Stress, sickness, and...the biology of belief...what if we can do something about it...?

Stress is everywhere. Better yet, it is and has been for some time now, chaos. Not 'stress', but a major environmental (as in everywhere around me, us, US, the World) influence. An influential factor in our moods, actions and especially, re-actions. No wonder so many people are visiting the anti-acid shelves looking for stuff. (If you don't believe that, just stand near the aisle, the shelves for anti-acid, reflux, GERD, etc., and note the traffic to it and from it: amazing! (And note the prices...20 to 30 cents per pill!).

Well, this author - Dr. Gabor Maté - was commented on one day, and on his work with stress and how it relates to our development in early life...womb, birth thru 1 year, 1 year thru 3rd. birthday. And, there it gets simply complex, and complicated. We interpret what happened and what did not happen during those stages...and most of the time, we interpret...life after that...WRONG! As if those events were still happening, and so we react to "today" the same way we did then!

I use the example of learning to ride a bicycle: once we do, and after all the knee scrapes and elbow bangs...uuufff!...once we get on the flow, we learned, and, good news! - we do not have to re-learn how to ride a bicycle ever again. Never! It is well within our memory banks. We just climb on it, bring the pedal up, and off we go as we push on that pedal down, engaging the chain, and moving forward without a wobble!

Well, Dr. Maté, in this book - one which I recommend you read, for if you are interested in getting to know yourself, as in the ages-old commandment (!) "Nosce Te Ipsum"..."Know Thyself". Dr. Maté links our development to sickness, and each chapter relates a type, or family of sickness/es to a posture we've lived life with and thru, given the way we were treated in our early formative stages. Mind blowing!!!

It's not that difficult once one gets the gist of it. For example, take the case of "asthma": "I can't breathe!" sensation, right? Well,  how calm, cool and collected do you remember being when one of your parents or custodians energetically shouted at you? What was the first action of your reaction? Most probably, you stopped breathing! And if those memories are with you frequently, do you usually breathe deeply, in a flow, calmly, or...barely, shallow, chopped-up?

I think the latter. So, going to the book, pg. 238, 239:
 Parents love their child unconditionally, from the deepest place of course, and the author adds...quote begins...
"...and that is what they hope to get across to them. ...but it is not what matters. (Wow!) What matters are the child's unconscious perceptions, based on his/her innermost interpretations of his interactions with the world. Those interpretations, embedded at the cellular level, constitute the biology of belief that governs so much of what we feel, what we do, and how we react to events.

A major contributor to the genesis of many diseases -...is an overload of stress induced by unconscious beliefs. If we would heal, it is essential to begin the painfully incremental task of reviewing the biology of belief we adopted very early in life. Whatever external treatment is administered, the healing agent lies within. The internal milieu must be changed. To find health, and to know it fully, necessitates a quest, a journey to the centre of our own biology of belief. That means rethinking, and recognizing - 're-cognizing': literally, to "know again" our lives."

Wow, wow, wow!!!

Dr. Gabor Maté's book description at the web site

And he continues, before ending the chapter:
" Whichever modality of treatment people choose - conventional medicine with or without complementary healing; alternative approaches like energy medicine or various mind-body techniques; ancient eastern practices like Ayurvedic medicine or yoga or Chinese acupuncture; the universal practice of meditation techniques; psycho-therapy; nutritional healing - the key to healing is the individual's active, free and informed choice. There are many ways to find that innate human capacity for freedom, outlined in many teachings, books, and other sources. Liberation from oppressive and stressful external cirumstances is essential, but that is only possible if we first liberate ourselves from the tyranny of our ingrained biology of belief."

Mini sum-up:..."Liberation...is only possible if we first liberate ourselves from the tyranny of our ingrained biology of belief."

Why is this stuff so interesting, yet so...difficult? Who can unlearn how to ride a bicycle: uuuggghhh!