[chrisy]

Great discussion - lots of spirit for sure! I agree with everyone!

Andrea, I admire your energy and committment to this and read your posts with great hunger! I mostly agree with your opinions and often wonder HOW you can keep control over your thoughts - I have a tough time here, especially when things go south. But there is little real debate over whether there is a mind-body connection. More and more research comes out every year on the power of the mind-body-spirit connections. We still just don't know enough about it and maybe we never will.

I don't buy the "I caused my own cancer" riff - and I don't think Andrea is suggesting this - but I do believe that my thoughts and feelings affect my physiological processes, including immune response. So my mind has some power to tip the scales for or against my health. Tipping the scales adds or detracts some %, along with treatment, general health, and the pure biology of the disease.

Another interesting but slow read is "Healing Words" by Dr. Larry Dossey. This book looks beyond the mind-body connection to the power of prayer and other "non-local" influences - i.e. your thoughts can influence someone elses physiology! I've read this book twice and come away less with answers and more with a sense of wonder.

I believe our bodies have a lot of intelligence for healing, and we can try to harness or direct it with our thoughts. Or with our prayers, or the prayers of others. We are all, basically, just energy. We do what we can to take control, or the illusion of control but in the end it's really in the hands of a higher power.

Great topic - and nice job, ladies and gents, in having this discussion in the spirit of love and support! That's why this is the ONLY board I have "exposed" myself to by posting instead of just lurking!

Chris