Book Review - The Science of Being Well

By dougnau on Feb 24, 2008 in Book Reviews, Wellness Coaching

Background

As a life coach and wellness coach, the title itself of this historical book really intrigues me. The Science of Being Well written by Wallace D. Wattles in 1910 is another in a series of how to books written almost a century ago. Dr. Alexandra Gayek edited and redistributed this as an e-book in 2004 and has made it publicly available (for free!) to anyone that subscribes to her newsletter. I personally enjoyed Wallace Wattles other book The Science of being Rich - one of the first written introductions to the concepts of the Law of Attraction. For those of you familiar with this writing, you’ll find principles in the Science of Being Well to be both similar and quite interesting. Once again, if you’d like to get your own copy of this free e-book, you can do so by clicking here. Its less than 70 pages and is a very quick read.

Summary

The Science of Being Well has an interesting and different take on how to be well relative to what our common western medical systems and knowledge would have us believe today. Fundamentally, it draws from a series of principles of health that put belief in your own perfect functioning as the foundation for all health. Wallace Wattles goes through a series of chapters describing this principle of health, how one should think, the power of faith and how to act all based on the idea that the way we carry ourselves has an enormous impact - and in fact is the complete determinant of how healthy we are.

The book goes on to give a number of practical suggestions as well. Discussions include when to eat, how much to eat, what hunger is, and how to breathe and sleep. I am happy to see that commentary was provided by Dr. Alexandra Gayek which gives a historical perspective of the principles discussed and this also provides more relevance for the e-book in today’s society.

My Review & Commentary

Dr. Gayek did a good job of walking a fine line of leaving a 100 year old book in its original form while providing current feedback. Clearly many of the ideas and recommendations have an outdated perspective - one in which medical science did not have the same understanding one hundred years ago that it does today. Rather than rewriting the book to make it current (which would have had significant impact on the content), she does well to leave the original script intact and adding appropriate end of chapter highlights that explain new thinking and provide a historical perspective. If Dr. Gayek had approached this in any other way, I suspect she might get some professional criticism by publishing this as her own personal beliefs.

That being said, there is one principle that rings and shines loud in the first half of the book that is very empowering. This is the concept that in order to be healthy, we must truly believe and have faith in the fact that we are 100% healthy. Our body is a perfect image of health, and when we embrace that it will do its own job to heal and perform as intended. In essence the root of disease in the human body is the thought or belief in that disease.

Now of course, we’ve come a long way in understanding disease, cancers, germs, the role of hygiene etc etc etc over the past hundred years and this has done much to improve not only our medicine, but also the knowledge of the general public in how to manage health risk. Few doctors prescribe a healthy dose of positive thinking and a belief that all is well right now! That’s exactly what Wallace Wattles is doing. I am not quite sure that either approach alone is just right, but perhaps intermixing the two provides an optimal result.

As a society we have become victims of our own knowledge. For example, we know what a cancer is. We know the risks involved. They can scare us! This knowledge makes us believe that we will react poorly to chemotherapy, or become sick, or even die. Some people have erred to the extent of believing what medical staff tell us insofar that what they hear becomes truth. What happened to self will in this situation?

I am very pleased to know many people today that believe in principles similar to Wallace Wattles. There are those diagnosed with a variety of ailments that literally are so confident in themselves that they do not believe the odds. And in doing so their odds of optimal health are greatly increased (and even if not, they have lived happily!). I’ve seen in many clients the perception of health is something that greatly influences the potential for depression. If there are any doubters out there as to the power of the mind in relation to our own health consider the placebo affect. Or consider the numerous medically logged spontaneous remissions. How can these be explained. Well perhaps the Science of Being Well does a good job of explaining one reason these might happen.

What I like about the book is that Mr. Wattles spells out a process for believing in health and as a result making the belief so. Its as much a how to book as it is an informational book and it lets you know what to do step by step in creating this internal environment of healing.

My biggest knock on the book is Mr. Wattles take on when to eat, what to eat and hunger. I am pleased that Dr. Gayek provides her comments because many of the thoughts come from a different historical perspective. Some principles like not overeating are generally good tips, but others which do not necessarily encourage a well balanced diet should be read through with caution. As with any book - read it all, embrace what empowers you and use that in your life.

Who is this for?

If you have struggled with being well and are looking for a methodical approach that incorporates your mind in the healing process, this free e-book would be a very nice place to start. Clearly, no one would recommend taking this approach in lieu of your doctor’s advice, but having a methodical mind set towards healing (or as Mr. Wattles would put it - you are already healed!) can never hurt. I’d recommend this to anyone who is looking to recover from an ailment, or anyone in good health looking to prevent an event from occurring. Again, good content and the price is right!

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