Why do some people always have health issues? Is it normal to always be sick just because one is aging? What is normal? Why are elders in other countries healthier than Americans? Are there other ways to prevent sickness? Do I have to live in pain for the rest of my life? Why do I always get sick this time of the year? It seems like I always get sick when things are going well for me. Is there a metaphor behind a health ailment?

Most of the time our bodies will give us a fair warning that we need to slow down. Catching the common cold or experiencing a headache could be our first warning. We treat it like a false alarm pop a few pills, and go on with our lives as if we were invincible. Some will argue that their sickness happened overnight or out of the blue. While this might be true for a few, most of us live our lives with inescapable stress and compromise our immune systems so we are more susceptible to sickness and diseases. Many people will go to the doctor frequently and never examine their diet, stressload or psychological make-up. There are a lot of us who are always sick and will blame our parents genetic coding for our health problems. Understanding, accepting, and being responsible for our own health are the only ways to control our own wellness and mortality. By honestly examining our lifestyles, emotions, and psyche minutely will help us identify alternative solutions for preventive care.

It has been reported that 70% to 80% of all illnesses seen in medical offices are caused by stress or made worse by stress. High blood pressure, anxiety, panic, depression, ulcer and other gastrointestinal diseases, headaches are well known even to the medical profession. However, many illnesses, which are stress-related disorders, are not considered by the medical profession to be related to stress. Illnesses and conditions such as recurrent colds and flu's, bronchitis, allergy, cancer, diabetes, asthma, skin disorders, multiple sclerosis, injuries, accidents, chronic fatigue syndrome, low back pain, neck pain, abdominal pain, recurrent vaginal infections, bladder infections, alcoholism, drug addiction, smoking along with many other illnesses and diseases which we do not have space to mention are often directly or indirectly related to stress.

If we have the ability to wear ourselves out and create sickness, do we have the capability to reverse the process into wellness? Every cell in our bodies is both structurally and functionally related to every other cell in our bodies. Similarly, all our thoughts, beliefs, fears, and dreams are dynamically connected within the structure and function of our psyche. Emotional experiences, psychological choices, and personal attitudes not only affect the functioning of the human organism, but also strongly influence the ways it is shaped, structured and behaves. This is not to say that heredity, physical activity, nutrition, and environment do not influence the mind/body; they unquestionably do. Rather, we are suggesting that when all these forces are merged in the creation of a human being, the force of the aware human psyche seems to be the most formatively powerful of all.

In conjunction with proper food and exercise, one has to change ones attitudes for mind/body healing to take place. One needs to understand how one works from the inside out. The mind is working and integrating new experiences everyday, every minute, and every second during waking or sleep. Researchers are now able to link external influences to the biological change in ones mental and physical state. Approximately 90% of all genes are engaged in self-regulatory, adaptive responses in cooperation with signals from the environment. Our bodies contain the best pharmaceuticals.