Wednesday, May 25, 2016

Insuring Good Health: The Power of Being Positive

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. 



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