a few words ...

60 Minutes – Explosive – What mind can do to affect health

Keith Wommack — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 12:53:00 +0000

Stahl interviewed psychologist Irving Kirsch, associate director of the Placebo Studies Program at Harvard Medical School. Kirsch’s research challenges the effectiveness of antidepressants. He said the difference between the effect of a placebo and the effect of an antidepressant is minimal for most people. During the Kirsch interview, Stahl asserted, "But people are getting better taking antidepressants, I know them. We all know them." Kirsch responded, "People get better when they take the drug, but it's not the chemical ingredients of the drugs that are making them better. It's largely the placebo effect."

Want health – try church?

Keith Wommack — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 13:28:33 +0000

You say you were dragged to church every week? You didn't want to go? Your mother insisted it was good for you? Well, she was right. And in even more ways than she imagined. Turns out, if you're concerned about your health, church is the place to be.

Keeping yourself (and your horse) healthy

Keith Wommack — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 13:34:28 +0000

Health and wellness are important to everyone. 80 percent of Internet users look for health information online. We want to be educated. Yet, health information flows toward us even as we commute to work or relax at home. Advertisements repeatedly broadcast the symptoms of diseases and the side effects of applicable medications. But is this knowledge always helpful? Are we educating ourselves into illness and suffering, inducing problems with fearful predictions and images?

Spirituality rides back into the Health arena

Keith Wommack — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 22:10:37 +0000

Some people are surprised to hear that spirituality ever had a role in healing. However, not counting this blog site, I believe you will hear more and more about the importance of spirituality in regards to health issues. Perhaps we've all forgotten that religions and religious organizations were the first sponsors of medical care institutions.

“Pain is just mental” – says Dallas Cowboy

Keith Wommack — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 14:12:45 +0000

"I don't take any medications,'' Sensabaugh apparently told reporters. "I've dealt with all kinds of illness without medication. I remember one time I had the flu real bad and didn't take anything. Pain is just mental. If I know it's nothing structural, I should be able to ride through it.'' "That's how I was growing up, that's how I've raised my kids,'' Sensabaugh said. "If you fall and bust your head, get up and play. It's not that bad. Usually they get up laughing.'' Pain is a real battle for many people. However, there are those like Sensabaugh who have found that how they think controls how they feel. Studies at Stanford University's Neuroscience and Pain Lab show that redirecting one’s focus can lead to over 40 percent less of an awareness of pain.

Acceptance of Spiritual Healing, An Uphill Climb

Keith Wommack — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 13:02:57 +0000

Those who've experienced prayer-based healing can't help but yearn for the day when others realize its curative possibilities. They will rejoice when there is a greater awareness of a method that helps improve moral behavior and safely heals physical ailments without side-effects.

Sin’s impact on Health

Keith Wommack — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 16:56:22 +0000

There is a lot of suffering these days, it seems. If I wanted to shoot hoops today, but the only sneakers I could find were a pair of size 8½ red high-tops, I’d be frustrated. I wear 9½, and that garish crimson just won’t do. However, if I went ahead and wore them for a game, how do you think my feet would feel afterward? Likely, I would pay a price the following day. In the above example, we could call the impulsiveness and impatience a sin; and it illustrates the way in which sin impacts health by causing physical and emotional suffering. Anger, hate, envy, dishonesty, and all selfishness have unpleasant consequences. And sin causes more than blisters on toes. The entire body is affected by thought. For example, many are studying the role stress and emotions have on cardiovascular disease. How we feel is connected and subject to how we think.

31 Orange Jumpsuits – new beginnings

Keith Wommack — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 14:40:02 +0000

Thirty-one of them, hands behind their backs, slowly made their way to rows of chairs. Thirty-one orange jumpsuits. Four young women. Twenty-seven young men. All in their teens, except two boys, age ten. Thirty-one. Not one smile. Not one hello. Their body language screamed, “Disdain.” I was introduced: “This is Mr. Wommack. He’s here to talk with you. Listen up. If you make a noise, disrupt, slump in your seats, or are in any way are out of order you will lose all privileges the rest of the day.”

Praying away the cookies

Keith Wommack — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 18:10:35 +0000

With Christmas cookies, fruitcake and eggnog tempting us at every corner, it is hard not to gain weight during the holiday season. Yet it is not just holiday foods that are enticing. Oversized and disproportionate – that about sums it up when the average American is 20 pounds overweight. The director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently said, "Obesity, and with it diabetes, are the only major health problems that are getting worse in this country, and they are getting worse rapidly."

Health Benefits of Mistletoe?

Keith Wommack — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 14:13:17 +0000

The National Institutes of Health reports that 40 percent of Americans are actively seeking alternative approaches to health. Since this is the time of year that mistletoe begins popping up, I decided to look into any possible health benefits to this potential alternative. After some investigating, I found that there is no measurable evidence to support claims of a healing effect or improved quality of life from the use of mistletoe extract. So, forget the mistletoe, perhaps, kissing is the key to better health. It’s been reported that those who kiss their partner goodbye each morning live five years longer than those who don’t. Frequent kissing has scientifically been shown to stabilize cardiovascular activity, as well as decrease blood pressure and cholesterol. Is this why kissing under the mistletoe has been going on for decades?

Spirituality -> better mental health

Keith Wommack — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 17:24:05 +0000

While promoting her role in the new Lars von Trier film, Melancholia, Kirsten Dunst recently revealed that she has experienced depression. In the film, Dunst plays the role of a woman named Justine who suffers severe mental illness. Dunst’s admission is yet another celebrity disclosure. Carrie Fisher, Angelina Jolie, and Christina Ricci have all shared similar stories. Yet, there is hope for these women and for everyone. Weeks ago, while in Durham, North Carolina, I attended a news briefing where the Wave III Baylor Religion Survey was unveiled. The survey confirmed what I have been discovering: Improved mental health is found through greater spiritual awareness.

Is there an antidote for (hate) mental poison?

Keith Wommack — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 13:04:22 +0000

Deborah Smith, staff writer for Monitor on Psychology (a publication for the American Psychological Association), in her post Angry thoughts, at-risk hearts, writes “Research findings indicate a clear pattern -- being an angry or hostile person is bad for your heart.” She goes on to cite several studies that prove the point. It’s my experience as a Christian healer that hateful thoughts can be harmful not only to the heart but to every part of the body. Therefore, if hate is a poison, what is the antidote?