 So I came across a really interesting passage in Bernie Siegel's book, Love Medicine and Miracles. And I thought I would share it here today because I think sometimes in the healing process or sometimes if you're going through the conventional medical system it can seem like any information or anything that's not hard data and hard facts can be BS when it comes to healing. But I found that that's often not the case and that often the patient and the individual person that's trying to heal has some of the most important data of all. I want to share what that is in this video. Hey guys it's Dr. Alex Hein here, Chinese Medicine Doctor and licensed acupuncturist author of the health book Master of the Day. So I've included down below this video is a free link that's four daily rituals that can help you add years to your life with traditional Chinese medicine. When you sign up below the video you'll also get info on if you'd like to become a patient of mine locally or online via telemedicine. So here's the passage that Bernie Siegel said. Now the context for this passage was that he was describing what separates the unusual survivors from the average patient. And here's what he said. He said that physicians must realize that patients they consider difficult or uncooperative are those who are most likely to get well. Psychologists Leonard Derogatis in a study of 35 women with metastatic breast cancer found that the long-term survivors had poor relationships with their physicians judged by their physicians. They asked a lot of questions and they expressed their emotions freely. So to recap these women that were most likely to survive really advanced breast cancer were the ones that were the most difficult but judged by their doctors. They were the most difficult because they didn't just sit back and accept what their doctor said as fact or as the word of God. They didn't just sit back passively. They didn't accept it as a death sentence. They didn't let that become the only thing that dictated their fate. And I think what you often see in these kinds of people is the ability to strongly trust their gut sense to strongly trust their gut instincts about does this feel right and does this sound right. And if not where else do I have to go whether that is a second opinion a third opinion a complete alternative or not even doing conventional care. Now I'm not saying that's what anybody should do but it's interesting that what Bernie Siegel calls the remarkable patients or these unusual survivors they're difficult in the sense that they do not just sit back and resign themselves to fate that this is how it's always going to be. Now I found that both in my own healing journey as well as seeing patients of my own that something that's very interesting is that it's a question that doesn't seem to come up but it's so important is asking the actual person who wants to heal what do you think needs to happen like what do you think you need for this condition to improve or get better. Even my quest to resolve lifelong digestive problems you know I went through the whole conventional medical system from general practitioner to dietitian nutritionist gi specialist that was then recommending colonoscopies all these really invasive serious procedures but internally my gut was saying look what I have right now is really not that serious I don't need a colonoscopy that's probably not the thing that's going to give me the useful data and so I declined it and I never got one and that was the last time I ever saw a physician for my problem that I'm not saying that should be you or what you do what I am saying is it's surprising how often the gut instinct of the person is accurate now that may be something that says you know what maybe for right now in my life even though I'm not supposed to have coffee because it worsens my acid reflux or I'm recovering from burnout maybe right now that cup of coffee makes my first three hours of the day really enjoyable maybe being a little bit more flexible with this crazier that's going on allowing myself to eat sugar a little bit or allowing myself to eat out more because it makes me feel good maybe right now it is the solution and in a year from now it won't be maybe the thing that's going to make you the happiest right now is to get a dog or get into a long-term relationship or scale back on your career even though you have those aggressive financial goals and instead you spend your evenings in a new hobby or you start gardening it's interesting how often we can have these gut instincts like those those heart yearnings and we don't trust them we don't think that they're real we don't think that they're accurate how could that ever be as accurate as a double blind placebo controlled study and I find that clinically it's shocking how accurate they really are so if you're watching this this is really just a call to action to in addition to whatever you're doing to feel well and to heal maybe also start trusting those gut instincts a little more and just play with them at first just see where they go don't expect them to replace all the care you're doing but just see where they lead you in your kind of healing journey as well as in your life so that is my little rant and two cents for the day again if you'd like to stay in touch you can download the free guide right below this video which is four daily rituals that can add years to your life with traditional Chinese medicine it'll also give you info through my newsletter and how to become a patient of mine locally or online via telemedicine right before you go I have two related videos on this exact topic here