Hope is more than wishful thinking in treating disease

     “Everything that is done in the world is done by hope”, Martin Luther once said.  If that is true, does it include our well-being?  Does hope have an effect on our health?

     Yes, according to a recent report on CNN (www.wcvb.com/How-hope-can-help-you-heal).  In his book, The Anatomy of Hope, Jerome Groopman discusses the well-documented research of the positive physiological effects of hope.  He writes, “Researchers are learning that a change in mind-set has the power to alter neurochemistry.  Belief and expectation – the key elements of hope can block pain by releasing the brain’s endorphins and enkephalins, mimicking the effects of morphine.  In some cases, hope can also have important effects on fundamental physiological processes like respiration, circulation and motor function.” 

     But what is hope?  Is it just wishing that we are not sick?  If it is more than that, what is the difference and why is it important to health?

     Shane Lopez, author of the book, Making Hope Happen, states, “there is a profound difference between hoping and wishing.  Wishing encourages passivity, whereas hope represents an active stance.  Wishing is fantasy that everything is going to turn out OK.  Hoping is actually showing up for the hard work.”

     A recent experience I found on-line shows an individual’s determination stemming from hope that helped her control a desire to harm herself through cutting her body.  Entitled, “Hope is not silent.”  This individual wrote, “For months I had written HOPE on my left wrist. It was a visual reminder to me that there was another choice beyond cutting. It was a conscious decision that I had to make every morning to write it and it was a physical action I could actively take against depression. There was something incredibly symbolic about the fact that I never cut when that word was on my wrist and that I had to wash it off in order to cut, so much meaning [was given] to the action of scrubbing away HOPE…” (www.hopeisnotsilent.wordpress.com). 

     Let’s not let any of us scrub away our hope that we can make any necessary life-style changes to improve our health or confront any disease we may face. That’s how hope surpasses wishing and leads to action and real results.

Thomas (Tim) Mitchinson is a self-syndicated columnist writing on the relationship between thought, spirituality and health, and trends in that field.  He is also the media spokesman for Christian Science in Illinois.  You can contact him at illinois@compub.org.