Encountering Sexual Diseases & Broken Hearts In “Love” Relationships

In my many years of practicing Family Medicine, I’ve seen, heard, and felt the cries of many a broken heart. It’s hard to forget the flowing tears, and the loud cries of young broken hearts. Unfortunately, so many anxieties about various sexual diseases contracted during “love” relationships afflict a lot of young men and women.

A patient once shared with me that a new boyfriend left and broke her tender heart. Consequently, She was sobbing and crying profusely as she shared her story with me.

Alas, no words could comfort her. So, I just calmly listened as tears filled her eyes and streamed down her face.

Yearning For Home

“I just want to see mom and dad…I miss them so much…want to go home,” she said as the flow of tears choked her words. A deep sense of betrayal, rejection, and abandonment overwhelmed her.

Feeling of loneliness and worries gripped her heart. Someone whom she deeply loved and trusted has left her with a contagious disease, and a made up excuse. The pain of rejection, and the anxiety of a life time of a dreaded disease was too much to bear. So she cried as I listened to her tearful words.

The world with its traps, deception, and demanding relationships is harsh and unmerciful. Sooner or later, we’ll all find out that it’s safer at “home” where parents and those we trust dwell. But, unfortunately, many of my patients and a lot of us did not grow up in such a home. Not everyone grew up, or currently lives, in a home that’s deemed safe. Sadly, many of us dwell in homes with people that can’t be trusted.

Living in a Ruthless World

Nevertheless, in a dark, corrupt and often times unloving world where greed, lust and predators abound, we need a home.

My patient’s world was dark and harsh and so she cried. Many of us cry. Some uncontrollably like she did, while others with silent tears that can mushroom into depression, anxieties and addictions that will need to be treated.

Truly, we live in a world where lies, liars, greed, cruelty, pride, and lust are the norm. Sadly, it’s a place where “love” relationships can be fake, and often times lead to broken hearts and sexually transmitted diseases.

Many of us medical professionals have become so skillful in treating the rampant epidemic of depression, anxieties, and mental health crisis that plague our patients. Fortunately, we have been blessed with so many effective medications to treat these plethora of diseases.

But to heal our anguished hearts from the wear and tear of abuse and rejection in relationships we need a “home”. And in order to heal our deceived and wounded souls from the lashes of a brutal world we need to go “home”.

Going back Home

Jesus tells us a story in the Bible about a son who asked his dad for his inheritance money. He got the money and left home. Following that, he spent his money, energy, and time in fun and pleasures. But like everything else pleasurable in life, all of his fun and excitement ended when his money dried up. And much like what we face today, his “friends” and those he had a relationship with abandoned him. As expected, they drew closer to him to enjoy and take what he offered, and abandoned him when he had nothing left to give.

But, after losing everything; money, friends, and dignity he decided to go back home where he was warmly welcomed and accepted by his Father who represents God.

In a world where predators, abuse, rejection and hurt abound, God offers us a home to come back to.

True healing for my heart and yours is only found in a home, a secure relationship, where we can safely find someone that we can completely trust. Home is a warm place where we are fully and unconditionally forgiven, loved and accepted.

Home: Living in a Trusting Relationship

To Jesus, home is where we find a healthy and trusting relationship with God. It’s where we know without a shadow of a doubt or any hidden agenda that we’re both liked and loved. Similarly, it’s a place of light and peace of heart where we are not “loved” for our bodies, looks, money or success. A home is where The trustworthy God is in a genuine, loving, honest relationship with those who choose to dwell in it.

Finally, home is a dwelling where our self-rejection, self-depreciation, and self-hate end. It’s where self-disdain, devaluation, and self-condemnation cease. Because of that , at home we begin to see ourselves the way God sees us; redeemable, accepted, loved, valuable and beautiful.

I’m certain that it’s only in such a relationship between God and man/woman, with its single motive: love, that our hearts begin to heal. Even in a world where deception and cruel relationships prevail, we can find hope. Ultimately, my patient’s tears will stop, and we will no longer cry when we are back home.

