“Digging the Well” and Personal Transformation

Met some business partners for breakfast at Panera this morning including David, formerly an acquaintance from church who introduced me a few years ago to the whole world of entrepreneurship and the business team that led to my working from home.

David just sent me an email letting me know about his blog with a great title, Digging the Well (you can learn more about the title in “About“), and I just read his latest article on “Identity Transformation” that was so insightful, I wanted to share it with you here.

It will just take 2-3 minutes to read, but the keys it will give you to gently create change in any area of your life are profound…

Just click the title above, and enjoy!

Dr. Ben

Reprogramming Your DNA

What if you could “reprogram” your DNA…and thereby your
very cells themselves?

In 2004, the movie “What the Bleep Do We Know” illustrated the
possibility that repetitive negative thoughts triggering
repetitive negative emotions could so bathe our cells in
certain hormones and neurotransmitters that the cells themselves
would actually shift their receptors—–what they were “tuned”
to respond to—–to such a degree that they became “addicted”
to those emotions and no longer responsive to basic nutrients…

Now more and more research from different sources—–particularly
quantum physics,  medicine,  spiritual traditions, and even
understanding of how computers and the internet work—–are
suggesting profound connections in how our words and language,
our thoughts, and our feelings can affect our cells all the way
down to our DNA…and even the world around us.

This is too “big” a topic to go into in depth today.

For now, just recognize that what you’re thinking and feeling
on a repetitive basis could have a profound affect on your
physical experience…and on your cells.

So practice choosing “good” thoughts—–thoughts that feel good.

Or as Joel Osteen recently said, “Expect Good Things”–—a phrase
I now have written on my mirror in blue dry-erase marker so I
see it frequently as I continue to “reprogram” my own brain and
the patterns in my body.

To your ever-increasing wellness and joy,

Dr. Ben

Can you change?

This weekend a brief research report in MIT’s Technology
Review
caught my attention.  The report described how mature
rat skin cells had been signaled via genes to “revert” back
to undifferentiated stem cells, and then researchers were able
to signal them further to transform into brain cells (neurons)
and to actually improve Parkinson’s-like symptoms in the rats.

What’s so amazing about this report is that the laboratory has
now demonstrated that cells we formerly thought were “fixed”
can completely transform—–seemingly without limit.

We used to think that once a cell had become “differentiated”—
e.g., skin, nerve, muscle, etc., that it’s “future” was then set,
and that it couldn’t change other than within certain very
limited parameters for that particular type of cell.

Now we’re seeing that at the very level of individual cells,
even a “mature”, differentiated cell can be “signaled” to transform
back to an “originator” state where any path is possible, and
then further signaled to become an entirely different type of cell.

Now, what does this mean for you?

How many of you feel “too old” or “too set” or that it’s “too late”
for you to change?

Maybe you’ve been given a diagnosis that’s distressing you…
maybe you feel you’ve missed out on what’s really important to
you over that past decades, or maybe you wish you had more energy,
more passion, more purpose, were more successful, or more out-going,
but that that’s just “not you,” at least “not anymore…”

Well, this report on cells suggests that you indeed may be a certain
way right now, BUT…

even though you may not yet know HOW…

It is indeed possible for you to change…

“Anything is possible…”

Hmm…

Sounds like something I’ve heard before…

Something that requires faith…

That requires my willingness to let go of the way things seem to be
right now, and to open the door to possibility…

How might that change things for you today?

Your friend and partner in health,

Dr. Ben

P.S.  Next we’ll talk about some of the “signals” you may be giving
yourself that are either keeping you the same…or allowing you to change…

If you’re ready to address your own “signals” and shift them “on purpose”
together one-on-one, call 1-888-909-6601 to schedule a personal
consultation and get on the waiting list for one of my monthly coaching
spots.

The Power of Your Questions

Saturday night after enjoying our local outdoor 4th of July
concert, my daughter and I watched the movie “The Bucket List”
with Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson.

Two very poignant questions were brought forward in the movie
that I wanted to highlight here (Morgan Freeman shares these
as two questions that the Egyptians believed you’d be asked to
determine your entrance into heaven):

First…

Did you find joy in your life?

****

Second…

Did your life bring joy to someone else?

****

Wow.

The questions we ask tend to direct our thinking, our attention
and where our energy goes, and the answers that we find. 

What questions are you asking yourself each day?

What are you “aiming” for today, and is it time to change the
questions that you’re asking?

This weekend I also enjoyed a Miley Cyrus song (discovered via
my daughter Gigi’s recent dance recital) “I Learned From You”
and this line in particular stood out to me:

“I learned that strength is a choice.”

Hmm…

What are you choosing today?

What questions are you choosing to ask?

Now how many of you know you want to change the questions
you’re asking but don’t know how?

Well, here’s a final quote from a good friend and mentor,
Artemis Limpert:

“Stop demanding perfection!  You do not have to be good at stuff
coming out of the gate…but you do have to encounter what you’re
not good at…and then give yourself permission to discover what
would support you at a greater level towards your success
.”
(emphasis added)

Give yourself permission…

And discover what would support you…

A friend, a mentor, someone who believes in you…

A book, a program, a resource…

Discover what would support you at a greater level towards your
success…

And now let me close with this very special song from John Mayer
in response to the movie, “The Bucket List”—

Enjoy…and as you listen, see what questions come to mind, and
what ways you realize you can choose to support yourself.

I look forward to hearing from you!

Dr. Ben

Instructions for Living A Life…

This past Saturday night our eight-year-old daughter Emmie, whom some of you know, had the privilege of singing a very special song from the musical Little Women with the local orchestra, and I was able to capture an “unofficial” recording during one of the rehearsals.  It’s on my small computer mike in the auditorium, so not a perfect recording, but I think you’ll still be able to feel something significant, even if you don’t know Emmie, so I’m posting this here.  (I may not be able to leave this recording up here, so wanted to give you all a chance to hear this now).

This same weekend, I was introduced to two amazing poems from Mary Oliver, whom my sister recently heard “live” at UCLA, and they complement the experience of Emmie’s singing, giving different glimpses on how to live…Enjoy!

Dr. Ben

[audio:https://doctorbenlo.com/audio/AstonishingRehearsal6-21-08.mp3]  Emmie’s Rehearsal Debut

Instructions for living a life:

Pay attention
Be astonished
Tell about it.

             (excerpted from “Sometimes” by Mary Oliver in her new collection Red Bird)

I ask Percy How I Should Live My Life (Ten)  (Percy apparently is Mary’s dog)

Love, love, love, says Percy.
And run as fast as you can
along the shining beach, or the rubble, or the dust.

Then, go to sleep.
Give up your body heat, your beating heart.
Then, trust.