Free Superhealing: Engaging Your Mind, Body, and Spirit to Create Optimal Health and Well-Being (ARC) by Elaine R. Ferguson Page B

chapter,
    we’ll look at some recent scientific breakthroughs that show how to activate the superhealing mind-body connection that leads to optimal well-being.

    CHAPTER ONE: Your Superhealing Mind-Body Connection 45
    SUPERHEALING WORK SHEET:
    ASSESSING YOUR STRESS
    For the next week, monitor your stress level and your thoughts,
    feelings, and emotions. Reflect upon the following questions or write about them in a journal:
    1. How often do you feel stressed on a daily basis?
    2. How often do you feel stressed during a week?
    3. Describe a typical stressful situation.
    4. What are the causes of your stress?
    5. Of these causes, which are the most significant?
    6. Is your stress increasing?
    7. What are the signs and symptoms of the stress that
    you experience?
    8. What physical symptoms do you experience?
    9. What do you do when you’re aware of your stress?
    10. Do you think you ever experience stress but are not
    aware of it?
    11. How do you engage your body, mind, and spirit when
    you’re stressed?
    12. Do you think your stress is determined by forces be-
    yond your control, or does the way you view experiences
    determine your body’s response to events?
    13. Does stress create a sense in you of having a challenge
    to overcome or a feeling of being overwhelmed?
    14. In your experience, are all stressful experiences harmful?
    If yes, explain why, and if no, explain why not.
    15. What are some of the benefits of your stress?
    16. If you were to respond in a healthier way to a particular
    stressful situation, imagine and describe how that
    response would feel.
    CHAPTER 2
    Superhealing Mind-Body
    Research Breakthroughs
    The real voyage of discovery consists not in
    seeking new lands but in seeing with new eyes.
    —Marcel Proust
    For the vast majority of his life, James was the picture of
    health and well-being. At eighty-four, he was still very much the
    strong tower of the man he had always been. He looked like he was
    in his midsixties and was much fitter than men who were decades
    younger. He was full of life, with minimal aches and pains, thanks to his zest for life and his pursuit of hobbies and education. He had had taken vitamins since his midfifties and engaged in vigorous activity, including running a landscaping business and maintaining a large
    organic garden that provided him and his neighbors with pounds of
    healthy fruits and vegetables. He had returned to his hometown in
    South Carolina to farm on the land he loved three years earlier, and he lived alone. He was self-sufficient and happy.
    In his entire life, James had spent only one night in the hospital.
    He did all the right things. He gave of himself to friends, family, and anyone else who needed a helping hand. Yet a few days after being
    kidnapped and robbed of $10,000, he quickly deteriorated mental y
    and emotional y, because he was traumatized by the experience.
    Nothing eased James’s distress. He had lost his center, his sense
    of safety. The kidnappers had robbed him not only of his money but also of his enduring faith and trust in people. From the sidelines, I 47
    48
    PART ONE: Your Superhealing Mind
    watched helplessly as he was diminished by the severe stress of remembering, every day, the painful incident he’d endured. Two weeks later, James had a panic attack and died from a massive heart attack.
    He was my dad. I believe he died because he was overwhelmed by
    the distress caused by his terrible experience.
    Distress is the silent epidemic of our time. The human body—
    which is exquisitely sensitive to the barometer of our thoughts,
    emotions, and especial y our perceptions (our subjective interpre-
    tations)—is always expressing a dynamic symphony of responses.
    These are not limited to one part or portion of the body but are a global experience. Our thoughts and feelings initiate the electrochemical reactions that regulate our bodies’ functions and set the tone for our quality of life. Anything that disrupts our minds also disrupts