  So he got up and went to his father. “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.“The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

Luke 15: 20-21

Views expressed here are only of the author, and do not represent the views of any other organization or entity. Information in this blog are not meant to be medical advice. Please see your medical provider or psychologist for any of your medical or psychological concerns.

The post Good & Bad Relationships appeared first on Alpha & Omega Healing Arts Dr. Hanna.

In our rushed, business -driven medical health system, doctors and other providers can’t afford to stop and listen. With eyes fixed on fading keyboards and computer screens, and fingers pressing their thousands of clicks who is really listening.?

How many can afford to stop clicking, and begin listening? In our fast-paced medical care who has the time to fix his/her eyes, and be all ears ? Doctors or not, are we all taking time to listen, affirm, and encourage others especially those who look up to us?

My North Star

According to Earthsky.org “The North Star or Pole Star – aka Polaris – is famous for holding nearly still in our sky while the entire northern sky moves around it…Polaris marks the way due north.”

  During the Underground Railroad movement, many slaves in the 1800s escaping slavery in the South relied on the North Star. The North Star also known as Polaris was their only guide into freedom in the North. As long as they looked up to Polaris and followed it, they were destined to be free.

Hence, they ran from their plantations at pitch-dark nights never losing sight of their North Star that guided them to liberty. Their escape North to freedom guided by the dependable bright star, remind me of mom’s own story.

Mom’s North Star

As a child, mom discreetly with others crossed the borders between Eritrea and Sudan during the British colonization of Sudan in the 1940s. In the darkness of the night, she followed her human North Star , a guide from a Sudanese tribe in the region. To her and to the others, he was like Polaris who guided them to escape poverty and war in Eritrea and Ethiopia. He guided them into Khartoum, Sudan, my mom’s ultimate destination, where jobs with British families were plentiful.

She walked in darkness in the African Savanna where hyenas and wild life abound. To her, that caring Sudanese guide was her hero. He was like her North Star to follow and to never lose sight of .

Following My North Star

We live in a world where our supposed heroes, our North Star, can turn out to be Zeroes who lead us astray. The pursuit of beauty, pleasures, wealth, power, position, and possessions is what many of us have made into the Polaris to follow.

I’m now more aware than ever of the heavy responsibility of being viewed as a hero. To be viewed by someone, your children, family members or others, as her/his hero is akin to being trusted as a North Star to be followed. That is, someone trusted as good guide, a role model, and as a cheer leader who cares, affirms, and encourages.

But, who can be that ultimate hero and the true North Star, but God. My Christian faith teaches me that Jesus Christ is like the fixed and unchanging truth, i.e. the true North Star, that I can safely follow to where my heart, soul and spirit can find freedom.

So, how can I ever measure up to such an unattainable and divine goal of being someone’s hero and North Star? And the answer is, I can’t and won’t be able to be a true hero and a Polaris to be followed. That is, until I begin to see God as my hero, and Jesus Christ as the “Pole” star that I look up to and follow.

Views expressed here are only of the author, and do not represent the views of any other organization or entity. Information in this blog are not meant to be medical advice. Please see your medical provider or psychologist for any of your medical or psychological concerns.

The post My North Star appeared first on Alpha & Omega Healing Arts Dr. Hanna.

There is something fascinating and intriguing to young and old alike about blowing bubbles. To me, seeing those cute bubbles forming from a tiny layer of soap, getting bigger, and flying higher and higher was one of my childhood’s fondest memories.

The bubbles created by these bubble guns are always a joy to watch. But just as they capture our hearts and minds when they form and fly away, they disappoint us when they burst and vanish. Unfortunately, no matter how beautiful they appear, each one will sooner or later burst and dissipate into thin air.

In life, each one of us encounters people who say sweet words, show great smiles and nice deeds. But sooner or later, we discover that many of the words and deeds that appear to be nice are just bubbles. Nothing but bubbles that are empty on the inside. Pretty bubbles made up and blown by someone for us, or created by us to those around us. They look and appear fascinating but as soon as we hold and embrace them, they burst and vanish.

