Changing Your Mindset

Holistic living is living in rhythm with the body, the mind, and the soul, as well as in harmony with one another. It requires a new mindset: healing of the body, the mind, and the soul comes from within and not from without. That is, medications may suppress the symptoms, but they  do not heal over the long haul. To have this right mindset, you must have an empty mind first. Life is forever changing, and, accordingly, you must change your mindset. Change in life is challenging. Most of us don't welcome any change because of its uncertainty, especially as we have been conditioned to taking medicine and going to the doctor whenever we have a health issue.

Holistic living requires your readiness to change your mindset. Indeed, to be happy and healthy as you continue to age, you must embrace any change that comes into your life. Holistic living, which is connecting the body, the mind, and the soul to live a balanced and harmonious life, requires you to make some lifestyle changes. It takes courage to change, and to take up that courage may be difficult, but not impossible. This is where the human mind plays a pivotal role. Thinking not only makes you smarter but also energizes your brain, making it healthier and younger for longer. Right thinking can work miracles in your life: giving you courage to change for the better to live as if everything is a miracle.

Change has to do with the thinking mind. You must know how to think right. Thinking right has to do with active thinking, and thinking continually. Are you thinking all the time? Not really. You may think you are using your mind all the time, but in fact you are not. It is easy to have mental disuse, which is inadequate use of the brain. Many of us engage in mental disuse when we sit in front of the TV for hours; as a matter of fact, the average Americans spend more than 4 hours a day watching their favorite TV programs. Watching TV is mental disuse because it requires little or no brain activity, such as mental action and reaction; people just vegetate in front of the big screen. Mental disuse is an enemy of mental health. The bottom line: always keep your brain busy to activate your brain cells by engaging in brain activities that benefit the body, the mind, and the soul

Make a decision NOW to make some lifestyle changes. We are all habitual beings; we live by our habits. Therefore, it takes courage to change—courage to get out of our comfort zones. But courage is a great motivator once we embrace it enthusiastically. It not only makes you think out of the box, but also enables you to dream your dreams. Courage is no more than persistence: keep on doing what you need to do. It takes only a little courage to take your first step to go after your first goal. As you go forward, step by step, your steps will become easier and faster with greater rewards that further motivate you. The goal is not so much about obvious changes in your life, as about changes in your thinking process, about your doing and being. Changing lifestyle gradually is a no-brainer that requires, ironically, the help of your brain to provide the courage to change.

Remember, changing your lifestyle—how to live, how you think, how you act and react -- is  conducive to happy and healthy living, especially as aging continues.

Read my book: As If Everything Is A Miracle. This 125-page book is about how to live your life as if everything is a miracle, instead of as if nothing is a miracle. To do just that, you need wisdom to "rethink" your mind, which may not be telling you the whole truth about your thoughts and life experiences; you need wisdom to "renew" your body, which lives in a toxic physical environment; you need wisdom to "reconnect" your soul, which provides your spirituality. Most importantly, you need wisdom to "realign" your whole being because the body, the mind, and the soul are all interconnected and interdependent on one another for your well-being to live your life as if everything is a miracle. Your mind is the map and your soul is the compass; without them, your body is going nowhere, and you will live your life as if nothing is a miracle.  To get your Kindle edition, click here.

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

The Complete TAO TE CHING in Plain English

The Complete TAO TE CHING in Plain English

by Stephen Lau

This book contains the 81 chapters of the translated text of the ancient Chinese classic on human wisdom, written by the Chinese sage Lao Tzu. It also explains in plain English the essentials of Tao wisdom, which is the wisdom of TAO TE CHING.

The original text of Tao Te Ching in Chinese is difficult to understand, not to mention to translate it into another language, because the text without any punctuation mark was intended to be controversial and open to multiple interpretations. It should be noted that more than 2,600 years ago Lao Tzu was reluctant to put down his wisdom in words; as a matter of fact, he was specifically told by the guard at the city gate that he could not leave China for Tibet unless he put down his words of wisdom.

Stephen Lau has expressed and interpreted the original text in plain English for readers worldwide to understand the profound Tao wisdom. Tao Te Ching has been translated into multiple languages; it has become one of the most translated works in world literature.

Stephen Lau has published several books based on the wisdom expressed in Tao Te Ching:

Be A Better And Happier You With Tao Wisdom

No Ego No Stress 

The Book of Life and Living

As If Everything Is A Miracle

TAO: The Way to Biblical Wisdom.

