Foundational Principles of Health - Thoughts
“If you correct your mind, the rest of your life will fall into place.” - Lao Tzu
“When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change” - Wayne Dyer
It doesn’t matter where you’re coming from. It matters where you’re going. Adjusting your thoughts is the first thing to address when wanting to change something about yourself. As we age we become different people in different bodies. When you were 15 years old you held certain beliefs that were different from when you were 6. The same goes for the age or 20, 30, or 70. As we become older (and wiser) it’s important to be open to other possibilities. That may require the bravery of letting go of long-held beliefs that are not serving you.
What do you think about yourself? Do you see yourself as someone who is heavy, sluggish, and out of shape? Do you profess a self-worth that’s rife with negative self-talk? If you see yourself in a negative way, it’s likely you’ll reinforce this image/idea of yourself by behaving in a manner that’s akin to self-sabotage. You MUST be able to alter your conception of yourself to be truly successful. You must be able to envision yourself achieving what it is you want.
Which is true for you: You are what you eat? Or… You eat what you are? If you think of yourself as a healthy person you’re likely to eat in a manner that’s congruent with that self-concept. Conversely, if your beliefs about yourself are negative, you’re likely to eat in a manner that isn’t supportive of the health and fitness you desire.
Do you spend more energy thinking of what you want or what you don’t want? Because we have a limited amount of energy you’ll be better served by imagining what you DO want. Edgar Cayce said “The mind is the builder; the physical is the result.” Persistent negative thoughts should be identified and reframed. For example: “I’m fat” can be reframed as, “I’m on the pathway to improved health and fitness”. Reframing is a powerful way to improve body chemistry.
Your exposure to media and other people can have a strong influence on your thinking. For example, if you watch a lot of news and/or if you tend to surround yourself with people who speak negatively, your thinking will likely become more negative. One problem with negative thinking is with the psychobiological effect. Thinking negatively can lead to an unfavorable hormonal response that’s depleting. You don’t need to live in a utopia dream-land where you never think negatively. But if this mode of thinking is your modus operandi, this is likely one of the first areas to address with a wellness program.
Learning how to think in a way that’s more supportive of your bodymind is a skill. Practice if you want to perfect it. But keep in mind, it is a practice. If you’re in the Turks and Caicos Islands, contact Selfology and we can explore this practice more deeply using heart-rate variability biofeedback.