In my many years of practicing Family Medicine, I’ve heard thousand of tales from broken, hurt, depressed, and anxious souls. People like us who embraced with hope and held on tightly to nice words and promises that turned out to be bubbles. Nothing but bubbles, false promises, and disappointments.

Empty Bubbles that hurt

Unlike the fun of seeing soap bubbles bursting as we hold them, false words and deeds that resemble beautiful bubbles hurt. More specifically, fake words and pretend actions of love, kindness, acceptance, forgiveness, value, and commitment damage hearts and minds. They’re like bubbles in the air destined to vanish, and to let our hearts down.

Friend, the long list of medications that I can use for my patients’ depression and anxiety is a marvel of modern medicine. Yet, healing begins when the false bubbles of empty words and promises are replaced with genuine love and hope.

My own journey of faith has brought me to finding in God’s Bible promises and written Word a genuine source of hope and love. A source where God’s beautiful words of love, hope, faith and compassion are like bubbles that never burst or vanish, and that I can finally touch, hold and embrace.

Views expressed here are only of the author, and do not represent the views of any other organization or entity. Information in this blog are not meant to be medical advice. Please see your medical provider or psychologist for any of your medical or psychological concerns.

The post Bubbles in the Air appeared first on Alpha & Omega Healing Arts Dr. Hanna.

I still remember the first time I set foot in my Family Practice residency outpatient clinic in Minnesota. A jubilant Family Medicine resident who wanted to be every doctor, nurse, medical assistant, and office staff’s best friend and colleague.

Consequently, I was elated to be in a caring team whose sole purpose and mission was to deliver great medical care to regularly scheduled patients. One of my team members was a medical assistant in her thirties who roomed patients, checked their vitals, and assisted me to meet their medical needs. We were an awesome team, or that what I thought. I did my best to be very pleasant, friendly, encouraging, and kind every time we worked together.

Shakedown

But alas, all my nostalgic feelings of great camaraderie and teamship came to a standstill. The residency clinic manager summoned me to her office and said that my medical assistant officially complained to her about me. Something about leaving a piece of paper in the wrong work area!

“What? She said that…but why, I don’t understand. We’re supposed to be a team who work together and care for one another. She could’ve told me,” I said barely able to hide my deep disappointment. The imaginary team comradeship I believed to be real turned out to be wishful thinking. I was a naive medical student just turned doctor who envisioned compassion, caring, grace, and unity always prevail among all. I was hurt.

Sensing my dismay, shock, and disappointment, the caring residency clinic manager looked at me with compassion and said, ” Do you have family members who care about you?”. It took me some time to understand the depth and wisdom of her question. Probably, she was able to see my aspiration to be part of a compassionate and caring medical team. A new physician who wanted to face the complex challenges of medical care; diseases and death; united in a team and not divided.

Chasing Compassion

The journey of being a physician starting with medical school, through years of residency, and unto the many years of practice are marred by many undesirable moments where no compassion is found. Moments and experiences where grace, mercy and compassion seem at times to cease.

Whether we’re in medicine or not, the question, ” Do you have family members who care about you?”, rings true to each one of us. We all crave, need, and live our lives chasing compassion. When I’m treated with grace mercy, and compassion, I feel valued, loved and appreciated.

Love is nothing but lust, and fake useless nice and polished words without genuine words and acts of mercy and compassion.

Certainly, we need compassion to pick us up, and keep us going in a life where all of us , doctors, patients, men, women, rich and poor of all races, experience more shakedowns and letdowns than we care to remember.

Finding & Giving Away Compassion

In a dog eat dog world where compassion can be illusive and hard to find even among friends, lovers, and family members, generations before us found their solace in this divine words “Through the LORD’s mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not.” Lamentations 3:22 (New King James Version)

Many years after my residency clinic manager asked me, ” Do you have family members who care about you?”, my patients gradually became like family members to care for. Each one of us is that family member meant to care about patients and others in their moments of joy, laughter, failures, tears, and fears. After all, I know how much divine mercy and compassion, and the compassion of many people, have blessed me and changed my life. Our life are forever changed and renewed with compassion.

