Doctors, Scientists
Forgiveness is a beautiful word, until you have something to forgive.” Author, C.S. Lewis
Doctors
Lysa TerKerst
“Those who injured you are the last people in the world to whom you want to hand over the controls of your life. Unresolved pain triggers unrestrained chaos.”
Michael Crichton
Bruce H. Lipton
“Epigenetics has shown that our genes are in fact controlled and manipulated by how our minds perceive and interpret our environment…. we can change many things about the way we are, including our health, by changing how we interpret events & situations which happen to us.” Dr. Bruce H. Lipton, cell biologist and lecturer, is an internationally recognized leader in bridging science and spirit. A former professor at the University of Wisconsin Medical School and the Stanford School of Medicine, Lipton was a lifelong atheist until his discoveries about the way cells function convinced him that God does exist.
Author Dawson Church published works on Epigenetics in respect to healing. Citing hundreds of scientific studies, he shows how beliefs and emotions can trigger the expression of DNA strands. He focuses on a class of genes called Immediate Early Genes or IEGs. These genes turn on within a few seconds of a stimulus. They can be triggered by thoughts or emotions. Many IEGs are regulatory genes turning on other genes that affect specific aspects of our immune system, such as the production of white blood cells that destroy attacking bacteria and viruses. His writing confirms Epigenetics influences our health every day. He coined the new term “Epigenetic Medicine” to describe healing techniques with epigenetic effects. He also summarized the science behind the infant fields of Energy Psychology and Energy Medicine, both of which offer promising epigenetic medical therapies.
“Just like a single cell, the character of our lives is determined not by our genes but by our responses to the environmental signals that”
Dr. Everett L. Washington, Jr.
“Forgiveness is both a decision and a real change in emotional experience. That change in emotion is related to better mental and physical health.”
“ It happens down the line, but every time you feel unforgiveness, you are more likely to develop a health problem.”
Christina Puchalski, M.D.
“There have been many studies looking at the role of forgiveness in health. Unforgiving persons have increased anxiety symptoms, increased paranoia, increased narcissism, increased frequency of psychosomatic complications, increased incidence of heart disease, and less resistance to physical illness. The act of forgiveness can result in less anxiety and depression, better health outcomes, increased coping with stress, and increased closeness to God and others.”
Dr. David Puder, MD
“Forgiveness isn’t a nice thing to do, it has real health ramifications that have been thoroughly studied, and it’s a fact that the act of forgiving can be a real change agent in therapy and long-term health.”
Frederick Luskin, Ph.D.
“While the research is still limited, a picture is emerging that forgiveness may be important not just as a religious practice, but as a component of a comprehensive vision of health.”
Dr. Candace Pert
“When emotions are expressed…all systems are united and made whole. When emotions are repressed, denied, not allowed to be whatever they may be, our network pathways get blocked, stopping the flow of the vital feel-good, unifying chemicals that run both our biology and our behavior.”
Karen Swartz, M.D
“There is an enormous physical burden to being hurt and disappointed. Chronic anger puts you into a fight-or-flight mode, which results in numerous changes in heart rate, blood pressure and immune response. Those changes, then, increase the risk of depression, heart disease and diabetes, among other conditions. Forgiveness, however, calms stress levels, leading to improved health.”
Dr. Annette Cargioli,
“Forgiveness goes beyond what the mind knows to reach into the unknown good that God has for your life and healing. In this way, forgiveness provides the ultimate solution that ends suffering.”
Carrie Fisher
“Resentment is like drinking poison and then waiting for the other person to die.”
Marcus Aurelius
“Our life is what our thoughts make it.”
Dr. Herbert Benson, M.D.
“What the mind thinks, perceives, and experiences is sent from our brain to the rest of the body. There’s something called the physiology of forgiveness. Being unable to forgive other people’s faults is harmful to one’s health. Negative thinking leads to stress, which affect’s our body’s natural healing capabilities. “
Dr. Walter Willett
“Only 5 percent of cancer and cardiovascular patients can attribute their disease to hereditary factors.”
Dr. Bruce Lipton
“98% of diseases are related to lifestyle choices – our thinking.”
Dr. Caroline Leaf
“Thoughts are real, physical things that occupy mental real estate. Moment by moment, every day, you are changing the structure of your brain through your thinking. When we hope, it is an activity of the mind that changes the structure of our brain in a positive and normal direction.”
Eric Kandel
“Social influences will be biologically incorporated into the altered expression of specific genes in specific nerve cells of specific areas of the brain”
Dr. Caroline Leaf
“Our choices—the natural consequences of our thoughts and imagination—get “under the skin” of our DNA and can turn certain genes on and off, changing the structure of the neurons in our brains. So our thoughts, imagination, and choices can change the structure and function of our brains on every level: ”
American Medical Association
Stress is a factor in 75% of all illnesses and diseases that people suffer from today.
Finally, Dr. Candance Pert, Neuroscientist has many thoughts on the topic:
The molecules of emotion, a kind of neuropeptide, change the chemistry and electricity of every cell in the body and mind. Feelings literally alter the electrical frequencies generated by our bodies producing a nonverbal communication. Emotions, Dr. Pert explains, are not simply chemicals in the brain. They are electrochemical signals that carry emotional messages throughout the body. These signals, a mixture of peptides, have far reaching effects.
“As our feelings change, this mixture of peptides travels throughout your body and your brain. And they’re literally changing the chemistry of every cell in your body.”
Pert explains how emotions have such a powerful effect. “We’re not just little hunks of meat. We’re vibrating like a tuning fork — we send out a vibration to other people. We broadcast and receive. Thus, the emotions orchestrate the interactions among all our organs and systems to control that.”
As Pert explained in her earlier book, Molecules of Emotion, neurotransmitters called peptides carry emotional messages. These messages change the chemistry of our body’s cells. Neurotransmitters are chemicals, but they carry an electrical charge. The electrical signals in our brains and bodies affect the way cells interact and function.
Electrochemical messages are passed between brain cells. Similar signals are passed to every cell in the body. Each is studded with “receptor sites,” a kind of “mail box” for these electrochemical messengers.
“You have receptors on every cell in your body. They actually are little mini electrical pumps.” When the receptor is activated by a matching “molecule of emotion” the receptor passes a charge into the cell changing the cell’s electrical frequency as well as its chemistry.
Pert says that just as our individual cells carry an electrical charge, so does the body as a whole. Like an electromagnet generating a field, Pert says that people have a positive charge above their heads and a negative charge below. “So, we’re actually sending out various electrical signals – vibrations.”
Our thoughts matter:
We cannot control the events or circumstances of life, but we can control our reactions. Controlling the reactions is the difference between healthy minds and bodies and sick and disease prone minds and bodies.
American Medical Association – Research finds that stress is a factor in 75 percent of all illnesses and diseases that people suffer from today.
The American Institute of Stress – Research shows that 98% of mental and physical illnesses come from our thought life.
The American Institute of Health estimates 75-95 percent of all visits to primary care physicians are for stress-related problems stemming from toxic thinking.
Dr. Bruce H Lipton states 98 percent of diseases are related to lifestyle choices – our thinking. Lipton is a cell biologist recognized for bridging science and spirit. A former professor at the University of Wisconsin Medical School and the Stanford School of Medicine, Lipton was a lifelong atheist until his discoveries about the way cells function convinced him that God does exist.
Harvard’s Medical School’s Mind-Body Institute, Dr. Benson’s research confirms DNA changes shape according to our thoughts. According to Benson, negative thinking leads to stress, which affects our body’s natural healing capacities. Toxic thinking wears down the brain and body.