Warning – You’re About to be Brandwashed

Some time ago three sommeliers were asked to participate in an unusual experiment. They were placed in an fMRI scanner where they were served three different wines, and then they were asked to evaluate them.  You’d imagine this to be a fairly simple task for people who taste wine for a living. Not so. Read the Rest of This Article »

Love Or Fear? Which One Are You Allowing to Drive Your Life

‘There are two driving forces in your life: love and fear.

Love is your higher self.

It is the place of pure intention and hope.

When your higher self drives your life you are on purpose and empowered. Life surges through you; you thrive and society thrives because of it.

Fear, of course, is its opposite and is your lower self.

It is, unfortunately, the place from where the majority of us exist. When fear drives your life you stagnate and die. You don’t live your true purpose and you become dark and heavy and the world suffers as a result.

Who is the driver of your life? Read the Rest of This Article »

Words That Overcome Fear And Dread

Everyone knows sex sells. Greed sells too, and again, this is something we all know. But little did we know that the really big, best seller of all is FEAR and it’s companion, dread.

Here are some current ‘epidemic’, ‘impending’ ‘catastrophe-in-the-making’, brilliantly-marketed FEARS: Fear of recession, depression, terrorists, war, disease, food, air, climate change, computer crashes, natural disasters, breast size, impotency, break-ins, drug czars and addicts, immigrants and aging.

Here I focus on an area closest to my own experience as a physician-psychiatrist: the fear of illness and dying. As you read about overcoming and transcending this fear, think of it as an effective metaphor for the other fears listed above. When you come to the end reread the piece substituting each fear.

Start with this fact: To fear our body is a powerful way to create disease. Why is this? Because fear is about being attacked and when you think you are going to be attacked you are both hard-wired and soft-wired for flight or fight. This, in simple terms, is bad for your physical health when carried on continuously or repetitively on an intermittent basis. Your body is not set up to be constantly on the alert for danger or shocked repeatedly by the unexpected. It is not necessary to go into the physiology of why this might lead to high blood pressure, heart attack, stroke and even cancer. Here is the rub: If fear can be created it leads to disease thereby proving that the fear was warranted. This is every politician, salesman and businessman’s dream: to create a need for snake oil. Read the Rest of This Article »