Finally, I know ( and I’m sure you do too) the hurt and loneliness of being denied compassion, whether in a small residency clinic in Minnesota or elsewhere. But, I also know the dignity, value, and the love felt and experienced when I’m touched by compassion. We all do.

Hence, this is our calling as healers, and human beings; chase after compassion, find it, fully receive it, and freely give it to others.

The post Chasing Compassion. appeared first on Alpha & Omega Healing Arts Dr. Hanna.

According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America ” Anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the U.S., affecting 40 million adults in the United States age 18 and older, or 18.1% of the population every year. “

A while ago, a patient that I’ve treated soon after his return from a tour of duty in Iraq during the peak of the war shared his heightened levels of anxieties with me.

His mind was in a state of war even in the quietness of an exam room in Indiana far away from the battlefields of Baghdad where he experienced the terror of IEDs and the death of few of his army buddies.

To my surprise, his state of worries and anxieties weren’t related to the war zone that he just came from, but to the prospect of not finding a job and the potential financial setbacks in America. He shared that his anxieties about the unknown future awaiting him in the United States were worst than the fear of war and dying in Iraq.

As a Family Physician, I treat a lot of patients who are overwhelmed with their anxieties, and whose minds and hearts are in a constant war against countless fears, worries, and anxieties. Many of us live in an anxiety state worried about when the other shoe will drop, and the feared potential of a financial crisis, a job loss, a rejection, the next email or an unexpected disaster.

We live in a fast paced world that’s overflowing with tension, competition, deception, betrayal, jealousy, and greed. A dog eat dog world where genuine love, grace, and compassion are often hard to find.

Could that be one of the main reasons that 40 million Americans suffer from anxiety? Is that one of the main reasons why hundreds of millions of people globally have anxiety disorders?

Learning When To Stop

The journey of overcoming anxieties and the heightened level of worries in our human minds can take time. Yet, it’s a war that will surely be won with patience, faith, the right thoughts, support and genuine help. And if needed with medications and compassionate professional counseling.

Friends, even as we pursue all of the above in our journey of healing let’s consider and reflect on these words of truth and hopefully transforming thoughts.

Peace, Love, value, security, forgiveness, affirmation and acceptance are God-made and freely given to us by God our maker. Not by a world where love and compassion is scarce but by One Perfect God.

Holiness and perfection is beyond our human abilities. They are offered to us despite our human failures and sins courtesy of God’s perfect love. Not by our imperfect world where hurts and darkness abound.

God’s perfect love drives out our fears

There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

1 John 4:18

We all need to let the soft and caring voice of God lead us, and not to be led by the voice of our fears and anxieties.

Can we hear God’s gentle voice in our loud and noisy world, and in life’s challenges?

Let’s just do our part well, and do the best that we humanly can do, Then let’s stop and have faith that God can and will do his supernatural and miraculous part to change our circumstances, open doors of opportunities, and lead us to what is right and best for us.

God help us all to learn the Art Of Stopping and waiting. To learn when to stop, and to let God take over.

But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

Isaiah 40:31

The post Heightened Anxieties appeared first on Alpha & Omega Healing Arts Dr. Hanna.

You see it everywhere. And not just in race relationship and acts of prejudice.

Even our relationships are marred in Spontaneous Automatic Biases that have been deeply ingrained in us from early childhood. Life experiences, parents, families, friends, culture, Hollywood, and the media all contribute to them.

With Hollywood, the media, and fashion industries setting the standards for  what is  culturally unappealing and what is attractive ( confident, wealthy, debonair, brash, smart, famous, passionate, tall, and very handsome men, and young, beautiful, attractive, fit, fashionable,  blonde, and slim figure women,) one often sees men and women entangled in a web of biases that embroil one against the other. We are all burdened by such biased standards for beauty and appeal that only few of us can meet. The end result is many will experience the disappointment, discouragement, hurt and the unfairness of being biased against.  

Spontaneous Automatic Biases (SAB) lead us to belittle and reduce our own value and that of others. It leads those who are prisoners of its evil grasp into a path of unfairly and immaturely accusing, persecuting, judging, and sentencing others before the benefit of a fair hearing.

