Journal of Sacred Work

   The Meaning Effect could be one of the most important discoveries in the history of care giving.  – Erie Chapman

   How could something you may not have heard of be so important? The Meaning Effect decribes the impact of thoughts on health and healing. It is a
phenomenon so powerful that understanding it can change our lives, whether our doctors or America’s drug companies accept it as true or not.
   You may not recognize the phrase "Meaning Effect" because, for so many years, it has been derided as The Placebo Effect (see yesterday’s essay in The Journal.) Why rename it? Drs. Daniel Moerman and Wayne Jones explained why in a pivotal article in the Annals of Internal Medicine (19 March 2002.) 
   The thesis of their essay is that physicians under-appreciate the power of thoughts in illness by dismissing our thinking with the phrases like, "it’s just in your head." They have treated our thought processes as if they didn’t matter when in fact the clear truth is that placebo’s routinely DO have an effect on the health of many even though the pill they take in studies is "nothing." This effect demonstrates that our beliefs can affect our physical health….   

   It turns out that some of what has been dismissed as psychosomatic
illness is
actually the pattern of thoughts which determine our sense of well-being. There is great hope in this.
   In care-giving
leadership, we know that where attention goes, energy flows. The same
is true of health processes. We can have a wonderful positive effect on
our health by moving our attention away from negative thought patterns
and towards positive ones.

  How do we do this? In other words, it’s not enough for us to say, "I am healthy" if, underneath this statement, we really think the reverse is true. In fact, we all know the trick played by many friends in school. They will say, "I’m going to flunk this test" even as they imagine that this statement is sort of a lucky charm that will drive away the demon of failure. My wife used to play this trick on herself all the time when we were dating in college at Northwestern University. She would say before a test, "I know I’m going to flunk." Instead, she routinely earned "A’s."
   I couldn’t figure this out at the time because I had a habit of taking her pronouncements as literally true. If she said she was going to flunk, I thought she must really believe it. Instead, she was thinking the reverse. Her statements were the sort of odd modesty engaged in by so many. She was also protecting the downside. Imagine if she had said, "I’m going to get an A," and she got a B. It would then seem as though she had failed to reach her goal.
   Mind "tricks" can be more than superstition. When care givers hand a dose of medication to a patient, it might have a good therapeutic effect (or at least be harmless) if they said something like, "I really believe this medication will help you." What caregivers can do is give a dose of hope along with the doses of medicine they hand out.
   For you and I, in our everyday lives, The Meaning Effect has dramatic potential for good. At the beginning of the day, we can begin to engage its power by morning meditations which see the coming day with love and gratitude. We can ground each of our encounters in the thought that each other person we meet is a child of God, the divine spark glowing within.
   We can start by doing the same for ourselves by meditations in which we appreciate the strength, hope and divinity within each of us. We can nurture hope and that hope can drive away the disappointment and cynicism and bitterness that can be so toxic and illness-causing in our lives.
   I know this is not easy. Yet, once we accept the power of The Meaning Effect, once we know that our thoughts are the single most important aspect of our lives, than we perhaps we can find the energy to improve our thought patterns. Better thoughts mean a better sense of well-being. That’s what well being is, isn’t it – hope-based thinking? 
   This does not mean a Mary-Poppins-like disregard for darkness. It means that in the midst of darkness, we know the light is always there. As Adlai Stevenson said after the passing of the great Helen Keller: "She would rather light candles than curse the darkness."
   Where attention goes, energy flows. Guide your attention towards the light. That is where hope lives. That is where you will discover the pattern of thoughts that will change your life for the better.