I write to you from experience. From testing. From being a scientist of my own life.

Gandhi called his personal journey, Experiments in Truth. Gandhi was a scientist too and made a huge impact in the world by testing his experiments in truth. My experiments are of a slightly different nature, perhaps they will change the world, until then I hope they provide you with some insight to get you closer to your desired goal, one of which may be health.

What is health?

Dr. Herbert Benson, retired head of the Mind Body Department at Harvard Medical School, calls health “Remembered Wellness”. I repeat: Remembered Wellness. Sounds like a state of mind.

Dr. Benson created experiments in meditation. He and his colleagues researched over 60,000 people in regards to the effect of meditation on their health. What did he find? He found that regular, daily meditation for just 30 days, 20 minutes a day will give you the following benefits:

* Decreases cholesterol
* Decreases blood pressure
* Decreases lactic acid in your blood (which is what makes us feel muscle fatigue)

These are all good things.

Also, meditating just 20 minutes a day for 30 days, increases your brain oxygen levels and regulates your metabolism; so all good stuff. But what is it that makes this happen?

Dr. Benson’s research shows a very clear connection between stress and disease. That is high levels of stress creates disease; or more aptly dis-ease. The lack of ease.

Stress is counterproductive to health. This is nothing new. But how is it counterproductive? Stress blocks the immune system's ability to keep the body healthy by responding to disease. This process is called psychoneuroimmunology, or PNI or mind-body connection. Thousands of papers have been written about this. Google it.

Stress is like stepping on the garden hose and keeping the water from getting on the grass. When the grass doesn’t get water, it dries out. So to solve the dry grass problem, releasing the foot from the hose is the solution, not putting more fertilizer on the grass. The same with our health. When you are ill, then removing the blockage ie. STRESS from your life, instead of adding fertilizer (too many medications) is what will create the optimal conditions for your immune system to do its job. Remove your foot from the hose of stress to return to Remembered Wellness.

According to Dr. Benson’s research, STRESS is the cause of at least 95% of illness. Ninety-five percent. That’s only 5% less than 100%. That’s huge. So what should you do when you are ill? Find the cause of your stress and remove it.

Of course, when we are seriously ill, we are afraid, worried, overwhelmed and this creates additional stress. The doctor may not have the best bedside manner which could increase your feeling of uncertainty. But there is a solution to nip this in the bud. Stay in mental, physical and spiritual balance.

I recently had a huge reawakening to this principle. I was pushing hard on all cylinders for courses, for family responsibilities, and for supporting my dad in his business. One day I was so irritable and rude with my wife, family, dad, and assistant, I realized something was up. The next day, my hemorrhoids reappeared after 15 years of being hemorrhoid free .

Arghh! Yuck! So what to do?

Meditate. Turn off the media. Make time for myself and reboot myself physically, mentally and spiritually. To return myself to my natural state of balance. To balance the mind, the body and our spirits desire.

Balance. Ease. Joy.

Regular meditation will change your life. Don’t waste your time getting ill.

Illness happens because you are out of balance. So get back to balance quickly.

If you don’t meditate, do the things that help keep your physical ,mental and spiritual fitness. Exercise, pray, paint, spend time in nature, whether gardening or hiking, read good books that uplift you, write in your journal, write someone a letter, read poetry, read a spiritual story, help someone.

Get your life back in balance.

More info here on his website: https://bensonhenryinstitute.org/about-us-dr-herbert-benson/

Wishing you abundance, joy, and ease,
Stephen Dobos