MENTAL DIET: THE 14 GREAT HABITS OF HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE (5)

HEALTHY HABITS

“Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”

• WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION

When you are upset; you upset the cells in your body. When you are burned out and stressed out; the cells in your body burn out and are stressed out.

When your mind is controlled and disciplined; thinking right; orderly and calm thoughts, your body system functions effectively.

Harmonious thinking revitalizes our cells to function harmoniously. A tense mind leads to disorganized body functions which trigger illness.

To rid oneself of worry and nervousness which destabilizes emotional well-being is to live a life of absolute surrender to God.

LET GO AND LET GOD

Once upon a time, a man was walking along a cliff when suddenly he slipped and fell off. Fortunately, he was smart enough to grab onto the ledge; hanging there for his dear life. Eventually, he yells out, “Is there anybody up there who can help me? There was no response. He persisted, “Is there anybody up there who can help me?” Finally, a big bellowing voice responded, “This is God. I can help you. Just let go and trust”.  He yells again but this time, “Is there anybody else up there that can help me?” Therefore, let go and let God.

THE PLACEBO EFFECT

Placebo is a fake treatment without intrinsic therapeutic value. It is an inactive substance like sugar, distilled water, or saline solution administered as if it were a therapy, either in medical treatment or in clinical trials.

The person getting a placebo doesn’t know for sure that the treatment isn’t real. It’s designed to seem like a real treatment but it is unrelated to the illness.

In as much as the placebo has nothing in it to cure the disease, it affects how some people feel. A change in a person’s symptoms as a result of getting a placebo is called the placebo effect.

The person taking the placebo may experience whatever he or she expects to happen. If the person expects to feel better, that may happen. If the person believes that he or she is getting strong medicine, the placebo may be thought to cause the side effects.

The placebo is not responsible for any of these effects directly, rather, the person’s belief in or experience of the placebo helps change the symptoms or changes the way the person perceives the symptoms.

Some people can experience the placebo effect without getting a pill, shot, or procedure. Some people may just feel better from visiting the doctor or doing something else they believe will help.

This type of placebo effect seems related to the degree of confidence and faith the patient has in the doctor or activity. The patient’s thoughts and feelings cause physical changes in the brain and body.

In fact, according to Professor Majorie Woollacott, “recent research on the placebo effect indicates that for many people, the simple act of believing (a mental condition) a therapy or medication will increase their health or eliminate disease is sufficient to create physical improvement in the body. This implies that our thoughts are not simply making us feel better, but they can change our brain and physiology”.

 She further reveals, “Tor Wager and colleagues at the University of Colorado compared the physiological changes in the brain due to placebo vs. pain medication, and found that if persons believed that they were receiving pain medication, it could produce specific and measurable physiological activity within the brain’s pain pathway. This included reduced activity in the thalamus, insula, and anterior cingulate cortex, which are associated with the feeling of pain. Thus the belief that you are taking pain medication can have a similar effect to taking the medication itself.”

This experiment reveals the power of belief. Whatever belief you uphold holds true for you irrespective of whether it is true or false.

When you fear sickness or disease, you open the door of your life for it to manifest. When you hate sickness or disease, you are eventually embraced by what you hate.

When you own sickness or disease through your thoughts and words, it holds you in captivity. When you believe that illness is an inevitable part of life and that having sound health throughout life is a mirage, then sickness and disease become your lot in life. When you believe that your body organs become weakened and deteriorate with age then it will hold true for you.

When you believe in sound health; when you live in sound health consciousness; when you are grateful for sound health; when you feel good about having sound health and when you concentrate on love and release love towards all then sound health becomes a normal state of your being.