In response to my search for ways in dealing with hopelessness, I came upon the tool of imagery (the use of the imagination) as used in motivational psychology of business.

They documented that the salespeople who imagined desirable outcomes had indeed better outcomes, as measured in higher sales. In April of 1971, I applied this simple principle of imagining the desired outcome to my first patient.

He was a 61-year-old gentleman with advanced throat cancer with a stated prognosis of three months, and radiation therapy was to be used only as a palliative measure. Not only did he recover rapidly, he also showed absolutely no side effects from high dose radiation.

With this experience as an academic radiation oncologist, the logical choice for an inquiring mind was to explore this area, which was new to me and to modern medicine.

This opened the whole sphere of the role of the mind and emotions in the healing process and determined my further professional direction.

I was unaware of the history of imagery. I didn’t know that the cave dwellers were using imagery, as determined by the cave wall paintings. As far as we can tell, these paintings did not serve any esthetic purpose, but were to direct the imagination of the dwellers in a desirable direction, and involved the themes of hunting/gathering, fertility and healing. This makes the use of imagery in healing at least 20,000 – 40,000 years old.

The first writings on imagery in health were by ancient Greeks. Just imagine, in comparison to modern times, the technological limitations in their diagnostics and therapeutics, which made the physicians of the Hippocrates era very aware of what was going on in their patients mind. They formulated and emphasized three principles of the use of imagination in health:

1. Imagine the disease as curable.
2. Imagine the treatments as effective.
3. Imagine the body as capable of healing itself.

These three principles, as translated into cancer or other diseases, would look like the following:
Creating healthier beliefs about cancer or the other serious illnesses. For example, realizing the facts about cancer cells: that they are weak and confused, with a disturbed metabolism, and are therefore sensitive to treatments.

Furthermore, cancer cells have never been demonstrated to attack healthy cells – quite contrary – because of their oddity, cancer cells are easily identified and destroyed by immune cells.

Improving our beliefs about everything we are doing to help in the healing process: the conventional and unconventional treatments that you are participating in are your powerful friends and allies.

The dietary changes you made, the physical activity you are engaging in, and the very important mental-emotional work you are doing increase your grounded hopefulness and joy of life.

Strengthening our belief in the power of our self-healing forces. Trust that your healing processes have been effectively eliminating cancer cells and other diseases from your body since before you were born. Science learns more about these processes, but our organisms knew them before we knew science.

After 33 years of experience with the use of the imagination as a tool in healing, I believe that the Greek principles are still valid. With the following guidelines, the use of the imagination is even more effective.

Imagine the desirable outcome.

Imagine it in your own natural way. Appreciate that you are already an expert in using your imagination and that you’ve been doing it all your life. Thinking what you had for breakfast or what you are going to have for dinner are common examples.

Keep the meaning and intensity in what you are imagining.

Before using the imagination, first engage in activities that increase joy or deep meaning in your life. This process is only necessary if your energy for using your imagination in a healthy way is low. And if it stays low, I would encourage a different process of using imagery.

First, begin to focus consciously on your breath by mentally saying “in” when you breathe in, and “out” when you breathe out. And as you begin to do this, create a tiny smile just for yourself by thinking about things that are uplifting, refreshing and beautiful, things that you appreciate in the present moment (such as the temperature of the room, the comfort of your chair or bed, the beauty of the nature that surrounds you).

And by the time you have taken six or eight conscious breaths this is enough to have improved your relationship with your day. And this process can be used very frequently throughout the day. Use this process when your energy is low.
We are using our imagination for everything all the time. One of the most common unhealthy uses of imagination is worry, which is imagining undesirable outcomes. It is important to be mindful of our imagination and use it more consciously and wisely.