Getting Old Like Santa Claus

Growing older sucks, especially when you don't have a lot of money. Your aging and longevity may be impacted by your spending, which has to do with the value of money, which plays a pivotal role as you continue to age. 

No matter how much money you have, make the best and the most of your remaining years; turn them into the golden years of your life in spite of any financial difficulty you may be facing, Remember, life is a task-master: it teaches you not only how to survive in any challenging circumstance but also how to live well, especially in your golden years.

The senior years are most challenging in that all seniors have to come to grips with the changes and challenges they may be facing. On the one hand, they may make them more appreciative of life as well as more proactive to live a meaningful and purposeful life; on the other hand, these challenges and problems may also make them want to give up on life, and thus drifting and deteriorating rapidly .

Use Santa Claus as your role model to start believing in yourself, developing the right mindset of successful aging, and acting appropriately and positively. Santa Claus may not be a magic-bullet solution to all your life problems and challenges, but he certainly may open unexpected doors for you in your golden years.

The wisdom in living is to do a great deal more with a great deal less that you now have. The wisdom of this book may help you renew and enhance yourself with hope and optimism, showing you a possible and realistic path to a better outcome despite all the challenges, obstacles, and problems you may encounter in your golden years.

Your Golden Years and Santa Claus explains the wisdom of living in the present, the wisdom of letting go, and the wisdom of not picking and choosing--they are the essentials for happy and successful aging in the golden years. Learn how to think and act like Santa Claus in your golden years.

Stephen Lau

Copyright© 2016 by Stephen Lau

Acceptance to Deal with Grief, Pain, and Sorrow

The downside of longevity is that you may have to cope with many negative emotions, such as grief, pain, and sorrow, among others. The only way to deal with them is acceptance. Everything has to follow a natural cycle, such as the cycle of the four seasons, what goes up must also come down, and life is inevitably followed by death. We just have to accept the reality of life.

Life is not easy, and living is complicated. Life is never a bed of roses. Even if it is, there are thorns, which often come in the form of grief, pain, and sorrow. Given that everything is this world is impermanent, grief, pain, and sorrow are as inevitable as death.  If you live long enough, many of your loved ones may go ahead of you. Depression often accompanies grief, pain, and sorrow, but don’t let them get in your way, making you live the rest of your life as if nothing is a miracle.

Depression is as powerful a risk factor for heart disease as diabetes and smoking, according to a study by Dr. Amit Shah, a cardiologist at Emory University in Atlanta.

Dr. Shah believes that there is a biological reason as to why depression harms, especially devastating to young females’ hearts. According to Dr. Shah, mechanisms underlying the association of depression and heart disease could be inflammation or hormonal regulation.

“When people get depressed, they stop taking care of themselves. And when they stop taking care of themselves, they get sick," said Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum, a spokesperson for the American Heart Association, who was not involved in the study.

On the other hand, when sick people don’t take care of themselves, they can also become depressed.

There are, of course, many factors that contribute to depression. But the major cause of depression is grief, pain, and sorrow due to loss, especially bereavement of loved ones. Unfortunately, that is something as inevitable as death, especially as one continues to advance in age. If you live to eighty or ninety years old, your friends or loved ones may go ahead of you—this is the reality, and you must learn to accept it, whether you like it or not.

After the death of a dear friend or someone close to you, you may experience a period of denial—refusing to accept the harsh reality of death. Then anger comes: anger with yourself or whoever responsible for the death of your loved one. If you blame yourself, then guilt and regret may ensue; if you blame others, anger or hatred is generated. After the initial denial, reality begins to sink in. You start to feel the bereavement, driving you into deep depression with emotions of fear, grief, regret, sadness, and sorrow. This is the darkest or even the longest stage of grief, pain, and sorrow.

The only way of the darkness of depression is acceptance. Sooner or later, you will come to terms with the death of your loved one when you ultimately become aware that everything is going to be OK, that you will survive the loss of your loved one, and that comfort will begin to set in. In the end, you will realize that life will go on even though it may be different without your loved one.

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

Empower the Mind with Tao Wisdom

The Complete TAO TE CHING in Plain English

by Stephen Lau

This book contains the 81 chapters of the translated text of the ancient Chinese classic on human wisdom, written by the Chinese sage Lao Tzu. It also explains in plain English the essentials of Tao wisdom, which is the profound wisdom of TAO TE CHING.

