Continuing on from this theme of positive thinking, I spent a few hours researching this field and trying to find out what medical research has to say about it. To cut a long story short I found the name of, probably, the leading expert in this area. His name is Martin. E. Seligman. I personally have never heard of him up until now, but I found a website with all of his various papers and it looks very extensive. Click here:I have not had time since to explore all of his papers, but I did buy his book which has had many good reviews. It is the picture above and the book is called; ‘Learned Optimism’. I am going to read this book and once finished, review it.
One thought I have had recently and have had many times, especially when it comes to the argument of eating healthy, is the importance of combining positive thinking with eating well. I believe nutritionists do not give this area of combining positive thinking and eating healthy enough credit or attention. This is not an attack against nutritionists, far from it. A lot of medical practitioners leave the mental state of health on the shelf sometimes, for which I too find myself guilty of sometimes.
I am convinced that there is at least a 50/50 balance between the effects of eating healthy and the effects of being positive about what you eat and the possible failings along the way. I do not have any proof for this and it is just my opinion, but for example, if I ate a healthy salad for lunch and resisted all the urges to have a cake or eat chocolate, then I am naturally going to be pleased with myself. This pleasure or satisfaction produces endorphins in our brain that numbs pain and reduces stress. Of course eating the salad and limiting the excess sugar or processed foods will create and provide the body with a fuller nutritional supply. Therefore the combined effort of eating health, but also thinking positively is optimal. This piece on endorphins was very interesting:
Further to this is the consequence of negative thinking, which I believe is extremely powerful. Say I eat that same salad, but I instead decide to eat the cake afterwards for whatever reason. The guilt and sense of failure is really strong, especially if you are self conscious about your body and believe eating healthy is the answer to getting a better image. So you have failed on this particular meal time, but the consequence of it lasts way beyond that actual meal. I believe so strongly that guilt and self-loathing is detrimental to a person’s inner well being. The internal stress that guilt and condemnation produces, I think, is on a similar level to a physical trauma. People don’t associate these feelings as an internal stress. The word stress is often over used and it is unfortunate because there are actually many different types of stress and negative thinking is amongst the strongest stresses you can put your body through. Again this is just my belief.
If is so important to learn to indentify feelings or even thoughts of failure, worthlessness, insecurity, stupidness, weakness and guilt. There are many more here I haven’t mentioned, like anxiety or anger, but I want to just concentrate on the thoughts of self. Once an ability to highlight them is created then the battle to change can really begin. It is the process of recognizing these thoughts/emotions and not letting them take root, but rather turn 180 degrees around and say the opposite to what you are thinking/feeling. One day you fail at something or in the past your parents/teachers have told you will never make it, that you will always fail. It is taking that thought, however many times in arises during the day, and then saying;
“I am not a failure, I can do this”.
“I am not a waste of space, I am somebody important”.
When we can take these steps; change to the positive is inevitable and I am convinced anybody can achieve these goals in whatever their struggle. It is important to remember at this point that we will fail at times to keep remembering the steps or may find it extremely exhausting to keep reminding ourselves to work on this process, but it is utterly essential to not beat yourself up and allow guilt to destroy the progress of your work. Stumbling and getting it wrong is always a part of learning a new thing, like walking as a baby. Just don’t be hard on yourself, give yourself a little grace. It is also vitally important to remember that, sometimes, when you have turned 180 degrees around and declared the positive, nothing seems to have changed. No new emotions can be perceived. This at times can be very de-motivating, but it is part of the process. So just keep going.
Positive thinking in this way reduces stress in our lives and it is well known through research that optimistic, ‘happy’ people are healthier and achieve more in life. They also recover better from injuries and health problems – which makes my job easier.
You can do it.
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