SAB makes us view others (and at times even ourselves) instantaneously as guilty until proven innocent instead of innocent until proven guilty.

How many of us likes to be viewed as inferior, damaged goods, old and useless, lazy, fool, idiot and an imbecile until proven otherwise. Yet, this is how spontaneous automatic biases make us view others, and even ourselves, causing havoc and much damage to those on the receiving end.

Unfair biases hurt, demean, lessen, and can potentially destroy those subjected to them.

They can snuff off a young child’s dreams to be all what God created her or him to be.

They can shake the sense of value and worth in the hearts of both young and old.

SAB send an ominous sign and unloving message to its recipients declaring that the inner character, high moral standards, good hard work and discipline, and inherent God-given value of each and everyone is of no significance or worth.

Friends, changing our biases and our SAB can’t happen by reading more books, listening to more lectures, or even memorizing Biblical verses. Such a seismic change can only occur when we admit our biases to ourselves, invite God to dwell in us, and ask for His forgiveness for the wrongs that our biases have caused. Our hearts must begin to change starting with those erroneous thoughts and beliefs about ourselves and others. So, help us God.

Here are the thoughts and beliefs that must change, and be replaced by what’s right, true and excellent:

Thinking of ourselves (or of others) as better, greater, higher, and more valuable than others because of our race, color, wealth, degrees, looks, position, name or fame. God truly resists the proud, and pride comes before the fall as the Bible warns us.

Thinking of others ( or of ourselves) as less, inferior, of no value, unworthy, lazy, easy, dumb or insignificant because of their race, color, culture, looks, appearance, sex, handicap, religion, choices, life views, or age. God loves us all, and He offers forgiveness through Jesus Christ to everyone regardless of color, race, looks, or wealth as the Bible tells us.

Today, we live in a world littered with the toxic effects of biases and prejudices. Many are hurt, and as the saying goes “Hurting people, hurt people.” I’m guided today by two Biblical verse that steady my response and calm my soul when I’m subjected to the flaming arrows of SAB.  I hope that you too will find solace in these two verses.

Do not say, “I’ll pay you back for this wrong!” Wait for the LORD, and he will avenge you.

Proverb 20:22

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Romans 12:21

The post Getting rid of our dreaded Biases appeared first on Alpha & Omega Healing Arts Dr. Hanna.

Toxic Biases

Overcoming Our Biases

The online site Dictionary.com defines bias as an “Inclination or prejudice for or against one person or group, especially in a way considered to be unfair.”

 Spontaneous is defined as “Performed or occurring as a result of a sudden impulse or inclination and without premeditation or external stimulus”

Automatic means “Done or occurring spontaneously, without conscious thought or attention.”

You won’t find the phrase Spontaneous Automatic Biases (SAB) anywhere else because I coined it myself. Years of living and experiencing the school of life, both personally and professionally as a physician, have left me convinced that no one is immune to SAB. We have all been subjected to bias, and just as likely have subjected others to its harmful effects.

How many of us harbor “Inclination or prejudice for or against one person or group, especially in a way considered to be unfair.” What kind of biases do you and I have towards ourselves, and others?

I call it SAB because biased opinions, decisions, words, or behaviors can come at us from others, or from us to others instantaneously, and unexpectedly much like a predator suddenly attacking its prey. We see SAB everywhere. It’s there when we opine about others and when others form opinions about us based on looks, height, color, wealth, profession, culture, or race instead of skills, good character and strong moral stands. You see it at work between lords and peasants, leaders and those they lead, step- families and in-laws, and amongst friends and strangers.

Since setting foot in America, and for many years as a resident and a practicing physician, I heard and experienced enough stories that meet and exceed the criteria of Spontaneous Automatic Biases. Some of those included statements like “Africans are lazy” and “ Do people there live on trees.” Other stories included patients who declined medical care because a physician or a nurse wasn’t the right race, and a white patient in Minnesota who refused to let a brilliant white South African surgeon who practiced in a prestigious surgical group in the Twin Cities remove his diseased gallbladder.

