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Dalton
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Dr. Chris Northrup is a gifted doctor whose writings are a treasure trove of information on creating health. On one of her tapes she stunned me when she said, “In the cultures where a woman’s stature increases after menopause, such as the Kung tribe, there are no symptoms at menopause. They don’t have a word for ‘hot flash.’” We might think of some other things that affect women during this frequently difficult phase of life but her lesson is clear: those who condition their mind to look forward to these years of change get through it easier. I wouldn’t be surprised if you are asking, “Do you mean to say women have problems with menopause because that is their expectation? Can a woman actually condition herself to expect problems?” That is exactly what Dr. Northrup is saying. If women in an entire culture glide through menopause because their stature increases with age, what we have is a beneficial conditioning of individual minds through the mass mindset. The stature of American women does not increase with age. Every day of their lives, TV tells them they must stay young. If they can’t stay young, they are urged to do everything possible to keep looking young. The clear message is that they are ready to be deposited in society’s dumpster when they feel or look old. Our culture also conditions old people to plan their activities and projects by actuary tables of when they might expect death. If you don’t rethink these mental images, you will not get things accomplished that have great meaning to you. You will be constantly thinking you might die before you finish them. Once when St. Francis was working in his garden, a monk scolded him for “wasting time in mundane pursuits” when he could be “doing spiritual things.” St. Francis was an advanced being who knew there are no mundane pursuits. He saw that each little piece is a possible path to personal empowerment. The monk said, “What would you do if you knew you would die in an hour?” St. Francis said, “I would keep working in my garden.” It doesn’t take a Ph.D. and years of research to clearly see that we bring disease, misery, and poverty on ourselves all the time by expecting it. A friend often spoke of expecting diabetes because it was common in his family and sure enough, he had diabetes. There is a lesson in Job’s horrendous afflictions. He said, “That which I feared has come upon me.” Is he really saying that his fears fathered his afflictions? We can also be inclined toward health, wealth and happiness by the images we embrace in our minds. In her biography Myrtle Fillmore tells how she was dying of tuberculosis because it “ran in her family.” One night she heard a lecturer say, “You are a child of God and you do not inherit disease.” By pondering that phrase daily, the tuberculosis disappeared and she lived to a ripe age. While the mind-body connection has been firmly established in medical research, the impact of sociological icons and ideas has not had the study it merits. It may well become a rich mine of golden discoveries that we can structure for the health and well being of all the people. Crusty old Vernon Howard was one of the most penetrating thinkers and social psychologists I have studied. He taught the value of constantly observing and conditioning our minds. He urged his students to make a game of catching the things that condition them wrongly. Once you set your mental trotline to catch all the ways society tries to hypnotize you, you will start freeing yourself from robotic attitudes. You will know that you, not society, decide your stature and worth. Mold yourself. It might save you from more mischief and misery than hot flashes.
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