Creation versus Evolution and “Cultural Health”

May 9, 2012 in Mental health, Spiritual health by Dr. Matthew | No comments

Regardless of where you weigh in on the creation versus evolution debate, you should be concerned about the fact that America’s world ranking in science and math scores are abysmally low, versus our top rankings in the 1950s and 1960s. This is not a remote issue to Central Pennsylvanians: I have been told that only 1 of the 8 high school science teachers in the State College School District discuss evolution at all, mostly due to their fear of the administration and of conservative Christian parents.

In Penns Valley, evolution was not taught until a few years ago when the State of Pennsylvania made it a statewide requirement… and we wonder why our national science scores are embarrassing.

There are many different aspects to health; physical health, mental and emotional health, spiritual health, social and occupational health, to name a few of the most commonly addressed. But there is also much to be said for cultural and educational health, and there is a continuing battle going on Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , , ,

“News Fast,” An Experiment in Neutrality

April 1, 2012 in Emotional health, Mental health by Dr. Matthew | No comments

We are all addicted to negativity.

While this is a provocative statement, and while there are a few of us who escape this or intentionally train ourselves out of this pattern, it is true both habitually and physiologically.

In addition to the ego liking what is comfortable – even if you’re miserable in a job or a relationship, the ego knows what to expect in the situation so concocts reasons to stay in it because it’s “safe” – negative thoughts and even pain trigger the reward pathways in the brain and release neurochemicals that make us feel good and unconsciously drive us to repeat, even seek, the thing that hurts us or makes us crazy.

Suddenly this suggestion that humans are self-destructive, that we get addicted to ugliness, doesn’t sound so “new-agey.” This idea has been around for centuries, particularly among the monastics of the world’s major religions, as an observation of our nature. Our brains make chemicals that make us feel good, and now our modern medical resources Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

The Power of Intention

February 8, 2012 in Mental health by Dr. Matthew | No comments

This time of year, many of us are dancing with devils that try to break our momentum and enthusiasm and wrestle us to the couch. The weather is cold and grey, we are in a long stretch between holidays and often feeling funky after the Thanksgiving-Christmas-New Years furor, and most of us are struggling to reconnect with the enthusiasm and determination we felt when setting our resolutions to lose weight, quit smoking, stop drinking, or organize our house.

Whatever the resolution, it was something important to you but challenging – and not the fun kind of challenging. If it wasn’t important to you, you wouldn’t have bothered setting a resolution; you’d either forget it or simply do it. By the same token, if it wasn’t something challenging to you then you’d have already done it. No big fanfare, no planning, no mental space taken up, you’d have just done it and moved on.

Pretty much anywhere you turn in the new thought section of the bookstore, you see emphasis on the power of intentions. At the same time, I can’t think of a single “self-help,” “new thought,” “new age” book I’ve read that talks about resolutions. This isn’t just because they have an unpleasant connotation of failure, usually failure Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , , ,

Homeostasis, Part Two

November 16, 2011 in Emotional health, Mental health, Physical health, Spiritual health by Dr. Matthew | No comments

The other way in which homeostasis relates to wellness has to do with the interaction of our thoughts, our unconscious, our emotions, our body and our spirit – specifically with regards to healing. Although I had seen this relationship in process many times in my years working as a life coach, I didn’t actually realize I’d been seeing it until it was presented to me in this context by Drs. Ron and Mary Hulnick, the founders of University of Santa Monica, and it is a beautiful and eloquent way of describing how healing occurs.

What it boils down to is that many of the healing challenges we face as complex, thinking organisms are not challenges on one level. In fact, if you’re facing a health circumstance on only one level, it probably won’t be a challenge. Since we are thinking, feeling beings, something like releasing weight or smoking or drinking needs to be addressed on both the symptom level – the physical, where you hold the weight, for example – and also on the causal level.

For most people the causal level is mental and/or emotional. With the weight example, perhaps you Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Homeostasis, the Best Friend You Never Knew You Had

October 16, 2011 in Physical health, Uncategorized by Dr. Matthew | No comments

Homeostasis is a term that describes a system’s ablity to maintain balance. I have only ever seen the term used in human physiology and a few environmental science contexts – not that I’ve studied everything – but this process of homeostasis occurs in most systems continuously and keeps things functioning properly. Unless or until, that is, the system becomes overwhelmed by stressors.

This may seem like a dry subject, but stick with me for a minute. It’s interesting and relevant.

One of the most common examples of homeostasis used in teaching the concept is the body’s ability to regulate temperature. Imagine you’re hot, too hot like I am most of the summer; what does your body do? Well, actually a significant Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Suffering is Optional

October 9, 2011 in Emotional health by Dr. Matthew | No comments

“Suffering is the story you tell yourself about the pain you’ve experienced.” -Michael Bernard Beckwith

There are a few common experiences that we have as humans which cause a lot of misery. Guilt, suffering, stress – these three emotional states account for a huge share of the toxicity we encounter in our lifetimes and probably contribute to a significant number of the problems that we encounter (or cause for ourselves) at home, at work and with our extended family.

I am not saying it’s drama, and I’m not saying that these emotions are bad, wrong, or are abnormal as an emotional response to circumstances. These are normal, healthy immediate reactions to life events. What I am saying is that we can participate actively in life by Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , , , , , ,

« Older entries