Have you recently watched a television commercial for a medication? Have you ever noticed the end of the commercial discussing the medications potential risks and side effects? The commercials start off nice and sweet, but they end up deadly. Sometimes I wonder if television is programming people to be sick.
Human beings are born with a mind that is a blank slate. The mind is like the hardware of a computer. It will run any software that you program. Our parents, teachers, governments, the media and society in general, provide the software that runs our minds.
Whether conscious or unconscious, our state of health can be a programmed phenomenon. For better or for worse, we are subject only to what we hold in mind. The attitude that we hold in mind about ourselves and our state of health can be either positive or negative. It is a choice.
Of course there are genetic reasons for some illnesses. In addition, there are viruses and bacteria in the environment that can cause illness without your conscious consent. As a doctor, I prescribe medications all the time. I am not saying pharmacology is bad or having an illness is bad. What I am trying to convey is the attitude that one holds in mind about their conditions, makes all the difference.
The intention here is to expand your options and choices for any health issues you may have. We want to become aware and conscious of the upside and downside of labeling ourselves; or to take it one step further, mislabeling ourselves.
The media and television commercials specifically, have the capacity to cause negative psychic programming. If you understand this, you are less subject to negativity and more likely to have a positive attitude. What I am asking you to do is to be careful about what you let into your mind.
In my own experience, my son Luke has a health issue which requires me to be careful in my communications with him and with others about his condition. When Luke was 6 years old he was having difficulty reading in school and he was getting headaches. My wife and I were terribly scared. We were fearful he had ADD, ADHD, dyslexia, or even autism. All labels and none of them were true.
Luke has a condition called Scotopic Sensitivity Syndrome. This is a brain processing problem in which light causes the brain to malfunction and create blind spots in the visual field. Luke was getting headaches because his brain was working too hard to compensate for filling in the blind spots he was seeing.
Fortunately the problem is easily corrected with special glasses that filter the incoming light. I am telling you this story because of how I communicate about this problem with my son. I tell Luke, “Hey, you have a little scotopic sensitivity, no big deal.” I say it in this way to frame an attitude.
I never use the word syndrome when I refer to the problem. I do not want my child to incorporate he has a syndrome. For me, that is an unnecessary label. I am nearsighted and wear glasses. The technical term for nearsightedness is myopia. So I say to Luke, “I have myopia and need glasses, no big deal.”
This allows Luke to integrate his challenge with less emotional upset. Speaking to him in this way makes him more confident and less self-conscious. He knows he does not want to get a headache, so he wears the glasses.
I acknowledge my son’s limitation. I am not in denial about his challenge nor would I suggest that he made it up in his mind. My choice is in how I frame my attitude about it because this will shape Luke’s attitude. I am careful about how I communicate about it. I avoid the use of unnecessary labels and this has helped Luke be more accepting.
I love this quote from Oliver Wendell Holmes which always inspires me to have a good attitude:
“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.”
Matthew McQuaid, DPM is a board-certified foot surgeon practicing in Lakeport. He has a particular interest in Mind/Body medicine and its impact on healing. He is an award winning author and teacher. For more information call (707) 263- 3727 and visit www.drmcquaid.com.
