Sunday, October 17, 2010

The Spontaneous Healing of Belief: Book Review


The Spontaneous Healing of Belief: Shattering the Paradigm of False Limits. Gregg Braden. New York: Hay House, 2008. 216 pp

The Spontaneous Healing of Belief, written by Gregg Braden, seeks to shatter the false beliefs that hold us captive. Early in this book, Braden writes:

“How would our lives change…if we discovered that we’re born with the power to reverse disease? Or what if we could choose the peace in our world, the abundance in our lives, and how long we live? What if we found that the universe itself is directly affected by a power that we’ve hidden from ourselves for so long that we’ve forgotten it’s even ours?”

Citing study after mind-blowing study, Braden makes a good argument that we do, indeed, possess such abilities. But we’ve forgotten all about these godlike abilities we have because we live in a world that accepts and promotes limitations.

I know…Braden is not the first person to make such claims. But Braden goes further, surmising that we live in some kind of a “simulated reality.” In other words, our world and universe is a great big computer and we are both acting out and creating its programs which form our reality (think The Matrix). I know this sound bizarre, but Braden actually backs up his claims with convincing scientific evidence.

After establishing the existence of this simulated reality, Braden tells us how to communicate with it to alter its programs and to create so-called miracles in our lives.

The message of The Spontaneous Healing of Belief is one of power and hope for a world that seems to possess little of either. The power is in our hands to make or to break our own personal lives and the world that we live in. Let’s start using this power wisely.
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Sunday, October 10, 2010

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT): A Mindfulness-Based Therapy that Just MIGHT End my Panic Attacks

I have just completed my second appointment (and experience) with Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. ACT is a mindfulness-based therapy that, according to my therapist, has proven to be extremely effective at treating panic disorders and depression. In particular, ACT has shown to prevent relapse of these disorders.

What do I think of ACT so far?

I am intrigued by the process. ACT teaches you to separate your thoughts from your person. We are not our thoughts and our thoughts get us into a lot of trouble. I have long studied the Eastern practice of mindfulness, but have not been successful at practicing it on my own. If my therapist can teach me to stay in the present moment and become mindful of each present moment, I expect ACT to be successful for me.

Why? Because panic attacks are all about living in the future—dreading, anticipating the next panic attack. Once you have a panic attack in one situation or environment, you become fearful that you will have another one in that situation or environment.

And, sure enough, you do have another one in that situation or environment. But your own fearful anticipation causes you to have the next panic attack, and the next one and the next one…

It has become a vicious circle for me that I hope a mindfulness-based practice such as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy will help me to break.

I’ll keep you posted.