Dr. Bernie Siegel, author of “Love, Medicine and Miracles,” was once a distraught surgeon who fretted over his inability to effectively serve his cancer patients. Dr. Siegel’s recognition and growing understanding of the mind-body connection eventually allowed him to better serve his patients and himself.

Bernie writes in his book, “When a doctor reports amazing improvements in a patient’s condition, he or she almost never mentions that person’s beliefs and lifestyle, but when I inquire, I find the patient always has made some drastic change toward a more loving and accepting outlook. The patient seldom tells an unreceptive doctor about this, however.”

When the person’s mind changed, the state of the person’s health changed.

However, just covering up the surface with positive thinking isn’t necessarily going to help. It’s like cleaning out a house. The dirt and filth has to be removed and the stale air replaced. There has to be a fundamental change for real healing to take place. Surface level “positive thinking” isn’t going to effect this kind of change, just like lightly dusting our homes won’t get the real dirt out.

What are the dirty and stale things in our minds? Well, they could be things like grudges, prejudices, anger, resentment and hate. One spiritual principle from religion talks about “loving your enemy.” That can’t be done without giving up hate. By giving up something bad, we can make room for something good and may, as a result, see a corresponding change in our bodies.

The problem is that many of these bad things are hidden and we won’t necessarily see them. We can be certain that they are there; it is an inevitable consequence of living in a world that is so focused on selfishness.

In order to find these bad things and eliminate them requires introspection; it requires looking at oneself hard and long. However, there is still a problem. When we are searching within our minds, we have to use a standard. Otherwise, how will we find anything? How will it stand out?

Let’s look to one of the greatest thinkers of the western world, Socrates. What did he do with his life? Didn’t he teach others about virtue? Socrates spoke of absolute goodness, beauty and truth.

If someone that great thought these things were important, perhaps they are the keys to the mind-body connection. To live a truly healthy and worthwhile life, perhaps virtuous thoughts like truth and goodness are what our minds should embrace, rather than the negative things of modern life.

As Bernie Siegel said, “I find the patient always has made some drastic change toward a more loving and accepting outlook.” When we embrace truth and goodness, the beauty of life in this vast universe becomes evident, and then we can heal our bodies. Real healing starts in the mind.