The Body Has A Mind Of Its Own
I noticed this phrase recently in a book by Dr. Deepak Chopra. The body has a mind of its own. What a wonderful image! It immediately conveys a sense of reassurance, of innate self-sufficiency. Many of us were taught from an early age, by inference or directly, that our bodies are weak and vulnerable. Healing was a process that occurred from the outside—via medicines and doctors. Even today, the pharmaceutical industry endorses this mentality with the full force of one billion dollars a day devoted to promoting our dependence on medications. One recent television commercial featured a concerned mother who swore, “I will never let little Cindy heal another cut without Neosporin!” What responsible mother would?
In fact, our miraculous bodies possess an intelligence that is beyond measure. Little Cindy’s body knows more about anatomy, physiology, osteology, biochemistry, cytology, endocrinology, pathology, and neurology than our greatest scientists know now—or will probably ever know. She furthermore possesses the latest information on mind-body-spirit connections and quantum healing. While scientists have been struggling in their labs for decades, trying to create one single living cell from scratch, little Cindy has been silently creating vast networks of synergistically co-functional cells, tissues, and organs, some at the rate of over one million per minute, all from one originally microscopic speck of matter. She is capable of organizing the individual and shared functioning of an estimated 70 quadrillion cells. She knows how to cure everything from a common cold to cancer, and has already done so countless times. Quite frankly, questioning whether she can heal a half inch paper cut without chemical intervention is like questioning whether a falling building can crush an ant.
From the instant the damage occurs, her body’s intelligence immediately begins to direct a symphony of orchestrated healing actions, all with the ultimate goal of maintaining optimal integrity and human performance. Impulses generated in her brain are sent along nerve channels to every part of her body, aligning the physiology to the task. The blood vessels near the cut will alter their bioelectrical field to allow for the passage of white blood cells through the vessel. Through an amazing process called positive chemotaxis, the white blood cells will travel directly to the site of injury. As the repair and reconstruction take place, a wall of healing is formed at its perimeters, which isolates the damage to a limited area protects the rest of the body from infection.
Hundreds of thousands of messages speeding through the nerve system orchestrates the automatic healing of Cindy’s finger. Microscopic threads of fiber, magically constructed from the raw materials of Cindy’s lunch or dinner the previous day, are drawn across the cut and are actually pulled together, much like a surgeon’s stitching, to close the wound. Inflammation, with its fivefold regenerative components, ensures that infection does not occur and waste products are cleansed away. In the end, the cut will be contained, clotted, closed, and covered with fresh new skin without the need for Neosporin, bandages, or any other tinctures or potions. Indeed, this process is happening throughout her body at every moment, as cells naturally die and new cells replace the old.
The good news is that we can heal ourselves because the body does have a mind of its own. There are many names for this “mind”…”the body’s wisdom”…”innate intelligence”…Gray’s Anatomy calls it, “that mysterious something!” Regardless of what it is called, our bodies express wisdom that is nothing short of remarkable. When we live with respect for, and deference to, this wisdom, we tap into a source of healing, guidance, and personal power which can never be found in a bottle. It is a Bigness of the Healer Within, and if you are alive, you’ve got it.
