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| Positive Is A Choice! |
Good Health is
most notably on everyone’s top ten list of things they desire. Where do you
rate on the understanding of the mind and body connection? Honestly, most
people are so busy, it is something that is easily overlooked. So let’s take a
few moments to take a look at this important issue.
Recall the last
time someone said something hurtful or negative to you. What was your response?
Did it seem like it ruined the rest of your day or week? Did more things go
wrong that day then usual? How many times did it come back into your memory?
Emotions are a
powerful trigger to physical being.
Doctors have taken a look at this. They hooked up monitors to study
brainwaves, heart rate and stress levels. Then they had people look at pictures
of happy scenes, tragedies and then delved into their memory of personal
experience, both good and bad. Positive
pictures and memories stimulated a calm body and even the release of endorphins
which contributes to person’s ability to feel pleasure. Negative pictures and
memories caused the body to release adrenaline and cortisol (often referred to
as stress hormones) which affect the breathing system and heart system. When
you experience this your heart beats faster and your blood vessels constrict
raising your blood pressure. It also effects your muscle system making your
muscles tense and of course your nervous system.
Over time the
state of being stressed effects the body in debilitating ways including
hampering the immune system. A stressed
person is more susceptible to illness, which as you know when don’t feel well,
there goes more stress. It’s like a viscous cycle.
With this in mind, are the people around you
feeding you what is positive or negative? Evaluate this for the different
places you are present; home, work, errands, recreation, family gatherings, and
time with friends.
I suspect
everyone has experienced this scenario.
You have an acquaintance or friend that no matter what is being said or
done they ALWAYS put a negative slant on it. They might say cutting things,
insults, speak of someone who is doing it better, or other demeaning
speech. This is a person you need to (as
relationship allows) either cut out of your life, avoid or be more alert and
active to not be affected by that person.
Though we cannot change people, we can
have an effect on them by tactfully helping them to be more positive.
The most
important thing is how YOU deal with the situation. I love the old adage “sticks and stones will break my bones,
but words will never hurt me.” We can empower people to speak into our
lives by holding on to what they say AND we can disregard what negative people
try to speak into us. This is an active and conscious choice. As children we
were either equipped to handle this and be confident of ourselves or coddled by
parents who “tried to make everything better” which in turn disables the skill
to deal with problems and grow into positive relationships. Negativity
distracts our mind making us lose focus which could be why it seems like
everything goes wrong after we experienced a negative confrontation.
Part of maturity
is being responsible for our own well-being no matter what comes at us. Everyone
in the world is not going to be nice to us; that’s life! However, we have the
power of choice on our side. We accomplish wonderful things when the charge of
being positive is on our side. It tends
to snowball and then we experience contentment and feel as if all things are
falling into place. Our motivation for everything is heightened.
On the other
hand, when we entertain the negative, or worse yet, steep ourselves in it – it to
snowballs into depression, misery, unhappiness, low self-esteem, and steals our
motivation in all areas of life. This debilitates our health and well-being. If
you are a parent, equip your child to handle things head on and give them skills
to troubleshoot social interactions. This ability will build their confidence
and affects their lifelong health. It is also important to realize whether you
are speaking positively or negatively into others. Recognizing and
understanding this body-mind connection can put you ON-GUARD to maximize the positive interaction in your life and
minimize the negative.
