The Role of Mindfulness in Healthcare Reform: A Policy Paper
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“Awareness and meditation are, for me,
fundamental to the deep change that is
necessary for healing. Chronic illness is a
way of life as well as, perhaps even more
than, a disease entity. Before we can be
free of the symptoms of illness and the
role of the sick person, we need to know
what has precipitated those symptoms,
and how we are responding to our sickness.
We need to recognize in our own
lives the psychological, biological, and sociological
factors that may affect our
health.
Awareness allows us to see where we
are; to stand for a moment outside ourselves;
to appreciate in a powerful, personal
way, how the world around us affects
us; to observe the thoughts, feelings,
and sensations that arise in us. Meditation
is a state of moment-to-moment awareness
that over time may help to dissolve
physical symptoms and habitual ways of
thinking and acting. Both awareness and
meditation enable us to experience the
way our mind may limit or free us. Together
they prepare us to use our mind to
make the deep changes in thought, feeling,
and action that are necessary for our
healing.”
—James S. Gordon, MD1
Related File(s):
Mackenzie_McCabe_Explore_2009-1.pdf