If you were asked, “Does your hand belong to you?” you would naturally say, “Of course.”

But ask neuroscientists the same question and they will turn the question back on you: How do you know it’s your own hand? In fact, how do you know that you have a body? What makes you think you own it? How do you know where your body begins and ends? How do you keep track of its position in space?

Try this little exercise: Imagine there is a straight line running down the middle of your body, dividing it into a left half and a right half. Using your right hand, pat different parts of your body on the right side – cheek, shoulder, hip, thigh, knee, foot. With your finger, trace a line over your right eyebrow and over the right portions of your upper and lower lips.

When a revolutionary new technique or therapy is described, it can take a while for science to catch up. Funding must be obtained to conduct studies. Studies must be performed, reviewed by committees of the researchers’ peers, critiqued, refined, and replicated.

This process takes years, and often decades. Much of the medical progress in the last fifty years has resulted from studies that build upon studies, from step by step incremental experimentation, with each step extending the reach of our knowledge a little bit further.

This evolutionary progress over the lifetimes of the last few generations has encouraged us to think that this is the way that science progresses. Yes, it is a way – but it is not the only way. There are scores of important medical procedures that were discovered years, or decades, or even centuries, before the experimental confirmation arrived to demonstrate the principles behind the treatment.

Bestselling author Dr. Bernie Siegel is a well-known proponent of alternative approaches to healing not just for the body, but the mind and soul as well. In 365 Prescriptions for the Soul: Daily Words for Healing Body, Mind, and Spirit he prescribes daily doses of inspiration, hope and love designed to help us navigate whatever challenges life throws our way.  Here’s a sampling of the guidance and wisdom he lovingly offers:

Prescription #12:  Black Holes of Renewal
When we need to find our energy and source, the place to look is in the darkness. It is in the black holes that the energy of creation lives. Whether we are speaking of the universe or of an individual, darkness is the source of life.

A bumper sticker on a car in front of me reads: In a world of deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.

Truth heals. But how? And why? And what good does it do anyway? Plenty.

Telling the truth is about freedom. It is about joy and peace and health and living a life that is meaningful, powerful, connected, and loving. Ultimately, telling the truth is about feeling good in your own skin, unencumbered, free, and having the life that you want to live.

So why do lies so often seem nicer, tidier, easier? The truth is often uncomfortable – because so much shame and guilt are attached to it, because it has been suppressed and left unspoken for years.