In the English language, the root word of “wealth” is weal, which means ‘well.’ So once upon a time, being weal-thy probably had much to do with wellness, and little to do with money. Imagine, this means long ago a wealthy individual was a person thought to hold the richness of health. Strange how our value system has changed over the years from considering wellness the most desirable possession one can hold to the modern idea that large bank holdings are what we want. This is true even when we have little doubt money itself is no true indicator of well-being.

Think about it. Many movie and rock stars live in a world filled with all the riches and glamour a person might desire. But often widespread drug abuse and lifestyle excesses leave them less than healthy. In fact many celebrities succumb to multiple addictions and then grow sick in other ways. Despite their money, such famous performers simply can not be considered well, or truly weal-thy in the original sense of the word. Even when we recognize this, most of us continue to dream of piling up money, forgetting our greatest assets are healthy bodies, minds and spirits—and the three go hand in hand.

For years now alternative healthcare practitioners have accepted the notion that a physical body in good working order depends on a balanced mental state—and that a balanced mental state is governed by the emotions held in our consciousness. We often think of a mind filled with thoughts and that is all. But the psyche is also where we register our emotions. In fact, if the brain were a ship, emotions would be at the helm steering the vessel. Neurophysiologists study the functions of mentality and know it is always feelings that come into a person’s awareness first, and then thinking tags along behind. Thus what we think usually depends on our feelings and moods. This is so true that if no particular emotion is being registered at any given moment, the brain will retrieve an old feeling from memory. Whatever thoughts accompanied the earlier feeling often come back again, and then new ideas are added. This is why when things pop into mind from the past, we are left to wonder, “Why now? And why again?”

It is intense feelings— like extreme happiness or pleasure, or at the other end of the spectrum, grief and fear—that make the best emotions for the mind to build thoughts around. Consequently emotion-laden events are played over in our heads repeatedly. For example, burning anger expressed in an argument with a co-worker, or deep sorrow felt at the loss of a loved one. These can come back to seemingly haunt an individual sometimes weeks, months and even years later. If the feelings and thoughts return often, a pattern or habit gets set up, and we are then “sick in the head.”

A mind experiencing the same heavy emotions (and thoughts) again and again becomes obsessive. Such mania can eventually lead to deterioration of physical health. Medical researchers now recognize that the brain does not hold onto its stresses, but rather passes them on to the weakest organs in the physical body. The overall point being made here is that we must keep in mind not just positive thoughts, but the joyful, light feelings that allow such thinking to spring forth in the first place. Then we are apt to experience weal-th, in the sense of wellbeing.

The idea of a link between the mind and the physical body is rarely questioned these days. Most individuals accept that both emotional contentment and a mind rich with optimism lead to physical well-being. But few of us recognize the degree to which one’s physical and mental health is determined by the wellness of the spirit body.

People from cultures with spiritual tenets going back hundreds of generations, understand the roots of physical health are deeper in our systems than thoughts and emotions.  It turns out that a good or bad state of healthiness seems to first appear in the spirit body. In other cultures ‘wholistic fitness’ becomes one of the important reasons to build awareness of, and work with the energy systems in and around the physical body. This can include chakra, meridians and other invisible patterns of vibration. It is encouraging to see many westerners now explore various disciplines and schools that bring to consciousness these more subtle aspects of spirit.

And here’s exciting news from the frontiers of modern medicine. Researchers, like Dr. Valerie Hunt from Los Angeles CA, have developed equipment to investigate disease through the electro-magnetic field surrounding the human body. These electro-magnetics in the vibrational field are what most people have come to know as layers of the aura. Dr. Hunt’s innovative equipment is able to measure any disturbances in the field around the body. What she and other experts have seen is that erratic vibrations sooner or later move into the physical body as disease, if they are not immediately cleared from the field. In the laboratory, they have developed another apparatus to restore the proper vibration to areas of distress. The electro-magnetic equipment uses light, sound or both—not to impact the physical body, but to align the auric layers around it. And as a result, diseases that would have developed, even cancer or other degenerative illnesses, never manifest in the flesh.

Unfortunately, the equipment is very expensive to manufacture and the cost is prohibitive for the time being. But eventually computers will be developed to make it affordable. Once out of the research laboratories and available to the public through hospitals and large clinics, experts anticipate contemporary medical protocol will be revolutionized. Quickly a world-wide movement will spread, where prevention of disease in the spirit body—not treatment after it shows up in the physical—becomes the aim of all health care. Any imbalances in a person’s field, or spirit, will be picked up and repaired immediately through the restoration of proper vibratory rates. It is only a matter of time before such cutting-edge therapy becomes available. The day is fast approaching, and some researchers say that in our lifetime we will see disease turned into a thing of the past.

For the moment, however, most of us are in the process of catching up with people from ancient cultures, and developing sensitivity to our spirits as the deepest roots of health. It may take awhile, but eventually we are apt to let go of our material drives, such as amassing fortunes, to seek spiritual awareness as both a means to, and measure of our weal-th. At that point we will once more recognize the word in its original sense, as wellbeing. May we look forward to that day. In the meantime, let us raise our glasses in cheer and say, “Here’s to our wealth!”