And what is this so called gene theory? Well, back in the 1800s Charles Darwin spoke about this in the evolution of the species, where he said that in order to survive we need to be in constant competition with each other, with other and with species etc right? And when it comes to your life you are basically stuck with with our genes and everything is predetermined pretty much. Little do most people know that near the end of his life, Charles Darwin actually recognized that he was missing one of the most, if not the most important factor in determining the evolution of the species.

What was it that Darwin missed? I’m going come back to that in a little while so do read to the end.

Now, there was this project in the 1980s and it was called The Human Genome Project. Scientists from all over the World got together and the decided that they wanted to map out our genes. Now this was expected to be a groundbreaking event because pharmaceuticals and other companies were going to be able to map out like what gene or genes caused or were present in specific conditions like cancer, autoimmune diseases, etc. So they basically dedicated a lot of resources to mapping out our genome and it turns out that they were expecting at least about 120,000 genes in our genome but they only got back with approximately 25,000 genes which makes us very similar to mice and other animals. This huge discrepancy let to the key researchers questioning whether it is true that our genes have ultimate control over our health. The other key takeaway of this research is that there isn’t a one gene to one condition situation. Many genes show up in many conditions, so the human body is much more complex than they thought. Realizing we’ve been wrong all along, and even though this theory still persists in medical schools today, a new science was eventually born. One which explains our outcome and health much better. It is called Epigenetics means “above the genes” so it’s something that controls the genes. And what controls the genes? Most have concluded that it’s the environment and how we perceive the
environment.

How is that relevant to us in our lives? Well it is extremely relevant because how you perceive your environment ultimately determines the outcome of your health and your life. It means if you want to be happy, you no longer need to wait for something external. You can achieve happiness today. If you perceive a hostile and negative environment around you (bad neighbor, bad boss, bad family, etc) for a long enough time, your brain is going to engage its self defense, preservation mode. Your cells won’t grow, you’ll experience bad day after bad day without end…but, if you perceive the environment as a peaceful, harmonious and positive environment then your health is going to have a better outcome. So the phrase “it’s all in your head” couldn’t be more accurate.

Now, you may or may not believe me, but I wanted to name some examples because I know at this point most people are likely to think this is not true. The brain is not THAT powerful. Well, it is! and here’s some examples. A while back they performed chemo therapy on patients except a group of them received “fake” chemo therapy. It turns out that most people in the group with “fake” chemo therapy actually lost their hair! Interesting studies have also been performed with placebos where, believe it or not, the more expensive the placebo the more effective!. Now, there’s a famous Knee surgeon by the name of Dr. Moseley who actually wanted to prove people wrong of that theory and he performed knee surgery on three different groups of people. Two groups performed the regular procedures they would be subject to, and there was a 3rd group that received a fake surgery. In other words, he put the patients to sleep and he pretended that he was going to operate but he never did operate and to his surprise the patients that received the fake knee surgery or placebo recovered and improved just as much as the other two groups.

So, how’s that for a demonstration of the power of the brain? And what is this message for us? It’s that we control our lives. We control our lives with our thoughts and with how we
perceive the environment and we need to take care of our environment in order to take care of everyone else and our beautiful earth! So you should really give some serious thoughts to your diet, your exercise, or lack of,,, and in general how you talk to yourself and treat your body every day.

Now, coming back to Darwin, he wrote this and I quote:

“in my opinion the greatest error which I have committed has been not allowing sufficient weight to the direct action of the environments, i.e., food, climate, etc. independently of natural selection when I wrote the Origin and some years afterwards I could find little good evidence of the direct action of the environment now there’s a large body of evidence.”

I want to leave you with this message: YOU are in control of your life, so start living it that way! Start approaching everyday as if it was The Best Day Ever! Just give it a try and let me know how it goes…

I hope you liked this post and if you do please remember to like and share it with someone you love and I also have a patreon page for those who want to take it a step further and I’ll include a link for you in case you want to see more posts like this one. I hope you have a really wonderful day and I’ll catch you on the next one!