Where The Mind Goes, The Body Follows

We've all heard the old adage, "you are what you eat". Anyone who has ever asked me even the simplest question about health and well-being has always gotten an earful on diet and nutrition! It is true: the quality of the food you eat is directly related to level of physical health you will create for yourself. Given a couple of weeks of just eating a "little better" can give us a tremendous boost in how we look and feel, physically and emotionally.

What we often overlook is the power of our minds to create a healthy body. Let me assure you, this isn't some psycho-babble conversation piece that you'd expect to overhear between two white-haired professors at a coffee house. It is a fact that our reality and our lives is mostly made of what we create for ourselves.

The thoughts we think and the inner dialog that we engage in most every minute of every day has the greatest bearing on our health and well-being. You might want to read that sentence again! You see, the thinking patterns that you have, the way that you emote internally about yourself and others will have the greatest bearing on the vitality of your body.

The reason is because internal thoughts create chemical changes in the body, each and every second. A person who lives in happiness and appreciation; with a positive, optimistic outlook on life, despite its challenges will enjoy a stronger and healthier body than someone who is negative, dark, and pessimistic. Even the simplest of words that we use with ourselves and with one another mean so much as they can evoke a positive or negative chemical change instantly in our bodies. For example, a simple compliment given to a co-worker, "you look very nice today Sally" can positively change both your chemistry as well as that of the person getting the compliment for several hours. It feels good to give, and receive! Unfortunately, the opposite is also true: "I look fat in these pants" will negatively impact your body and will reinforce the negative aspect(s) you really want to change. Instead, think and act positively and if something is not the way you want it to be, then take the action necessary to improve or correct it.

Which brings up another adage that might need tweaking a bit. "If you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything at all". And from our examples above, this saying holds water...but needs go just a little further. So I submit: "If you can't think something nice, then don't think anything at all". What we say to others impacts us both, but what we think does also. Just because you thought something negative but didn't say it doesn't mean it doesn't change your chemistry or the body chemistry of those around you. The human nervous system is an ultra-fine computer and it reads all kinds of data! Others around you can sense what your emitting and their chemistry will respond, even if their mind is not privy, their bodies always are. Everyone is tied into each other's "wireless network".

Surely we can't be positive all the time and with everyone, that's for game show hosts! What we can do is be more sensitive and aware of how we think and act and make a very conscious effort to better ourselves in this manner. This will improve our own health and the well-being of others around us. These changes are a process, and the more you practice them, the easier they'll get.

I believe this is why spirituality and religion are so important. While I am not a religious scholar by a stretch, it is my observation that religions are born out of a deep love and appreciation for life and the awareness that we are all one; that what we say/think/do impacts those around us. Words of prayer and praise are meant to be positive and uplifting. Can this explain why praying for those who are sick may give them the edge they need to recover? I believe this to be simple and true.

So I ask you, "Are you creating your life the way you want it to be? Are you using your mind and your vision to create the reality and the experience you want to have in this lifetime?" It's not hard, you just need to step outside of yourself every so often and assess where you are in life and where you want to be. Once you have assessed, you may need to implement "course correction", or make some adjustments to keep you fine-tuning your direction towards your goals. Start with your internal dialog, how you think and how you speak. Where your mind goes, your body follows and you have the ultimate power to create your life the way you want it.

In health,

Dr. Brett Saks