The Power of Your Thoughts
By
Dr. Lorraine Cassista

     Do you know that your thoughts, beliefs and emotions affect your health? Would you like to know how to use your mind to minimize your mind’s negative effects and take more control over your own health? 60-90% of people seen in medical offices have symptoms or illnesses attributed to stress and lifestyle habits. About 7 out of 10 leading causes of disease can result from areas within our control, such as abuse of alcohol, lack of exercise, poor diet, smoking, and unhealthy, maladaptive responses to stress and tension. You have more control over your physical and mental health than you probably realize. General health depends on, not only lifestyle habits above, but on your emotional state, social support, environment, and how you relate with the outside world.

     Your thoughts are created by your belief system. Your success in all areas of life; personal, work, spiritual, relationships are determined, for the most part, by the power of your beliefs. Your beliefs are your most basic assumptions about your identity in the world whether you see yourself as lovable or unlovable, capable or incapable, beautiful or ugly, etc. They are formed mostly during childhood and affect and dictate most of your actions. All of the things that were said and done to you by important people in your life have helped to form your belief system. Some of us have taken all of that and accepted without question. Some of us have instinctively rejected some beliefs along the way. The problem is many of us are not aware of our belief systems because we do not pay attention to those automatic thoughts that occur every day. Positive core beliefs allow you to create rules for yourself that tend to be more realistic and flexible. Negative beliefs tend to set you up for restrictions and giving in to your fears. Negative beliefs and thinking tend to be irrational and limiting. When irrational thinking and limiting beliefs take over, you are giving away your own power and replacing it with helplessness and hopelessness.

     Stress is the perception of a threat to one’s physical or psychological well-being and much of our stress and emotional suffering comes from the way we think. Our thoughts are quite powerful and when those thoughts are negative, especially on a long- term basis, they can have a devastating effect on your health and well-being contributing to such ailments as headaches, high blood pressure, cancer, heart disease, depression and low self esteem. Your body and mind cannot tell the difference between a real or imagined thought. Thoughts are usually accompanied by emotions that match and reinforce them which can then serve as self-fulfilling prophecies. Because the mind acts as a filter, it will then allow only information that confirms the negative thoughts and feelings. We often create what we fear most by selectively perceiving and attending to situations and circumstances that fit our slanted view of our world.

     Paying close attention to your thoughts and self-talk for a few days will help you to see a pattern and determine if the pattern is a negative one in which your thoughts are unrealistic and distorted. Identify your beliefs and automatic thoughts by keeping a thought journal for a week in which you record your negative thoughts and associated feelings. Then take each thought and ask yourself what it means. Focus only on the thoughts and not feelings for now. For each thought, keep asking what it means until you get to the bottom line and core belief about yourself. For example, let’s say one of your thoughts is “I messed up again”, ask “What does that mean?” Your answer might be, “I make too many mistakes.” Ask again, “What does that mean?” Your next answer might be, “I can’t do anything right.” Again ask, “What does that mean?” Your answer might be, “I am incompetent.” This would be your negative core belief. When you experience what you perceive as failure or rejection, your negative, irrational thoughts can mistakenly lead you to feelings of being unworthy or unlovable.

     Thoughts become reality because the mind cannot determine which thoughts are real experiences and which are imagined. All thoughts and experiences are stored in the unconscious mind, that part of the mind that works beyond your level of conscious awareness. By identifying your limiting beliefs, you can better understand how your automatic thoughts limit you now and may be contributing to your physical and/or emotional symptoms. Once you have identified those limiting statements, you can ask yourself how you would like to be and create turnaround statements that would encourage you and give yourself permission to be that way. This will allow more control over your emotions and your health.

     Next month I will cover how emotions are affecting your health and techniques you can use to bring them into balance and allow for a more relaxed state of mind and body.