gift.