But as an actor, one has to manually endow new objects around him with feelings, memories, and images that evoke emotions so that the way he interacts with his surroundings and his props can seem more alive. Why not use this for LOA?

If you want to use a green bean as a placebo, or an M&M, or even just say, “I’m going to cuddle with this teddy bear for ten minutes and it will heal me,” take some time to endow the object that you’re using. Maybe imagine a time when you felt extremely safe or healthy or happy, and bless your object with that feeling. Or construct a *new* happy memory around the object and concentrate until you can feel it like it really happened. If that healing object had a voice, imagine what comforting, reassuring things it might have to say. Really focus on it so the association becomes natural, so that when you even see that object, those emotions naturally arise from it.

Feelings lead to belief, and this has always been a powerful feeling exercise for me.

I know any “placebo” will just be temporary or will just shift the symptoms somewhere else if I don’t get to the original source of the resistance.

If you can take a green bean and believe it will work, rock and roll! If you just can’t quite wrap your head around that green been fixing what needs to be fixed, then the placebo is not going to work. If you know the green bean is not the real cure, then maybe you need to explore what you believe is real (as Patricia and Brigitte said).

I think we all have to figure out what works for ourselves. For myself, I believe that our ailments are caused by stress, emotional hurts and the like. There are many alternative practices like Body Talk, EFT and Qigong, to mention a few, that are my placebo of choice because I believe in them.

Bottom line: What you believe, you will receive.

Just goes to show that our focus matters tremendously, and that what might cause one person to focus on well-being causes another to focus on the symptom.

How interesting we are!!

Thanks for chiming in, girlfriend.

Even once we found drugs that did work, I didn’t get appreciably better. Thinking about it now, I think that’s because just taking the drugs was a constant reminder of my illness. Every night there would be a litany of “bipolar, depression, depression, anxiety” as I took each drug. Maybe your litany is “high blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes”. I think that is why drugs never seem to really cure us, and I think a placebo would have the same effect of reminding us why we are taking it.

I am not totally against medicine, but I do think the best thing would be to focus on well being, and to think about a problem as little as possible. When you are looking for a “cure” you are still looking at the problem.

Come to think of it, on the rare occasion I take an aspiring, I actually think to myself, “Now for my magic pill.”

And it always works like a charm. Even though I know it’s my belief that it works that works.

Regarding the multivitamin … my fabulous doctor Todd Cameron put me on JuicePlus a long time ago. Once I realized the benefit was all in my head, I decided to keep the benefit and get rid of the pills.

But guess what? I started getting colds that I hadn’t had in years, my energy was lagging, and it took me a while to realize/wonder if it had to do with the JuicePlus pills.

So I started them again, and voila. No more colds. I’ve made peace with being a lifetime customer. lol

I’m laughing because I’ve felt inspired in the past to test Robert’s inquiry – Could it be possible to take a placebo KNOWING that the darned thing was created with no intending effect?

My hunch says why the heck not?

I’m perfectly up for testing this on myself. I’m not sure how I’d get my hands on a placebo, but I’d be willing to try it with a multivitamin or someting. (I don’t currently take vitamins of any sort, due to my lack of belief in them in the first place.)
I’ll make a list of physical aspects of well being that I’d like to see improve, and I’ll intend that the multivitamin assists in the changes I seek. I’ll do this for say….2 months and report back on what changes take place. Who’s with me?

Our expectations rule the world we live in anyway. As far as these studies are concerned, I wonder what would happen if placebo groups were given a list of positive side affects…

“Not only will this help you sleep better, but side affects include increased positivity, alleviated anxiety, shinier hair, clearer skin, and whiter teeth.”