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Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Health
As you know I am a big believer in the power of our thoughts. Not only do our thoughts bring us to where we are today and where we will be in the future, our thoughts can also affect our health. When I ended up in the hospital the year following the close of my office, I made a promise to myself then and there that I would not allow myself to become ill from my thoughts and my circumstances.
Think about it. How many times have your thoughts shown up in physical manifestations in your body? Headaches, backaches, neck pain, stomachaches, etc; we’ve all had them. James Allen has said in his book, As A Man Thinketh:
“The body is the servant of the mind. It obeys the operations of the mind, whether they be deliberately chosen or automatically expressed. At the bidding of unlawful thoughts the body sinks rapidly into disease and decay; at the command of glad and beautiful thoughts it becomes clothed with youthfulness and beauty.
Disease and health, like circumstances, are rooted in thought. Sickly thoughts will express themselves through a sickly body….
Strong pure, and happy thoughts build up the body in vigor and grace….
The body is a delicate and plastic instrument, which responds readily to the thoughts by which it is impressed, and habits of thought will produce their own effects, good or bad, upon it.”
Your body is serving your mind, so what is your mind serving up for your body? Negative thoughts such as fear, anger, anxiety, grudges, resentment, guilt, hate, blame, worry, and frustration produce negative effects on your physical being. They can create prolonged stress, wear down your immune system, and drain your energy. No wonder negative people become ill. Mr. Allen says:
“Anxiety quickly demoralizes the whole body, and lays it open to the entrance of disease; while impure thoughts, even if not physically indulged, will sooner shatter the nervous system… Thoughts of malice, envy, and disappointment, despondency, rob the body of its health and grace. A sour face does not come by chance; it is made by sour thoughts.”
On the other hand, upbeat people have cheerful positive thoughts. They have energy, are optimistic about life, and they experience well-being. They do not go around with their heads held low, miserable at the lot in life they feel they have been given. Those thoughts and feelings are just not allowed entrance into their mind. Their demeanor dictates that uplifting thoughts are on their plates. According to Mr. Allen:
“As you cannot have a sweet and wholesome abode unless you admit the air and sunshine freely into your rooms, so a strong body and a bright, happy, or serene countenance can only result from the free admittance into the mind of thoughts of joy and goodwill and serenity.”
It’s your choice! How do you prefer to live your life – in sickness or in health? Give yourself a fighting chance by living positively. Mr. Allen sums it by saying:
“There is no physician like cheerful thought for dissipating the ills of the body; there is no comforter to compare with goodwill for dispersing the shadows of grief and sorrow. To live continually in thoughts of ill-will, cynicism, suspicion, and envy, is to be confined in a self-made prison hole. But to think well of all, to be cheerful with all, to patiently learn to find the good in all-such unselfish thoughts are the very portals of heaven; and to dwell day by day in thoughts of peace toward every creature will bring abounding peace to their possessor.”
That possessor is YOU.
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