Once upon a time, I knew an amazing man named Mister Bob. He volunteered at my school. He didn't have a specified duty there; he just helped out where needed whenever he had the time. Interacting with Mister Bob inevitably taught you two important lessons: not to judge a book by its cover and that positivity is powerful. I never learned the details about what happened to Mister Bob (something I still regret), but what I was told was that sometime in his adult life, he was in a car accident. It caused him brain damage, but the brain damage only affected him physically. He had stilted movement and spoke slowly and with difficulty, but his mind was anything but slow. He was very intelligent and had a great sense of humor. He could tell you about any subject from math to history to football. I often think about how frustrating it must be for him to be "normal" on the inside and "handicapped" on the outside. When most people saw Mister Bob, they automatically started to treat him like a child, assuming that he'd been that way since birth and that his mind had the same deficiency. I think if I were in his shoes, that would have driven me bonkers. However, Mister Bob was the nicest, most understanding and most positive person I've ever known. Every time someone asked, "How are you?" he would say, "I'm doing my best!"
It took me a while to comprehend what a great way that is to answer that (almost too common) question. There are a few ways to hear that; "doing my best" could be "things are better than ever" or "things aren't really working out right now but I won't let it get me down". It solves the problem we all have of when things aren't going great and someone asks how we are. Most of us, since so many people ask "how are you" without wanting the long answer, answer "fine" politely and get on with the conversation. Now we have this still polite and hopefully more honest answer of "I'm doing my best". If you say it with a smile and make it true, you'll feel a difference. When life seems to be conspiring against you, just try to do your best. I would say, "all you can do is your best" but that's not really true, is it? You can always succumb to the less-than-pleasantness of life and think "nothing is ever going to work out for me" or some such hopeless mantra, but that doesn't help anything. Also, some people would "go Yoda" on me with "Do or do not; there is no try" but I think there is tremendous valor in trying. Nobody ever got through anything successfully without trying! And even if you don't succeed, trying makes the situation better than it would have been otherwise. Trying keeps hope alive, and hope can do amazing things.
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| What would happen if these little guys didn't have enough hope and positivity to try? |
So, we know that positivity is great for keeping a healthy heart and mind, but how does it affect our body?
There has been loads of awesome research about how the mind affects the body. I wish I could go into all of it here, but I think my fingers would fall off from so much typing, and that is just not an option for a bodyworker. ;)
Since I can't get into all of it here, I suggest you do your own research. If you're only going to look at one thing in this subject, make it reading/watching What The Bleep Do We Know!? The makers of this book and movie went through so many awesome resources and arranged them beautifully for the average person to understand.
Other books to check out would include: Molecules of Emotion, The Intention Experiment and The Hidden Messages In Water.
"All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything.
What we think we become." ~ Buddha
Let's first address the elephant in the room. The concept of "the power of positive thinking" and "mind over matter" is a controversial one. These views are often seen as "woo woo" (Who came up with that term, anyway?) and books on the subject are kept in the New Age section. These days we define reality by what we can scientifically prove, but science is run by scientists, and scientists are people and people have prejudices. There is a lot of prejudice against this kind of stuff, and it's ingrained in all of us. All I ask is that you keep an open mind. Just think about the theory of this for now, then look for the truth in your own heart and mind. Do experiments. Start small. Do you find power in positive thinking?
One great example of the mind affecting the physical is the experiments started by Masaru Emoto. He discovered that positive and negative thought drastically affects water. He subjects water to different music, different thoughts or different areas with different collective attitudes and then freezes the water and photographs the ice crystals that form.
The difference is amazing, no? Now think about this: your body is mostly water. Heck, the planet is mostly water.
"Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself." ~ George Bernard Shaw
I also firmly believe that Louise L. Hay is onto something. She compiled an A to Z guide of "dis-eases" and the thinking patterns that contribute to them. It is simply titled, "Heal Your Body" and also includes the positive thinking patterns for each "dis-ease" that will help you overcome your ailments. It takes faith, I know. You wouldn't think that changing your thinking can heal anything from a runny nose to cancer, but this just goes back to having to try. If you won't try, of course it won't work. Anyway, she did try, and she did succeed. She was diagnosed with cancer, and after six months of an intensive program of affirmations, visualization, nutritional cleansing and psychotherapy, she was completely healed and her doctor was amazed.
"Unto the pure all things are pure; but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled." ~ Titus 1:15
It is common knowledge that stress affects us physically. Stress is a major factor in about 80% of disease. Type "stress causes" into Google; it auto-populates "stress causes cancer", "stress causes weight gain", "stress causes acne", "stress causes hair loss", etc. In my experience, I have found that when I give in to stress instead of "doing my best" and finding the silver lining, it definitely affects my body. My digestion will suffer, my face will break out, I'll get twitchy and sometimes even skip a cycle. Yet if I am under the same amount of stress but focus on staying positive and keeping my mind in a healthy state, my body stays on track. Sometimes it's simply a matter of finding your "happy place". Sometimes you need help from a professional. I don't necessarily mean a counselor though; counseling definitely has its place, but often I find that massage, reflexology, acupuncture or energy work does more for me than just talking about my stress. But let's turn this around: if stress is so bad for you, how good for you is positivity? Can you be bigger, faster, better and stronger? Will you live longer? I believe so.
So, what do you think? Do you have any stories about the power of thought? I'd love to hear all of your thoughts on these subjects.
Until next time, take care. ❤
