Goddesses Never Age: The Secret Prescription for Radiance, Vitality, and Well-Being Read Free

messages such as “senile,” “dependent,” and “diseased.” After playing the computer game, the second group lost swing time. They walked as if they were actually “senile,” “dependent,” and “diseased.” However, the first group’s swing time increased. The transformation seemed to be due solely to their unconscious thoughts and the immediate effect of these thoughts on their bodily functions. 9
    How powerful are our attitudes toward aging and growing older? Harvard professor Ellen Langer, Ph.D., in her classic book Mindfulness (Addison-Wesley, 1989), recounts how she conducted a famous study of men in their 70s and 80s. She had one group live as though it were the 1950s when they were in their prime: watching television shows from that era, looking at pictures of themselves in their prime on the walls, reading magazines fromthat time period, and so on. A control group lived away from their daily routine, but without any reminders of what life was like in their youth. Before the study began, the men underwent tests for hearing, blood pressure, eyesight, and pulmonary function. They also had their pictures taken. After two weeks, the tests were repeated. The men who had just lived as if in the era of their prime looked, on average, ten years younger. Their hearing, vision, lung function, and other functions and measures had also improved dramatically. They had a greater sense of well-being. And when they left the venue where they had been living, they all carried their own luggage—like the healthy vibrant men they remembered they could be. The control group showed no changes.
    Here’s another example of research that supports an ageless mind-set. The famous University of Minnesota longitudinal study of nuns, which began in 1986 and continues today, looked at women who entered the cloistered life in their early 20s to determine what distinguished the women who developed Alzheimer’s in their 80s from those who maintained healthy brain function. Each nun had written an autobiographical essay upon entering the monastic life in her early 20s. Only 10 percent of those whose essays were rich with linguistic flourishes, energetic descriptions, and complex language structures went on to develop Alzheimer’s disease, whereas 80 percent of those who wrote plain essays did develop it. This study suggests that being vivacious and fully engaged by our experiences and enjoying our creativity protects our brain health. 10 It’s marvelous that we have so much control over our health and well-being! And now for some really unexpected news out of that study: autopsies showed that the nuns who relished life and showed no signs of dementia had just as many plaques in their brains as the less vivacious nuns whose dementia was apparent before they died. Please reread that last sentence. It is proof that a healthy mind and spirit can exist in a body that is less than perfect. That is the power of an ageless attitude.
    BELIEFS AND BIOLOGY
    The most important thing you need to know about your health is that the health of your body and its organs does notexist separate from your emotional well-being, your thoughts, your cultural programming, and your spiritual outlook. Your thoughts and beliefs are the single most important indicator of your state of health. That is amazingly good news because your thoughts and beliefs can be brought under your conscious control and, when necessary, surrendered to the healing power of Spirit (much more on that later). This is the part of health that Western medicine always leaves out, but trust me, it’s where your real power resides, with no exceptions. Your beliefs and thoughts are wired into your biology. They become your cells, tissues, and organs. There’s no supplement, no diet, no medicine, and no exercise regimen that can compare with the power of your thoughts and beliefs. That’s the very first place you need to look when anything goes wrong with your body.
    Let me be clear here.