Placebo effect: Believing in health. Laying on of hands works. Reducing prejudices against the devil. Eating, not demonizing. Brushing teeth with a plant leaf.
October 22, 2024.
Yesterday, I laid down on the carpet in the living room around half past seven and listened to a podcast about Reiki before going to sleep.
When the hands are warm during laying on of hands, it improves microcirculation at the spot where the hands are placed. Touching, in itself, releases happiness hormones, and a newborn baby seeks physical contact with the mother to strengthen the mother-child bond. Laying on of hands (Reiki) is therefore anything but hocus pocus – it works!
As a physicist, I naturally wondered whether laying on of hands creates a voltage drop between the body area and the hand. In other words: Do electrons flow from the hand into the affected body area? If this is the case, laying on of hands could work like grounding. The hands would then be electron donors and could reduce inflammation in the patient's body (analogy: when walking barefoot, the earth corresponds to the hand and provides the body with free electrons).
At 11 PM, I briefly woke up to go to the bathroom. After that, I continued sleeping and woke up again at 5:15 AM due to the cold. I was finally awake at 7:30 AM.
While I was in the bathroom, I looked at my white-coated tongue and wondered how I could remove this coating without a toothbrush. I used to do this sometimes with a toothbrush. However, it’s not a problem – it works just as well with the front teeth by gently stroking the tongue from back to front.
During breakfast, I consciously paid attention to my feeling of satiety. After half a sweet potato and a slice of bread, I felt like having another slice of bread with chocolate. However, when I tuned into myself, I realized that I was already full and that another piece of bread would only create unnecessary fullness in my stomach. So, I didn’t eat it.
While brushing my teeth yesterday with the cloth, I noticed that this method takes a little longer. I brush my teeth for a longer time. However, I don’t look in the mirror while doing it; instead, I sit in front of the my mother’s laptop and watch a documentary in the meantime. This method works wonderfully without a mirror.
While having an East Frisian tea with a splash of oat milk, I watched a documentary about shamanism and came across the placebo effect. I wondered how I could intentionally enhance it to achieve an even greater healing effect.
Here’s what I learned about the placebo effect:
- The placebo effect is strongly influenced by the patient's expectations. When a person believes that a treatment helps, this expectation can prompt the brain to activate healing mechanisms.
- The placebo effect can relieve pain by releasing the body's own endorphins (painkillers).
- In the placebo effect, the body can release its own healing agents such as endorphins, dopamine, serotonin, cortisol, GABA, and growth hormones to activate or enhance healing.
- The effect occurs in a variety of medical areas, including pain management, depression, anxiety, Parkinson's disease, irritable bowel syndrome, and even in the treatment of cancer symptoms.
- The placebo effect can reduce the need for medication or enhance the effect of medications.
- Anxiety diminishes the effect of the placebo effect. The nocebo effect can occur, where the effect of a medication worsens.
- The placebo effect is activated through conditioning.
- Belief in the placebo effect enhances it.
- Trust and positive interaction with a doctor or healer increase the likelihood of a placebo effect.
- Imaging studies show that placebos influence activity in brain areas associated with pain perception, anxiety, and other emotional processes.
- Not all people are equally susceptible to the placebo effect. Factors such as personality and past experiences with treatments can influence how strongly someone responds to a placebo.
- The placebo effect also occurs in animals. The owner's expectation that a treatment will work supports healing.
- The placebo effect demonstrates how strong the connection between mind and body is. Beliefs and expectations trigger real physiological reactions.
The placebo effect clearly demonstrates how important belief and conditioning are in healing, regardless of whether one is treated medically, spiritually, or in any other way. That's why I say: if one does not believe in spiritual healing (like laying on of hands), then it cannot work!
The raw organic cocoa has arrived, and today I drank my first cup of cocoa. Without additives, just the cocoa. What I noticed is that a full teaspoon of cocoa needs to be diluted with very little water so that the cocoa doesn't taste watery.
While drinking, I watched a documentary about Satanism to break down my prejudices about it. In particular, my prejudices against the devil, who scares me and wants nothing but bad for me. In this way, I want to reduce my fears of "evil" spirits. Satanists operate under the motto: "As you do to me, so I do to you." And what I really like is that they appreciate nature. In the report, the Satanists went out to collect garbage. 😃
If I want to unite the physical and spiritual worlds, then I must also include the devil. He cannot be excluded; he is part of the family. I can see him as an angel who embodies rebellion and independence. A being that opposes authoritarian structures and dogmatic rules. One could also interpret the devil as the shadow side of humanity, which is also part of us and must not be ignored or excluded. The devil brings problems into the world through which humanity can grow.
This evening before going to bed, I will try to use the fabric tooth-cleaning method with a leaf from a tree. If it works just as well as with the fabric, it will confirm my assumption that I don't need fabric for cleaning my teeth, let alone a toothbrush and toothpaste, when I'm out in nature. Nature provides me with what I need for my dental care.
Perfectly aligned with heart time according to the organ clock (11 a.m. to 1 p.m.), the sun broke through the gray clouds. I took advantage of this to let positive energy into my heart while enjoying tea and cookies on the balcony. I savored the cookies so much, and it made me realize again that I should not exclude not only the devil, people, or other things, but also the food I consume should not be "demonized." When I eat the cookies, my former self would think: "Wow, that's totally unhealthy, and it's not good for me." Today, after learning about the placebo effect, I realized that I should enjoy whatever I eat and believe that it benefits my body and soul. Even if, in fact, a cookie is unhealthy, I can counteract its negative effects through the placebo effect and maybe even achieve a health-promoting effect. This thought seemed so brilliant to me that I wrote it down in my journal right away.
Today, I revised many titles of old diares to make them more meaningful, assigned new URLs, and split some consecutive days into separate jou entries. I also added a few old photos.
With that, see you tomorrow!
Today, I am grateful for:
- Realizing that I should not "demonize" food.
- Becoming friends with the devil.
- The sun being out today.
- Having eaten a delicious vegan ice cream.
