Hypothalamus

In the book "A More Excellent Way" Pastor Wright speaks of the limbic system being the link between the soul (mind, will, emotions) and the body. It is often medically referred to as the seat of the emotions. The hypothalamus (which is part of the limbic system) is called the "brain of endocrine system". It is a responder to thought and to the environment of your life. It is the originator and facilitator of all expressions of fear, anxiety, stress, tension, panic, and aggression. The hypothalamus responds to you emotionally and spiritually. It will only produce in your body what is happening deep within the recesses of your soul and your spirit. The limbic system functions in the emotional aspects of behavior related to surival. When you feel unloved, victimized, insecure, rejected, or violated your body stays in fight or flight mode. The limbic system also involves memory in that it expresses what it hidden deep within a person.

Diseases that are a result of the disfunction of the limbic system are a result of victimization and rejection by others (either in the past or in the present) that have resulted in self-rejection, self-hatred, low self-esteem, feeling unloved, guilt, fear, anxiety, stress and/or other negative emotions.

These things don't disappear once they have become part of our emotional framework. Unless we are healed from the traumas and abuses of our past (or present) that have created these wounds they continue to have an impact on us not only emotionally but also they can have a devastating impact on us physically.

The word psycho-somatic ...psycho having to do with the mind and soma the body...describes illnesses that are related to the mind. I think that likely every illness has a psychosomatic or mind-body component. In the past psychosomatic illness has just sort of been blown off by the medical profession. Thankfully things are changing and people are starting to see that much of sickness is psychosomatic...and that that DOESN'T mean you made it up somehow! Nor does it mean it doesn't exist. Obviously blood tests continue to prove endocrine malfunctions, anemia, etc... When a fibro patient screams with pain because you have touched the tender points they are not making it up nor can it be simply wished away. These illnesses are as real as you are and if you are one of the afflicted you know it is real without a shadow of a doubt.

Obviously lifestyle and diet play a role in illness. People work around certain chemicals in factories and get sick because of those chemicals. Many illnesses are caused by injury. There is no neat box to put all this in and you can't just pull a bunny out of a hat and it is magically over. But we must not overlook what could very well be the most significant component to healing from illness--the condition of our spirit and soul. What wounds do we carry around within ourselves that could be playing a role in keeping us unhealthy?

Our bodies were designed by the Author of Life to heal themselves, not to progressively destroy themselves. He may have numbered our days...and personally I hope my number exceeds 1000 ...lol...but there is no where in scripture that says that ill health is God's will for our lives. In fact there is much to say the opposite. Also much to say that emotions and sin are involved in sickness. I need to clarify that it is often not even conscious sins we are harbouring, it is the sins of our fathers that have been passed on genetically through our cells, sins (intentional or unintentional) of our parents and the people in our lives as children, or simply something like a spirit of bitterness, anger, fear, etc. that has taken root in one's heart.

I was helpless to control whether or not a spirit of fear would take root in me as a little child, never the less it did. I was not responsible for the death that tore through my life and broke my heart, never the less it did. I am not responsible for the abusive, neglectful environment I grew up in, never the less there I was in the midst of it. But I am responsible for the ways I have reacted to the experience of my life. I could make lists of ways I have sinned in reaction to those events. I could also make lists of conscious choices I made to live in ways that I knew where outside of my Father's will. I think we all can likely do and say many of these same things. Thankfully our Father isn't into list keeping.

Psalm 130
3If You, Lord, should keep account of and treat [us according to our] sins, O Lord, who could stand?
4But there is forgiveness with You [just what man needs], that You may be reverently feared and worshiped.

Dr. Colbert tells a story in his book "Deadly Emotions" of a woman who's husband left her for another woman. He said he watched her go from being a graceful, sweet woman to a bitter, unforgiving, vengeful person who progressively became disabled and died from a severe form of arthritis. He was convinced it was her mental disposition that caused her illness and ultimately her death.

Christ came to heal the broken hearted and to set captives free. Praise Him!!! I want to accept and embrace that healing and freedom that is IN Him.