The original text of Tao Te Ching in Chinese is difficult to understand, not to mention to translate it into another language, because the text without any punctuation mark was intended to be controversial and open to multiple interpretations. It should be noted that more than 2,600 years ago Lao Tzu was reluctant to put down his wisdom in words; as a matter of fact, he was specifically told by the guard at the city gate that he could not leave China for Tibet unless he put down his words of wisdom.

Tao wisdom is profound wisdom that may not be easy to understand despite its simplicity, such as “the softest overcomes the hardest” and “the long and the short are only relative”, among many others.

Get the Tao wisdom resources to have a better understanding of the natural cycle of spontaneity, such as what goes up must also come down, success is followed by failure, and the cycle of the four seasons.

Stephen Lau has expressed and interpreted the original text in plain English for readers worldwide to understand the profound Tao wisdom. Tao Te Ching has been translated into multiple languages; it has become one of the most translated works in world literature.

Stephen Lau has published several books based on the wisdom expressed in Tao Te Ching: Books by Stephen Lau

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How to Improve Body Image

Body image has an important impact on how you feel about yourself. There is a direct connection between body image and self-esteem: they reinforce each other. If you have a positive self-image, you will not only feel better about yourself, but also pay more attention to what is happening to your body and your appearance.

In the past, men were concerned about how their bodies functioned, and women were concerned about how they looked. Today, both sexes are concerned about both their looks and their bodies.

Remember, both the look and the body will change no matter what: they will not survive ravages of time and decades of changes despite all your efforts.

Your waist size reflects your body image. Measure your waist circumference (between your rib cage and above your belly button). A waistline of 35 inches or more for most women, and a waistline of 40 inches or more for most men indicate an increased health risk for developing chronic diseases and disorders because an inflated waistline is an indication of abundance of belly fat.  According to several research studies, too much belly fat releases inflammatory molecules called interleukin-6, leading to chronic inflammation that causes damages to organs and tissues, such as arterial stiffness and heart disease.

So, what is your waist circumference, or, more specifically, your Body Mass Index (BMI)?

Body Mass Index (BMI) is a measure of body fat based on your weight and height: BMI is determined by the formula: BMI = (body weight in pounds) divided by (body height in inches x body height in inches) multiplied by 703.

To illustrate, if you are 5’11” tall and you weigh 165 pounds, your BMI will be: (165/71x71) x 703 = 23

The BMI numbers have the following implications:

Any BMI that falls between 19 and 24.9 is considered ideal and healthy.

Any BMI that is below 18.5 is considered underweight.

Any BMI that ranges from 25 to 29.9 is considered overweight.

Any BMI that is above 30 is considered obese.

Step on the scale and find out your current body weight and determine your BMI, or simply look at yourself in the mirror. Do you have too much belly fat?

What if you do have too much belly fat? Cut down on your insulin and carbohydrates (processed and not complex carbohydrates).

Your sugar intake should come from fruits and vegetables, and not from plain sugar, fructose, sucrose, glucose, and corn syrup. Read all food labels. The average Americans consume nearly 200 grams of sugar a day. Your goal should be consuming less than 20 grams of sugar a day. Can you do that? Try at least.

Complex carbohydrates may include barley, brown rice, beans, whole-wheat bread, oatmeal, green beans and vegetables, and fruits. Any processed carbohydrates should be avoided as much as possible. Processed foods usually come in boxes or cans.

Less belly fat makes you more attractive, and healthier.

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

Are You Overweight?

”Are you overweight?” This sounds like a simple question to answer, but not really. Cultivate your intellect to begin your weight loss. Begin weight loss with knowledge acquisition. Knowledge is empowering.

First and foremost, you need knowledge about yourself: who you are, and what you want.

Are you overweight? This is a simple and straightforward yes-or-no question.

There are three possible scenarios to the question.

Scenario one

Your body shape and the figure on your bathroom scale, or even your doctor’s warning may not indicate whether or not you have a weight problem, because you see no evil and hear no evil. You simply ignore the facts confronting you. In other words, you are in a state of denial. Not confronting the truth is an easy way out of any difficult and undesirable situation in life. If you see no problem, then there is no problem. In that case, you are not overweight.

