Forward Wisconsin Health

Alcoholism–How you can change your health

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@Glowimages Wisconsin has long been recognized for one of the worst records in the country for alcoholism and drunken driving.  We are the only state in the county that doesn’t criminalize drinking and driving.  The result of drunkeness and binge drinking is  many needless deaths of innocent drivers and their passengers, as well as friends and family.   It also costs taxpayers billions according to  The Wisconsin Alcohol Policy Project at the University of Wisconsin Law School.   How many times have you tried to make a change to better your health and then reverted back to behaviors you know to be wrong?  I know I have.  The article below by Anna Bowness Park in the Vancouver Sun gives an example of a young person gaining freedom from alcoholism by changing what she believes about herself   Perhaps a deeper connection to a higher Being can help where penalties and policies have failed.  Read an excerpt here:

…One day, though, she got into conversation with a new friend who just said simply, “You need to change the basis of how you view yourself. When you do that, you won’t need to leave the drinking. The desire to drink will leave you.” Sadie was stunned. She had never thought about it that way. Her friend went on and shared one simple statement from the Jewish prophet Jeremiah: “For I know the thoughts I think toward you saith the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you an expected end.”  That one verse from the Bible, which she had rarely read, revolutionized Sadie’s ideas about who she was. It reformed the basis of her thoughts and beliefs about herself. She had never considered a God that was divine Love, or that she could begin to see herself the way that Love did, and to listen to this influence.

This was Sadie’s “spiritual spark.” It started her on a journey that was so absorbing to her that a week or two passed before she realized she had not had a single drink. The best part of Sadie’s story is that she never felt the desire to drink again – a period of over 20 years now. And she doesn’t consider herself to be a “recovering alcoholic,” trying to manage her exposure to alcohol. Rather, she sees herself as free, whole and uninfluenced by anything but the Divine.

Whether, like Sadie we are dealing with addiction, or with weight issues, chronic pain or the myriad other health problems in our lives, changing the basis of what we believe about ourselves to one that includes feeling wholly and divinely loved and connected, makes us change-makers and brings results.

For Sadie, a spiritually changed view of herself literally saved her life. What might “turning on your spark,” and being a change-maker do for your health?

Read full article here.

Is spiritual healing weird?

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©Glow Images
©Glow Images

Spiritual healing  for physical challenges may seem natural to some and ridiculous or doing nothing to others.  A growing body of research is finding that it is not so far-out as once thought.  Just as flying, landing on the moon, the microwave,  the internet or smart cell phones or televisions  might have seemed impossible, they have become a natural part of our lives.  In Wisconsin, the research of Richard Davidson or Robert Enright on the power of compassion or forgiveness on healing of discords of many kinds, have to give us pause to consider new approaches  to healthier living.  Consider this excerpt from an article by Keith Womack published in the Utne Reader July 24, 2014 to challenge your thinking about what is possible when you spiritualize your thought:

By Keith Womack–While in a meeting, a newspaper editor, after learning that I practiced spiritual-based healing, said, “Since Christian Science is weird, it … “

The editor stopped mid-sentence, looked at me, and said, “Oh, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to say weird. I’m so sorry.”

After the editor apologized several more times, I said, “Forget about it. It’s okay,” and we went back to our pleasant discussion.

The editor’s “Weird” comment reminded me of ’73. In 1973, I was in Brad Shearer‘s kitchen. Brad and I attended high school together. He was a star football player who went on to play for the Texas Longhorns and the Chicago Bears.

While in Brad’s kitchen, I watched as he took a large glass measuring cup and cracked eight eggs into it. After whipping the eggs, he opened the door of a small machine, placed the measuring cup inside, closed the door, and turned a dial. A minute or so later, he opened the door, took out the cup, and began eating the eggs with a fork. Weird!

Weird, because in ’73 I had never heard of, much less, seen a microwave oven. How did those eggs cook in just a minute?

Just as the microwave seemed weird to me in ’73, the thought of providing prayer for illness or pain can seem the same to you when you first encounter it. However, both are effective. Both utilize laws.

Read More Click Here.

Owning Our Mental Health, Anna Browness-Park

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©Glow Images
©Glow Images

Mental health treatment and legal commitment issues were the subject of a recent series of Milwaukee Journal Sentinel articles.  When it is estimated that one in four Americans is affected by mental illness  I look for examples of hope and help for those confronting these challenges.  In the Vancouver Sun, Anna Browness-Park shares some valuable ideas on how taking control of our thinking can beat bipolar and depression issues.  An excerpt follows:

By Anna Browness-Park–“I think, therefore, I am” (Cogita Ergo Sum) wrote Rene Descartes. This simple statement became a fundamental proposition in Western philosophy and a foundation for the formation of all knowledge in the mid 1600s.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cogito_ergo_sum

Two and a half centuries later, Mary Baker Eddy wrote: “The time for thinkers has come” at the beginning of her book “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.”  It’s a book that challenges the idea that thought is solely the province of the human mind, and explores the idea that there is a divine influence that can change the way we think about life and health. Her book came as a result of many years of research into how Jesus healed. This exploration led her to the conclusion that our very health depends on our ability to reason – i.e., think through something – spiritually.

Read the full article  here. 

Evidence-Based Medicine

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©Glow Images, model for illustration purposes only
©Glow Images, model for illustration purposes only

Setting state government spending priorities by evaluating spending effectiveness or evidence-based budgeting has been a growing trend in Wisconsin and elsewhere.  Most states’ leading expenditures are health care related for children, the disabled and low income seniors.  How can we best  evaluate what contributes to better health?  Eric Nelson raises some thought provoking  questions about evidence-based medicine in his May 5, 2014 article in Communities Digital News.  See excerpt below and click here to read the full article. 

Eric Nelson–PETALUMA, CA, – As the story goes, John the Baptist once sent two of his disciples to Jesus to ask if he was the promised Messiah. Rather than giving a simple yes or no answer, he said, “Go back to John and tell him what you have heard and seen – the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, and the Good News is being preached to the poor.”

In other words, look at the evidence.

These days the scenario would look a lot different. Instead of John the Baptist you might have the general public wondering if a particular drug is really as effective as its advertisements make it out to be; and instead of Jesus you might have any number of researchers, scientific journals and pharmaceutical companies saying basically the same thing: Look at the evidence.

That makes perfect sense – that is, if you can always rely on the evidence.

Not too long ago, a group from Bayer HealthCare decided to check the results of 67 of its research papers. Only 25 percent of them could be replicated. The results of another investigation conducted by scientists at biotech firm Amgen were even worse. Out of 53 “landmark” cancer studies, only six could be reproduced.

“Even knowing the limitations of preclinical research,” wrote David Gorski on the Science-Based Medicine website, “this was a shocking result.


Click here to read more.