 “He has a foreign accent. I don’t want him to do my surgery,” said the patient to a white American surgeon in the same Minnesota practice where I was doing a surgical rotation as a resident. To his credit, the white American surgeon refused to do the gallbladder surgery and told the patient the inappropriateness of what he said.

 “He is an excellent surgeon who is well educated. You need to go back to him for your surgery.”

Do you have deeply hidden biases in your heart that shape your opinions, words, and behaviors? Do we have spontaneous automatic biases that wound those around us?

I remember when I first came to America, I had a culturally biased view about western women. They were often portrayed in the American movies that we all watched overseas, the magazines we read, and in the traditional society that I was nurtured in, as generally wild and of loose moral standards. My loving dad’s strongest advice to me as I embarked on my journey to America was “Women in America will knock on your door. When a woman in America knocks on your door don’t open it. Let your school and studies be the most important thing in your life.”

Apparently, Hollywood and the media has succeeded in presenting to the whole world its version of womanhood depicting and sadly exploiting all that is sensual and sexual about American and Western women. Thus, it has created a biased view among many people from strict and traditional societies, namely that women are wild, easy, or loose. Sadly, I believe a lot of Hollywood’s biased rendition of women has been believed, copied, and duplicated by young children, teenagers, and adults thus shaping much of society’s norms, beliefs, and behaviors.

As for me, coming from a traditional upbringing to America, the heavy Hollywood influence on the culture has solidified such biased thinking and beliefs. It took me time and God’s help and grace to overcome these biases and see what is right and true in God’s view. What about you? Do biases affect your opinions, view of life, words, and action? And how can we overcome our Spontaneous Automatic Biases?

Until next time, I’ll reflect on this Bible verse that reminds me of God’s view on what really matters.

But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”

1 Samuel 16:7

Views expressed here are only of the author, and do not represent the views of any other organization or entity. Information in this blog are not meant to be medical advice. Please see your medical provider or psychologist for any of your medical or psychological concerns.

The post Spontaneous Automatic Biases (SAB) appeared first on Alpha & Omega Healing Arts Dr. Hanna.

There was a time in my life, during my adolescence, when I didn’t have a clue as what to do, and what my purpose and mission in life was supposed to be. All what I was able to figure out was my realization that I have deep inner soul needs that go beyond my physical needs for a secure home, a place to sleep, and food to eat. We will all, sooner or later, come to the discovery of our deep rooted, and mountain high need to be loved, valued, and accepted.

There is no argument that we all have a long list of wants, asks, and needs. And we often confuse our soul’s deep and God-created inner needs with superficial and fleeting hosts of unfulfilling asks, pleasure driven wants, and greedy “needs”.

But in a world so saturated with deception, manipulation, lies, greed, lust, betrayal and anger that continuously affect our thoughts, emotions, and actions, WHAT do we really need?

As I reflect on the needs of my own heart and soul, and those of the thousands of patients that I’ve listened to and treated throughout the years, I feel firmly convinced that WHAT we all desperately need can’t be adequately, permanently, or fully satisfied in what our world offers. Worldly praises and pleasures, riches and relationships can’t fully, certainly, or adequately meet our inner cries of the heart, or heal its deep hurts and wounds. The evil words and deeds, wear and tear, use and abuse that we’re subjected to, or that we subject others to, need a salve of perfect love that isn’t found in this world, or in any of WHAT it offers.

So friend, what does my heart and yours need?

Here’s a list of our deep inner needs that’s worth pondering upon

Forgiveness/Freedom/Faith, Approval, Redemption, Acceptance/Assurance, Hope/Help/Healing, Love, Value, Companionship, Intimacy, and Security/Safety/Strength.

To meet all these vital needs, you and I have to continually decide on WHAT we must seek and have in order to meet our needs. Am I Waiting/Worshiping, Hoping, Acknowledging, and Trusting (WHAT) in people, relationships, success and whatever looks and sound believable?

