I’m inserting the notion of the ‘power of thoughts’ here as well as in my “Living Spherically” section of this blog, because I believe its importance cannot be understated, especially in terms of how we see ourselves and our ability to be well, or not.
Mike Dooley, author and international speaker, eats, breathes and lives by the mantra, “Your thoughts become things.”
Could there much truth in this? There are many who believe one of the most important ingredients in the formula for success is the heartfelt belief that you can succeed at (pick a topic, event, thing, etc.), and is one that you must embrace and believe in to realize success. There are those who believe this is because your thoughts have a powerful impact on your attitude, your health and your body. As a matter of fact, there are those who say that we are the result of every one of our thoughts.
Geez…is there any science to support this notion?
In his book, The Biology of Belief, Dr. Bruce Lipton states, “In the past, we’ve been taught that living beings are like machines run by biochemicals and DNA. What we now know is that our entire biology is shaped by the intelligence of each of our fifty trillion cells. And the single most important way to influence them is through the energy of our beliefs.” And Deepak Chopra states in Ageless Body, Timeless Mind, “Our cells are constantly eavesdropping on our thoughts and being changed by them. A bout of depression can wreak havoc with the immune system while falling in love can boost it. Despair and hopelessness raise the risk of heart attacks and cancer thereby shortening life. This means that the line between biology and psychology can’t really be drawn with any certainty. A remembered stress, which is only a wisp of a thought, releases the same flood of destructive hormones as the actual stress itself.”
In other words, our thoughts are powerful tools. Our bodies respond to our thoughts.
Dr. John Sklare, author, psychologist and consultant for wellness programs, motivational and lifestyle change believes thoughts are actually electrical impulses that create biochemical reactions in the brain, and that these reactions release chemicals that impact every cell in your body. In that sense, the biochemistry of your body is the result of what you think. That is the basis of mind/body medicine that posits wherever a thought goes, a chemical follows. In other words, every mental impulse automatically gets transformed into biological information. By changing your thoughts, you can change your body, because the thought always precedes the action.
Talk about ‘food for thought,’ as well as another card stacking the deck as we age!