Scenario two

You are fully aware of your weight problem. But you choose not to do anything about it. Knowing is one thing, while taking action is another. You may have a live-and-let-live attitude. You may have resigned to the fact that there is not much you can do about your problem any way, so why bother yourself with solving it. Yes, there is a problem, but so what? You live to eat, not eat to live. To you, tomorrow is another day, and possibly a better day at that. So, you simply don't give a damn!

Scenario three

You are hurt badly enough that you want to make a meaningful change. You are short of breath when you climb the stairs, you wobble, instead of walking, and you look grossly out of shape. This is the best scenario if you really take some action.

The Complexity of Weight Loss

So, it is not that easy to answer that simple question: Are you overweight?

The following questions may shed some light on how to answer that simple question:

Do you have high blood pressure?

Are your blood cholesterol levels normal?

Do you experience regular physical pain, or frequent headaches?

Do you have difficulty going to sleep?

Do you have insatiable cravings for certain unhealthy foods?

Do you have anxiety or mental depression?

Is everyday life stressful to you?

Do you have any degenerative disease or chronic illness?

Because the answer to that simple question “Are you overweight?” is far from simple, you can now see why weight loss is such a complex problem—so complex that most of us may choose to ignore it totally, instead of dealing with it.

After all, we are human, and it is human nature to avoid any complex problem, and to procrastinate in doing what we ought to do.

But why is that?

It is because we have been exposed so much to the media and bombarded by the weight-loss industry that many of us become confounded and overwhelmed. Many of us simply don’ know what to do, or what to believe. There are many truths, but also many myths, as well as half-truths.

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

Tao Wisdom to Sleep Better

According to Tao wisdom—the ancient wisdom from Lao Tzu, who lived some 2600 years ago—things are not as they seem, nor are they otherwise. In other words, everything is "objectification of the mind"—or simply put, an illusion of the mind. Tao wisdom may show you the ultimate truth of everything. Life is a continual process of discovery of the ultimate truth; it is an eternal journey of exploring and awakening. This  enlightenment may help you solve many of your daily problems that may cause sleep problems.

Tao wisdom may play a pivotal role in your sleep health.

Do you have enough sleep? It is a wrong concept that you can adapt yourself to getting less sleep so that you may have more waking time. If you think you can be a thief of time and outsmart Nature, think again! You will always have to pay back your accumulated “sleep debt” somehow in the form of sleep disorders, which underlie many diseases, including heart attacks and strokes. Chronic fatigue due to insufficient sleep will take its toll somehow and sometime. As a matter of fact, your immune system needs more than nine hours of sleep in total darkness in order to recharge itself completely. Turn off all lights even though you can sleep with some lights on.

Find out if you have enough sleep for your daily good health maintenance: Start going to bed a half-hour earlier this week.

If your alarm clock wakes you up, keep going to bed a half-hour earlier each week until you wake up before the alarm clock wakes you up.

That will be the hours of sleep you really need. Each individual's need is unique. Just don’t deprive yourself of sleep. Health rejuvenation requires daily restful sleep.

Tao wisdom may relieve your stress, which, according to Lao Tzu, comes from the ego, which comes from the mind that perceives the self. Let go of the ego, you may let go of all attachments in the material world that create the ego-self. No ego, no stress, and sleep better.

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

Mindful of Human Relationships

Happiness is an essential ingredient in the art of living well. Happiness comes from emotional, mental, and physical wellness, which are all interconnected because they align the body, the mind, and the soul to enable living as if everything is a miracle.

Good human relationships play a pivotal role in emotional, mental, and physical fitness of an individual. However, good human relationships are hard to come by. 

Any good relationship always begins with “self” first.

Here are some advice on maintaining good relationships:

(1) Be ready to be the first one to take the first step to enhance and maintain  good relationships. Have the wisdom of focusing on others rather than self. Deference to mindfulness of others first holds the key to maintaining good relationships.

Always be in mindfulness of others.

(2) Be grateful that you have the generosity of heart. You may be more blessed than others in that you have a greater capacity for mindfulness than others. Cicero, the great Roman orator, once said: “Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues but also the mother of all the rest.”

Always be grateful for your blessed gift of mindulness of others in your healthy living.

(3) Be positive of others. The great Chinese philosopher, Mencius,once said: “The feeling of compassion is the beginning of benevolence; the feeling of shame and self-reproach, the beginning of righteousness; the feeling of courtesy and modesty, the beginning of propriety; the feeling of right and wrong, the beginning of wisdom. These four beginnings are like the four limbs of man and to deny oneself any of these potentialities is to cripple oneself.”