Or, am I Waiting/Worshiping, Hoping, Acknowledging, and Trusting God to meet all the deep inner needs of my soul. I believe, it’s through having faith in the truth of God’s Word that my soul encounters His perfect Love which is The Ultimate Unconditional Love that meets all of my inner longings and needs.

Thank God for the unselfish love, help, and support that we’ve all received in one way or another from many wonderful people in our lives. Such people are true blessings and are like light in the darkness of the many negative life’s experiences that we’ve all encountered. The truth is no matter how loving and supportive anyone in our lives is, the ultimate source and giver of love and all blessings is God. We’re only resources, much like tiny branches of a tall red forest tree, and not The Source of love and Life the Almighty God.

Our human tendency is to make an idol to worship of anything, and anyone whom we assume could fulfill and meet our inner needs, comfort, and soothe our wounds. But this will make us sooner or later worshipers of people and things who hope in vain to find perfect love where none is found causing us more harm and soul injury.

So, WHAT is the Source of love and life that will meet all my needs and heal my soul? Who is the Source that will meet all your heart’s needs?

Friends, the answer to these questions will either make us or break us. We must choose wisely if we are to find the ultimate Source of our Forgiveness/Freedom/Faith, Approval, Redemption, Acceptance/Assurance, Hope/Help/Healing, Love, Value, Companionship, Intimacy, and Security/Strength.

The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing.

Psalm 23:1 (NIV)

Views expressed here are only of the author, and do not represent the views of any other organization or entity. Information in this blog are not meant to be medical advice. Please see your medical provider or psychologist for any of your medical or psychological concerns.

The post WHAT DO I NEED? appeared first on Alpha & Omega Healing Arts Dr. Hanna.

Friends, we live in a world jam-packed with lies and awash in the darkness of deception.

We’re all engulfed, immersed, and surrounded by dark oceans of lies. I’m not just talking about a deceptive used car salesman (apologies to those who sell cars. Not all of them are bad) who wants to sell you a lemon or a clunker car with a life span of few days. Lies and deception is what we see, hear, and experience throughout our earthly life span.

Everywhere around us, we see, hear and experience deception and lies. Some of these lies are so cleverly diluted with a 1 to 99% truth that make them believable and trustworthy. It’s in the news, in special interest groups with specific agendas, in social media, and in words and actions we hear and experience from friends or foes. It’s in you and me if we choose to lie and deceive others to satisfy our pleasures or to accomplish some selfish goals.

Even those whose name, integrity, and trustworthiness seem to be ironclad can be wrong, mistaken, deceived and can lead others astray much like a blind leading the blind. In medical school, I’ve often heard this well-known statement attributed to the father of evidence-based medicine Dr. David Sackett:

“Half of what you’ll learn in medical school will be shown to be either dead wrong or out of date within five years of your graduation; the trouble is that nobody can tell you which half–so the most important thing to learn is how to learn on your own.”

Dr. C.Sidney Burwell who was Dean of Harvard University’s Faculty of Medicine 1935- 1949 once addressed Harvard medical students with these words

“Half of what we are going to teach you is wrong, and half of it is right. Our problem is that we don’t know which half is which.” Harvard Medical School’s website at https://hms.harvard.edu/about-hms/facts-figures/past-deans-faculty-medicine

Both of these men realized our human limitations to being infallible, right, truthful and accurate. In my nearly two decades of practicing medicine I’ve seen the truth of their statements again and again. Estrogen and opioids, among many other examples, that physicians were routinely bombarded with news of their safety and benefits, and practically faulted and shamed for not prescribing to their patients( with medical “research” by certain groups and entities to justify their frequent use) turned up to be one of those “half of what we are going to teach you is wrong”. Estrogen taunted by scientific minds and clinicians as great for the heart caused enough heart attacks and strokes to strongly discourage its long term use, and opioids ( including prescription and illicit opioids) killed more than 399,000 people from 1999-2017 ( Scholl L, Seth P, Kariisa M, Wilson N, Baldwin G. Drug and Opioid-Involved Overdose Deaths – United States, 2013-2017. WR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. ePub: 21 December 2018). Someone got much richer with misinformation and deceptive words that misled physicians and patients alike.

Do you wonder what medical information and choices are currently being marketed to us by few entities as right, accurate , and truthful only to be shunned and discredited years later? The art and science of medicine is a blessing and saves many lives but scientific claims that are purposely driven by greed, half- truths, deception, alternative motives, and false information kills and destroys many lives including 399,000 young lives, and counting, who died from overdose.

Truly, deception steals your peace, kills, and destroys. I wonder, how many of us are buried under a load of lies, deception and faulty thinking about our value, worth, and significance? How many of us believe lies, half-truths, and deceiving thoughts about ourselves or others because someone that appears learned, smart, trustworthy, and nice said it.

Is what you heard yesterday, hearing today, and will hear tomorrow about you from others 100% true? Are those negative thoughts you and I have about ourselves, others, and about our future 100% true?

Friends, let’s be wise. Human words, thoughts and the evaluation of others (and our own negative thoughts and views of ourselves) are mostly subjective and can be based on wounded feelings, biases, prejudice, turbulent emotions, greed, lust, jealousy, anger, ambition or pride.

Put what you hear including new scientific claims under the microscope. We must be critical thinkers who take the mean and negative words and thoughts targeted at us by others, and those we inflict on others with a grain of salt.

A lie and a deceptive word can only hurt us and destroy our lives if we believe it and embrace it as the truth.

In this dark world of overflowing lies and deception, I’ve decided to seek and pursue the truth of God who declares me valuable, worthy, and significant. You and I are declared by God in the Bible as worthy of love, forgiveness, acceptance, and redemption. And that’s The Truth that we can fully embrace, find hope in, and that will bring light to every heart overburdened by the evil darkness of lies and deception.

Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

John 8:32 (NIV)

Views expressed here are only of the author, and do not represent the views of any other organization or entity. Information in this blog are not meant to be medical advice. Please see your medical provider or psychologist for any of your medical or psychological concerns.

The post Lies…Lies…Lies appeared first on Alpha & Omega Healing Arts Dr. Hanna.

Friends, we live in a world where everyone seems to be saying “YES” and “SURE” to every rotten, bad idea, suggestion, and temptation. We say “YES” when we should say “NO”, and say it too early, and far too often.

In my many years of medical practice, I’ve treated thousands of patients who routinely nodded their heads in the affirmative and said “YES” to the temptations of smoking, vaping, drugs, sexual conquests and marital affairs and ended up with a life time of diseases, emotional suffering and regrets. I still recall one of my young patients who looked friendly and down to earth. He was in a relationship with a woman who pushed him into saying “YES” to tempting sexual conquests that he eventually regretted and was quite burdened by them. It was sad to see how easily he, and others whom I’ve seen in my years of practice were pressured into saying “YES” to some risky ideas and directions that he and the others foolishly followed and later regretted. Hopefully, they will all find their way out of their mess with true repentance and getting hold of God’s forgiveness.

He and many others have become people-pleasers who rarely say “NO” because of the fear of losing jobs, promotions, relationships, belonging and acceptance. And like them, all of us have fallen into the trap of not saying “NO” enough times in our daily life experiences. Instead, we often choose to say “YES” when the answer should have been “NO” or “NO WAY”, and we eventually end up paying physically, mentally, emotionally or spiritually for our unwise choices.

So friends, I leave you with these wise words from the book of Proverbs:

 Give careful thought to the paths for your feet
    and be steadfast in all your ways.
 Do not turn to the right or the left;
    keep your foot from evil.

Proverbs 4:26-27 (NIV)

And before I forget, here is what I told, and continue to tell some of my patients who seem to be chronic “YES” men and women:

“It’s OK to say NO…NO…NO”

And if you can’t say “NO” upfront to a fishy and questionable enticement, then for goodness’ sake at least say “May be. Let me think about it. I can’t give you an answer right now”, and run away before you say “YES”.

Friends, you and I will still live and even prosper after we say “NO”

The post Say “NO” appeared first on Alpha & Omega Healing Arts Dr. Hanna.