WHAT DO YOU THINK?
Are your thoughts negative or positive, and do they affect your health?
In Proverbs 23:7, Solomon writes “for as a man (or woman) thinks within himself, so is he (her).” In this present time, with the specter of the pandemic, with economic uncertainties and a general distrust of all things authoritative, what are you thinking about? Are you sick with worry, confused with doubt or stressed over uncertainty? Have you noticed that you’re not feeling as well as you did a couple of years ago? In fact, what did this past year’s lockdown do to/for you; did you become a monk, a drunk, a chunk or a hunk?
Whenever we get sick, the three underlying causes will either be chemical, physical or emotional. Chemical means you either ate, breathed or touched something that caused you harm; physical means a body part isn’t working correctly or you encountered a physical trauma; and emotional means you created the illness via your thoughts. This third cause is known as psychosomatic (psyche = mind + soma = body) and is “relating to having physical symptoms but originating from mental or emotional causes.” You can literally think yourself sick, and there has been an abundance of studies this past 18 months that have shown this pandemic causing an increase in stress, fear and uncertainty, leading to more chronic pain, fatigue and muscle weakness. If any of this is true for you or someone you know, here are a few strategies you might wish to employ.
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a form of psychological treatment that believes psychological problems are based, in part, on faulty or unhelpful ways of thinking; on learned patterns of unhelpful behavior; and that by learning how to change your thinking patterns you can be better at coping with your problems, relieve your symptoms and be more effective in managing your life. (Search CBT for more information)
Meditation and relaxation techniques are helpful because one of the underlying problems people encounter when stressed is that they forget to breathe. “Life is in the breath, and she who only half breathes, half lives.” (Yoga proverb) A quick search of the internet will lead you to a number of sources showing you how to relax and how to meditate. One of my favorite quotes is from Mencius, a Chinese philosopher, who said “if you know the point of balance, you can settle the details. If you can settle the details, you can stop running around; your mind will become calm. If your mind can become calm, you can think in front of a tiger, and if you can think in front of a tiger, then you will surely succeed.” Perhaps it’s time to calm your mind.
Unlearning negative or detrimental habits. This usually requires a coach, but can be done on your own if you have the discipline. Aristotle once said “we are what we do; excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit.” If you have habits that consistently create poor health, then finding a coach to help guide you is the next step.
Having a fully functional nervous system. This is the real reason to get adjusted by a chiropractor. You might come in with pain, but your body does the healing and the nervous system is the source. Additionally, as most of you know, I’m not going to let you go without some type of coaching or review of habits. It’s always a matter of cause and effect. Correct the cause and you eliminate the (unwanted) effect.
I hope this has been helpful. Below is another quote that I like, plus an invitation to subscribe to a news outlet that only focuses on positive news.
Be well. Dr. Ben
Among those whom I like or admire, I can find no common denominator, but among those whom I love, I can: all of them make me laugh. — W. H. Auden
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