Believe in yourself
Old wisdom – new knowledge
The French pharmacist and founder of modern autosuggestion, Émile Coué (1857-1926), systematically used the power of positive thinking for healing purposes in the century before last. With autosuggestion, the subconscious is trained to believe in something specific. Coué gave his customers the right preparation with the words: “With this medicine you will certainly get well very quickly.” He had observed that medicines worked faster and better if he once again emphasized their healing component. Coué was convinced that the unconscious influences our lives to a large extent: “Any idea that has become sufficiently ingrained strives to be realized.”
That we can oppose any illness with our inner conviction – this is also the opinion of Dr. Hans-Michael Mühlenfeld, Chairman of the Bremen General Practitioners’ Association and Chairman of the Institute for General Practitioners’ Training: “It’s about coping strategies and adapting one’s expectations to reality. It would be helpful to replace the expectation ‘I’m sick and tomorrow I’ll be fine’ with the attitude ‘I’m sick and I accept my body’s symptoms’. Even if I have a chronic illness, I feel better physically with this different attitude.”
Healthy optimism and helpful mantra
Scientists have now proven using modern methods that optimists form more immune cells and recover faster. Studies on marathon runners show that the happy hormones released when running, the so-called endorphins, make you forget about pain and strengthen the immune system. Hamburg researchers led by Prof. Christian Büchel from the Institute for Systemic Neurosciences at the University Hospital Eppendorf proved that a positive attitude towards life not only reduces the subjective perception of pain, but also has measurable physical effects on the pain-related nerve cell activities in the brain.
In this sense, Coué’s sentence should be recommended to everyone: “Every day I feel better and better in every respect.” Every day after waking up or before going to bed, recited in a low voice 20 times in a row like a mantra, this wisdom works through the sense of hearing into the subconscious. For acute symptoms, Coué recommended placing a hand on the relevant area and repeating the following formula until the first signs of improvement appear: “It will pass, it will pass, it will pass.”
There are always miracles – and each is a case in itself
M ore than 1000 sudden cancer cures, so-called spontaneous remissions, are known in the specialist literature: Contrary to all prognosis and expectations, cancer patients recovered. In most cases even without surgery or chemotherapy. Researchers are increasingly observing this phenomenon in cancers such as renal cell carcinoma, melanoma (skin cancer) and lymphoma (tumours of the lymphatic tissue). The immune system controls these types of cancer significantly. It is possible that they are therefore also very susceptible to the actions of the immune system itself, such as fighting large tumor masses.
Other explanation models for such “miracles” assume that the undifferentiated cancer cells still develop into normal cells. Or the blood supply through the surrounding blood vessels is no longer sufficient for a tumor of a certain size. Normally, it then produces its own blood vessels. Sometimes, however, tumors don’t make this connection – they die.
Take control of the healing
Hormone production also plays a role. Hormone-dependent tumors can regress in women during the menopause, i.e. when hormone production decreases. Will cancer stay away permanently after spontaneous remissions? Nobody can tell. In any case, people who have been cured of cancer often describe very impressively how they themselves actively dealt with their illness and healing independently of the scientific explanation models.
Nevertheless, these experiences cannot necessarily be transferred from one patient to another. Each individual has to find their own way of dealing with the disease. The German Cancer Research Center treats the topic of spontaneous healing surprisingly openly, but expressly warns to use valuable therapy time.