Always embrace mindfulness of the four beginnings of Mencius in your healthy living.

(4) Be pleasant. Cultivate and develop a cheerful demeanor, a pleasant outlook — the attitude that every problem in life has a solution of some sort.

Always demonstrate mindfulness of positive outlook in your healthy living.

(5) Stop complaining. Keep all complaints to yourself—unless voicing your complaints will improve the situation.

Always resign in mindfulness of contentment in any trying situation.

(6) Try to see the good in others. Wherever possible, give them the benefit of the doubt.

Always be in mindfulness of others’ behavior.

(7) Be mindful of your behavior towards others. According to C.S. Lewis, you may need to “put on a friendly manner and behave as if you were a nicer person than you actually are.” In this way, you will be “really friendly than you were.”

Always act in mindfulness towards others.

(8) Expect  less of others. Never expect others to reciprocate; if they do, let that be a pleasant surprise.

Always expect no mindfulness from others in your healthy living.

If you follow all the above, you will be a better and happier individual.

Mindfulness begins with awareness of what is happening to and around you, especially your actions, reactions, and interactions with others. Remember, you are living in a world of speed and compulsiveness, which focuses much on the self, instead of others.

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

Health Decisions

To become younger and healthier for longer, you must be aware of your own health conditions, whatever they may be at this moment

• Do you have high blood pressure?

• Are your blood cholesterol levels normal?

• Do you experience regular physical pain, or frequent headaches?

• Do you have difficulty going to sleep?

• Do you have insatiable cravings for certain unhealthy foods?

• Do you have anxiety or mental depression?

• Is everyday life stressful to you?

• Are you overweight?

• Do you have any degenerative disease or chronic illness?

It is useless to deny the presence of any health problems you may have. Your awareness of your present health conditions is the first step towards erasing your age.

“All men by nature desire knowledge.”  Aristotle

Health Decisions

Once you become aware of your own conditions, make a decision to bring about the necessary changes – a change in your attitude, and a change in your diet and lifestyle.

Adopt the right attitudes towards aging and wellness. The right attitudes include your quest for health information. According to a research study at Purdue University by Mohan J. Dutta-Bergman, published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, “individuals who searched for health information on the Internet were indeed more likely to be health-oriented than those who did not. Consumers who sought out medical information on the Internet reported higher levels of health-information orientation and healthy activities, as well as stronger health beliefs than those who did not search for medical news on the Internet.”

Knowledge is powerful. Knowledge not only gives you more options in life, but also enables you to make your own health decisions, instead of replying on others to make them for you, such as your healthcare professionals.

Empower yourself with health information. Do not reply solely on doctors or pharmaceutical drugs to make you younger and healthier for longer. They offer no miracle cures.

Nowadays, many doctors may find themselves unable to keep themselves abreast of the new knowledge of medicine in spite of their continuing education. In addition, many doctors may become so preoccupied with the ever-increasing paper work required by the healthcare machinery that they simply do not have adequate time for their patients. If doctors cannot devote their full attention to treating you, it just makes good sense that you should be more reliant on yourself to keep yourself younger and healthier for longer.

The pharmaceutical companies and the FDA have convinced not only the medical establishment but also the gullible public that costly drugs are the answer to all their health problems, despite their dubious track records and often-deadly side effects.

The use, misuse, and abuse of drugs account for 250,000 to 500,000 deaths each year in the United States. And do you still believe that pharmaceutical drugs provide all the answers to your health problems?  Dr. O. W. Holmes, Professor of Medicine, Harvard University, had this to say regarding pharmaceuticals putting you in harm’s way: “If all the medicine in the world were thrown into the sea, it would be bad for the fish and good for humanity.” Dr. Holmes’ statement speaks volumes of the potential harm of pharmaceuticals.

This is not to say that doctors and pharmaceutical drugs have no place in modern medicine – far from it. But you must equip yourself with knowledge to understand what your doctors are telling you, and why you should be taking certain medications, if need be. More importantly, become your own physician, and, indeed, the best you could ever have, because no man can be a perfect physician to you than yourself, and no one can tell you what your body needs other than yourself.

So, without the right attitude, it is difficult to initiate any meaningful change in your life. Let your mind control your body, and not the other way around. Therefore, what you feed you mind is as important as what you feed your body. A toxic mind is worse than a toxic body. Remember, your mind is most powerful if you harness its energies to create the reality for you.

