The Power of Prayer…or Directed Intention
As the end of the year rapidly approaches I thought it might be an opportune time to shine a little light on something that some call prayer but I call meditation. Well, here’s a little research I picked up in an article written by Tim Utton from the University of Manchester, titled “Tests Prove Prayer Can Cure Illness”:
The power of prayer can heal, scientists have discovered. Research shows heart disease patients are “significantly helped” when prayers are said on their behalf. Prayers may also help those with fertility problems to become pregnant.
Peter Fenwick, a neuropsychiatrist from the British Institute of Psychiatry, said that appealing for help from the Almighty really might work and that devout religions may have been right all along, as he presented his findings to 400 top scientists at the University of Salford in northern England.
Current knowledge of the human mind cannot explain how prayer works, suggesting the mind has unknown powers that can reach out and affect others. Dr Fenwick said: “These are very good studies, properly done. Subjects who are unaware they are being prayed for can be significantly helped.
“The fact that the science seems to confirm the ability of prayer, or directed intention, to heal other people raises the question that the mind may influence other people directly.”
A study at Columbia University in New York asked people in Australia, Canada and the US to pray for the success of named people having IVF treatment in Korea. Of the group in Korea half had prayers said for them by the foreign strangers. Among this half, the success rate for implantation of the embryo in the womb went from 8 per cent to 16 per cent. Cases of successful conception went from 25 to 50 per cent.
San Francisco General Hospital in the US looked at the effects of prayer on 393 cardiac patients. Patients were not told whether they would be the subject of prayers. Half were prayed for by strangers who had only the patient’s name.
Those prayed for had fewer complications, fewer cases or pneumonia, needed less drug treatment and left hospital earlier.
To my mind this research, and a host of others like it, suggest that “wishing goodwill to all” might be a very good habit for each of us to develop in the coming new year.
How About ‘Goodwill to You’?
People are living longer than ever, but research shows we are no healthier or happier so is it worth hanging in there for so long?
The answer is undeniably “Yes”, according to the Resilience Institute. The key to making the most of our time on the planet is improving our ‘resilience’ or ‘the way we handle stress’.
According to Institute research, up to 80 per cent of all illness is a direct result of the way we respond to events and circumstances in our lives. While some of our responses may be hereditary, there is strong evidence that we can change the behaviour with which we habitually respond to change or circumstance. We can change our resilience, or mental toughness.
Australians’ stress levels have risen almost 50 per cent in recent decades, as workplaces put greater demands on fewer employees working longer hours, and our resilience can be further battered by poor diet, insufficient exercise, smoking, too much alcohol, bad sleep, pessimistic thoughts, poor relationships and lack of a philosophy (or a “meaningful view of life”).
The Institute’s website (www.resilienceinstitute.com.au) looks to be worth a visit if you’re interested in improving your own resilience – or we can discuss your suitability to take a short “ Mental Toughness Test ” that forms one of my coaching tools.
