WELLNESS
LOVING, HEALING
And Going Beyond
T
he following are anecdotes from a recent conversation with Dr. Bernie Siegel about
healing.
As Mother Teresa said, “I will not attend an anti-war rally, but if you happen to have a
peace rally, call me.” That woke me up. When you are waging a war you empower the
enemy. What are you focusing on? The battle. But if you look at how can I heal my life,
how can I find peace, then your internal chemistry changes. This is not a miracle. This is the
way you heal your finger if you cut it. It’s built in.
When people give up being the submissive suffering patient and become what I call a
responsible participant in their life, they’ve got a chance. Give it a shot. What have you
got to lose? It’s not about oh, I failed, I didn’t love enough, I didn’t get well. No. It’s, let’s
see what can happen.
I have a letter from a woman that I have saved for over 25 years. Her parents committed
suicide and told their children to commit suicide. And this woman was so enraged. She’s
WELLNESS
the only one alive in her
family and I’ve known
and cared for her. And
she found faith. “I had no
control over the parents
who raised me or the
experiences I was subject
to. But when I let love into
my prison, it changed
every negative item in it,
meaning the experiences
in my life, and turned
them into something
beautiful.”
There was a young teenager I knew who was HIV
positive due to sexual
abuse from his parents
and their friends. His
home was like a prison
where he had to do
favors for everybody.
He called me one day
and I was trying to help
him survive, and he said,
“Dr. Siegel, I’m going to
commit suicide, I want
you to know that.” I said
“Tony, why don’t we kill
your parents? Why kill
yourself?” His words were,
“I never want to be like
them. I’m going down to
the subway and I’m going to jump in front of the
A train.” And a few hours
later I heard from him,
and this, I would say, is a
miracle. He said, “Well, I
was standing in the station and there was no
train. It didn’t come. And
I saw the hotline number
for suicide prevention
so I called them and
they came and rescued
me. They’ve taught me
about love.” And that’s
when you begin to feel
there must be an angel.
We don’t know why the
train didn’t show up. But
it saved his life. And he’s
always been a teacher
to me. He wasn’t battling,
hating, cursing, wanting to kill his parents. He
was able to let go, have
a quiet mind and be at
peace.
I don’t have a problem
helping people die. They
get tired, well, my father’s
words were “I need to
get out of here.” He was
tired of his body and
he let my mother and
I know. I didn’t go out
and get him a bunch of
drugs and say here, take
these, you’ll be dead.
We helped him live his
last few days and share
wonderful stories about
his life and he died, literally, laughing, looking
wonderful, at the stories
my mother was telling as
he was surrounded in a
room full of loved ones.
A doctor called me
and said, “My mother’