When Watson and Crick discovered the DNA molecule in 1953 they proclaimed, “We’ve found the secret of life!” It sparked over six decades dedicated to the pursuit of uncovering the genetic cause of disease.

We were told The Human Genome Project would map our DNA and tell us of the grave future that lay ahead. Thankfully, Big Pharma had plenty of chemical solutions to keep us alive and ticking.

The results? Well, let’s just say they’ve fallen quite short of the hundreds of billions invested. In 2009, 27 prominent geneticists published a paper in the journal Nature acknowledging they had discovered no more than a fractional genetic basis for disease.

Every year millions of people worldwide attempt to erase memories of shortcomings past by making resolutions at the beginning of January. Fast forward 365 days, and most are doing it all over again with very little having changed in the gap. What stops all of those well-meaning resolutions from becoming actual results that improve the quality and quantity of people’s lives?

Inaction seems to be the obvious answer.  Not doing that which you say you will makes it pretty difficult to achieve much of anything. But I suggest inaction is just another symptom — a symptom of the core problem that robs so many of the extraordinary lives they deserve. The real culprit is “The Limiting Belief,” the deeply held conviction that something is true when it just simply is not.

Soon it will be that time of year again. You’ll see it and hear it everywhere you go. Maybe you are thinking this message is early as we haven’t even made it through the holidays yet.  You say you still don’t know what I am talking about. Well, think about it. After all the shopping and worrying– about what to get who, will it fit, do they have one already, can we afford it, and all the visiting–your friends, your family, your in-laws, your kids, all the partying–cookies and milk, nuts and beer, chips and pretzels, dips, vegetables, wine, cheese and crackers (all, of course, before you sit down to a big meal). And after all the last minute rushing around, lost sleep, and “I’ve got a million things to do”…  What on earth could possibly (and only naturally) follow all this? That’s right–the fever, chills, ache-all-over feeling, coughing, sneezing and complaining of the flu season!

The boss is on your case, kids are busy with school, there are bills to pay, mom is sick and you’ve got stress!

Never before have we lived in a world where we are inundated with non-stop stress from all corners of our lives.  It’s nearly impossible to escape; it’s the number one contributor to illness, days off work and could be considered the plague of the twentieth century.  We’re told we need to “manage” it, reduce it and even avoid it.  But is stress really the problem? Or is it our relationship to stress that is the real culprit?