I promise you nothing is as chaotic as it seems.
Nothing is worth your health.
Nothing is worth poisoning yourself into stress, anxiety, and fear.
Most of us know that eating well, and less, and exercising are important components of good health. Yet often we hear about people 100 years old and older that are still vital and have not eaten perfectly or exercised much. So, what is the secret of their good health? Research indicates that a major factor in maintaining good health, even more important than genes, food, or exercise, is how you handle stress.
The human body is equipped with a natural “fight or flight” mechanism that enables us to mobilize strength when necessary. This mechanism allows individuals the ability to fight or to flee from real and present danger. But, this mechanism is also activated every time you perceive there to be a danger, even when no actual life or death danger exists.
For example, it is appropriate for the fight or flight mechanism to gear up if you are being physically attacked. When your stress response is activated, blood moves away from your brain and organs and feeds into your arms and legs to help you fight or flee. Your immune system shuts down, giving you more energy to physically protect yourself and to ensure your survival in this moment. Once the danger has passed, and you have discharged your stress through fighting or running, your body goes back to normal, and the blood can once again flow to your brain and organs.
Imagined threats
But, what happens if your thoughts are creating the stress? What if you are imagining being attacked, or worrying about being rejected by a loved one, or losing all of your money, or losing your job? In these cases, there is no actual real, present or physical danger occurring right in this moment. Yet, your body does not know the difference between something that is really happening to you, and something that you are thinking about happening. The body mounts its stress response the moment you start thinking scary thoughts. But instead of actually being in a situation where you can decide to fight or flee, you are stuck with the anxiety caused by your own thoughts. The blood that has now moved to your extremities, arms and legs, has no straightforward way to be released. You cannot think very well because of the decreased oxygen-carrying blood going to your brain. Your organs are being robbed of their necessary nutrients, and your immune system is not functioning properly. Strenuous exercise may release the stress response, but if you keep thinking the scary thoughts, the response will just gear up again.
Reprogram your thinking
The single most important thing you can do for your health and wellbeing is to become conscious of the thoughts that you have that create stress and become more adept at changing your thinking patterns. People who have learned how to let challenging things roll off their back generally have good health. People who allow the challenges of life to constantly stress them out often have health problems, even when they work at eating well and getting exercise.
Our minds have been programmed from infancy with a multitude of untrue thoughts and false beliefs. It is when we think these untrue thoughts that we cause ourselves great anxiety and our bodies go into a stress response. But, underneath all of that, we know the difference between the truth and the lies. When you move away from the drama and untruths, and into your “knowing”, you will stop thinking the thoughts that cause frequent bouts of anxiety and instead operate from the truth of your knowing.
Thoughts that are untrue cause anxiety. The truth brings you peace. For instance, if you have a thought that you cannot survive being rejected or being alone, you will feel worried and anxious. However, while this might have been true as a child, it is not true as an adult. Your feelings of anxiety are letting you know that your thought is untrue. If you then think instead, “I can handle rejection. I have been rejected before, and I have not perished. I have been alone many times before, and I have survived that too,” your body will release the anxiety and you will feel more peaceful. Your peaceful feeling is telling you that what you are now thinking is the truth.
The very best thing you can do for your own health and wellbeing is to become aware of your thoughts that create anxiety, and practice thinking the truth and find greater inner peace.
Thoughts?
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