Q: I watch “The View,” and Barbara Walters said recently that she visualizes an army of “little people” in her body killing off the bad guys who cause her low back pain. At the end of her meditation and exercise, she feels better. Can this work?
– R.E., Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
A: I saw that episode and applaud Barbara for sharing her daily visualization with millions of viewers. The girls discussed “magical thinking” and even superstition, but those are two different things. I don’t freak out when black cats cross my path, and I walk under ladders. But “magical thinking,” in the form of positive thoughts, can attract better health or serendipitously get you to the right healer. Rosie said, “You have to dream it to live it,” and it’s true. If you don’t believe this, watch “The Secret” (thesecret.tv), a movie that discusses Laws of Attraction and living your dream.
If you think that healing visualizations are delusional, think again. If we take a pill and expect it to work, it will in most cases. But sometimes placebos (dud pills) actually work better than drugs, so maybe expectation plays a role. We also know that stress induces physical illness, so why wouldn’t the opposite hold true as well? Thinking positive may induce physical wellness, so why not give it a try? It’s free — and there are no side effects.
Rosie pointed out that kids with cancer describe chemo as Pac Man eating their bad cells. This reminded me of a gifted young healer called Adam who wrote “The Path of the Dreamhealer” and made a DVD to help those of us with less imagination do healing visualizations. His work can be found at dreamhealer.com.
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