There is some point in life that you must make a decision – the decision on what you believe to be the best course of action for you to become younger and healthier for longer. Everything begins with belief. What you believe is the most powerful option of all.  Nobody can help you if you do not help yourself make that decision to believe.

Make that decision to change now -- not tomorrow, or any time soon. If you keep on doing what you have been doing all your life, then you will continue to be what you have been for the rest of your life.  If you want to be younger and healthier for longer, you must make that decision to take appropriate action right now!

Your decision is present, so is your determination to succeed, no matter what. Make it your goal in life, not just a wish. There is a difference between a goal and a wish. Many people may wish for being younger and healthier for longer, but not too many actually see that happen to them, because they have never turned their wishes into goals. A goal is something realistic and achievable. A goal has a time frame, and is measurable in one way or another. On the other hand, a wish does not require commitment, energy or discipline. A wish is merely a thought. A wish alone, without action, will not make you younger and healthier for longer. Make your decisions to take actions to live your life as if everything is a miracle.

Read my book: As If Everything Is A Miracle: This 125-page book is about the wisdom in living as if everything is a miracle, just as Albert Einstein once said: "There are only two ways to live your life. One is to live as if nothing is a miracle. The other is to live as if everything is a miracle."

This 125-page book is about the wisdom to rethink your mind, renew your body, and reconnect your soul to realign your being for total wellness and well-being to live stress-free as if everything is a miracle. In this day and age, living in different phases of life is challenging. For one thing, in this world of technology and information, many of us are addicted to speed, which seems like a prerequisite for success in career and in many others facets of life. As a result, stress is unduly created, which may lead to toxic actions, reactions, thoughts and emotions.

Consciously and subconsciously we have created for ourselves a world in which our bodies, our minds, and souls have become toxic and we live as if nothing is a miracle. To do just the opposite—living as if everything is a miracle—we have to renew the mind, renew the body, and reconnect the soul, and realign the being so that we know who we really are, instead of who we "think" we are, and accordingly we make the right health decisions.

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

Cancer and Personality

Cancer and Personality

The personality of an individual is no more than a byproduct of that individual's thoughts. In other words, that individual has become what that individual thinks he or she is—a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Studies have shown a close correlation between cancer and personality, that is, the mind.

According to the Chicago Study on cancer, chronic depression plays a pivotal role in the development of cancer. The research findings indicated that the ability to express anger and the fighting spirit against cancer can significantly affect the outcome of the disease. As a further testament, cancer patients who are determined to conduct their own therapy treatments (although this is not what their doctors want) are most likely to get better.

Other cancer studies also indicated that even cancer denial is an effective cancer-coping mechanism in some cancer patients.

In short, your personality, developed and determined by your mind, is critical to the prognosis of your cancer, and hence its ultimate recovery.

Cancer and the Body and the Mind

According to best-selling author Wayne Dyer, “the positive effect of kindness on the immune system and on the increased production of serotonin in the brain has been proved on research studies.” In other words, the mind does have a positive impact on the functioning of the immune system, and hence your combat against cancer.

According to Alastair J. Cunningham, Ph.D. of the Ontario Cancer Institute, cancer patients who had worked the hardest at transforming themselves psychologically in their fight against cancer lived at least three times longer than what their doctors had predicted. Therefore, it makes sense that those cancer patients who have fought the hardest psychologically live the longest. Unfortunately, not too many cancer patients will do just that—fighting their cancers with all their might; many of them simply give up half way, and give in to cancer.

There is often a close connection between the body and the mind. The body affects the mind as much as the mind affects the body; it may be a case of the chicken-and-the-egg.

The Physical Effect of the Mind

Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) is a study of how the mind can affect the immune system. There is increasing scientific evidence that the immune system learns to recognize cancer cells and therefore has the potential to destroy them before they become lethal; that may explain the spontaneous remission of established malignant cancers in some cancer patients.

Chronic stress is one of the major factors contributing to the development of cancer because under duress, the nervous system secrets the hormone cortisol that weakens or suppresses the immune system.

Although the exact mechanism by which emotions and depression may affect the development and prognosis of cancer is relatively unknown, evidently the mind can positively or negatively alter the beginning and outcome of cancer.

Read my book: Congratulations! You've Got Cancer!

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau