Book Review: The Biology of Belief 10th Anniversary Edition

The biology of belief has been one of those books that cut a mark in human consciousness. Many similar books has been written before and after this book. What makes it unique is that who is writing is an academical research cell biologist.

The part of the book I enjoyed most is the first part where Dr Lipton describes how he came about to his discoveries and how those discoveries had an impact on his life. (One could argue that it could have been the other way round, that his life created the milieu for the events and the aha moments to happen and be registered by his mind, but anyway)

It was refreshing and at the same time fascinating to my scientific mind, to have Dr Lipton describe in terms of atoms, molecules, DNA and receptor proteins in cell membranes, how the environment changes the outcome of the response in the cells.

He eventually builds it up to encompass the idea that we are not a single identity but a community of 50 trillion cells that have found it beneficial to live together. 

From there he takes it up to the next step. The cell does not know the difference between being in a community of cells or being in a Petri dish. The cell will always respond to the environment in which it lives.

This book, 10 years ago, heralded the advent of epigenetics, that is the study of how it is the milieu in which the cells grow that determines if they die or live, if they reproduce or remain dormant, if they specialise in muscle tissues or brain tissues. Dr Lipton calls it the New Biology.

This then brings in the third phase of the book that emotions govern our bodies and its real implications.

So who creates the environment for the cells in the body? The blood. And what’s in the blood? Hormones, that are secreted according to commands coming from the brain. And who controls the brain? Emotions. 

That emotions have an effect on our bodies is something that now, 10 years later, many know or at least have heard about. How many truly believe it as a true biological fact that is another matter. How many medical doctors have really downloaded this fact in their daily practice is a sad story to tell.

We are still conditioned by the belief that we are victims of our genes and that the medical establishment will have a pill to make us feel better. 

The medical establishment is still held under the belief that genes rule the cells, even if there are more than ample studies showing otherwise and Dr Lipton diligently mentions some of them.

We all know that hard core believes are very difficult to change especially if those believes keep many under the control of a few and that those few make buckets of money out of it.

I would recommend this book to all but especially to all science students and a must for medical students. Perhaps one day will see Quantum Healing as mainstream medicine.

(I was given a copy to Review)

Review book: You Can Heal Your Heart

This book came my way providentially. My heart needed a lot of healing and letting go of old wounds.

So as Louise Hay and David Kessler would put it in the form of affirmation, all people and all situations are delivering me towards my higher good.

An easy book to read, chapters divided into short sections, gentle in its words, respectful of the matter being discussed but firm in showing the path to self-empowerment and healing.

This book deals with all that has to do with losses that clog our hearts leaving it blocked and shrivelled for years causing prolonged sadness, anger and a complete disappointment in life. An ever bleeding wound that will not let us live our life to its completeness.

It is only through thoroughly honouring our losses, live in and move through the grievance that we can slowly change our usually biased perception of what has happened. Repeated affirmations will slowly dissolve away our negative thoughts. Healing will bring us to a place where we can safely let go of pain and sorrow leaving us free to hold our love as a beacon to all that, who and what we loved and cherished in this lifetime.

The book makes no distinction between mayor or minor loss. 

The heart does not make that difference.

Besides the classical losses of death, divorce and broken relationships of all kinds, the book dedicates a whole section on disenfranchised grief, that is that grief for which people do not feel they have a socially recognized right to grieve such as, LGBT relationships, loss of pets (a whole chapter is dedicated), abortion or miscarriages, suicide, drug/disease related deaths, loss of jobs or a kind of life that can never be again like it was before, such as cancer patients.

The beauty of this book is that it lovingly points out many times that all our interrelations and exchanges with and within this world are assigned to us for our own healing. That relationships and events are our guides and teachers that the Universe uses to help us discover within ourselves the Divine and the Power we all carry within and rarely acknowledge.

So now grab your pen and several Post-it and start writing your way out of grieve and your way in to your true free loving self.

The book will be published on the 4th February 2014

World Diabetes Day 2008 / Giornata Mondiale del Diabete 2008

More than a year has past since I was diagnosed of Diabetes. It has been a long journey (and still is) of coming to terms with the fact that this disease symbolises my ultimate incapability of living emotions in a healthy way.
What I have learnt is not only to make eating a fine art of balancing but also (and the most important part) a long process of learning about my emotions, learning what troubles me and act upon it in the most serene possible way.
Diabetes for me has become a physical meter of my whole physical, spiritual, emotional and mental well being. A meter of how well I’m learning my lessons in this life.

Più di un anno è passato da quando mi hanno diagnosticato il Diabete. E’ stata una lunga strada ( ed ancora è) di venire a termini con il fatto che questa malattia è il simbolo per eccellenza della mia incapacità di vivere l’emozioni in modo salutare.
Ho imparato non solo la delicata arte di bilanciare quello che mangio ma anche (ed è la parte più importante) un lungo processo per imparare dalle mie emozioni, imparare cosa mi preoccupa e gestire la situazione nel modo più sereno possibile.
Il diabete per me è diventato un metro fisico del mio intero benessere fisico, spirituale, emozionale e mentale. Un metro di quanto sto imparando bene dalle lezioni di questa vita.

Emotions are the salt of life / L'Emozioni sono il sale della vita

Emotions are the salt of life, too little or too much alters our personal emotional growth as a whole person.

I was “deaf and dumb” to this essential part of my life….finding myself in a situation where my emotional growth was stuck far way behind my real biological age. Causing not only undesirable confusion with consequent pain and solitude but also an utter ignorance of who I am and what I want in my current life.

I’m learning to deal with emotions and not vice versa . To question them, look at them, consider and evaluate them, live them without being drowning….What others have taken years to learn I’m trying to catch up in the least possible time while respecting my learning capabilities.

Emotions are there to help us grow. They are like books, they come in all sorts of colours, sizes, languages and fonts. Some are easy to read, others come in volumes of complex writing that take weeks or even years to metabolize. It doesn’t matter, what it is important is to know when to close the book before water reaches flooding levels.

Some must be taken in pinches as salt…such as catalysers in biological chemistry crucial for life’s sustainability , so are emotions spiritual catalysers. Used in nano levels are vital for growth, exaggerating in doses can be tremendously toxic if not fatal.

It all boils down in knowing where to stop, close the book, temporary place it in a virtual mental library and take it out again after what has sadden the heart has been understood by the soul.

L’emozioni sono il sale della vita, troppo poco o tanto altera la crescita emozionale che porta ad essere una persona completa.

Sono stata “sordo e muta” in questa parte essenziale della mia vita…trovandomi in situazioni dove la mia crescita emozionale si era blocca molto dietro a quella che è la mia reale età biologica. Causando non solo un confusione non-desiderata con annessi dolore e solitudine ma anche una totale ignoranza di chi sono e cosa voglio nella mia vita odierna.

Sto imparando a gestire l’emozioni e non l’incontrario. Di analizzarle, guardarle, tenerle in conto e pesarle, viverle senza che annego strada facendo….Quelli che gli altri hanno imparato negli anni io sto provando ad imparare nel più breve tempo disponibile senza oltrepassare i miei limiti di apprendimento.

L’emozioni sono li per aiutarci a crescere. Sono come dei libri, vengono in svariati colori, dimensioni, lingue e caratteri. Alcuni sono facile da leggere, altri vengono in tomi di scrittura complessa che possono prendere settimane se non anni per metabolizzare. Non importa, quello che è fondamentale e sapere quando chiudere il libro prima che le acqua raggiungono livelli d’allarme.

Alcuni vanno presi come il sale a piccole quantità….come i catalizzatori nella chimica biologica indispensabili per il sostentamento della vita, cosi sono l’emozioni, degli catalizzatori spirituali. Usati a nano livelli sono vitali per la crescita, esagerando con la quantità possono essere tremendamente tossici se non fatali.

Tutto sta nel sapere quando fermasi e chiudere il libro, posarlo nella biblioteca virtuale della mente per poi riprendere la lettura quando ciò che ha turbato il cuore è stato capito dall’anima.