When we look at the killing emotions we see the very things that are at the core of all disease in our society. I like to look at the word disease as dis-ease. When we are ill, overweight or struggling in our daily lives we are at dis-ease with our healthy self. Think about that every time you hear that word and try to apply the thought of dis-ease to it. That has helped me tremendously on my journey. What we want to do is to leave our old self with the killing emotions behind and to embrace our new self with the loving emotions. Remember a person who is loving, forgiving, positive, joyful, and healthy is in a better place than the person who is not. We have learned killing emotions and the good news is we can unlearn them and put into practice the loving emotions that will take us to better health.
The medical profession believes that the 3 main causes of disease are wrong nutrition, under exercise and over stress. We have discussed the first 2 in my last blogs so now we will look at stress. We suffer from stress in all aspects of our lives and this is something we do have control over. We can learn to deal with stress by applying healthy habits of exercise, meditation, visualization and other coping mechanisms that will help us be less stressed. Stress leads to disease, overeating, weight gain and is a killing emotion that will wreak havoc on your health. This is certainly something we have to deal with in order to have emotional balance in our lives.
Nathaniel Branden points out that nothing is more important to man in his psychological stance and in the success he finds in life than the judgements he passes on himself! I don't know about you but this is a biggie for me. So what does Branden mean by this? Self esteem is THE single most important factor that decides one's quality of life and that most people are totally unaware of its existence! A strong self esteem is a basic human need and it is unconsciously set during the early years of life. We have developed our low self esteem and weak personal efficacy from the people who raised us and were in our networks growing up. Worth and efficacy is what we want as a strong self esteemed person. Worthiness is the belief that you have value, in and of yourself. Personal efficacy is the belief in your own thought processes, dependency on yourself to make the right decisions and correct the wrong ones. That my friends is the loving emotions we are striving for in our quest for health and our new self.
I wanted to share a couple of thoughts here to show you how we can be the destruction of our own selves. "Thus, the things a man seeks for pleasure or enjoyment are profoundly revealing: they are the index of his character and soul." "If a man's values are such that he desires things which (in reality) lead to his destruction, his emotional mechanism will not save him-instead, it will urge him on toward destruction." This is how we cultivate unhealthy living practices, addictions, sickness and emotional torment (killing emotions) and how it brings destruction to ourselves. So how do we get high self esteem? Through emotional balance and nurturing relationships. "He who is hostile lives in a hostile world. He who is loving lives in a loving world." This is where our loving emotions come into play.
Gerald Jampolsky states: "The only reality in life is love." "Our attitudes determine whether we experience peace or fear, whether we are well or sick, free or imprisoned." The other component is faith or "The Faith Factor". The regular practice of faith and quieting the body through meditation helps you to achieve a restful, healing state which leaves you more relaxed, peaceful, positive, better able to cope with stress and less likely to behave compulsively. Dr. Hans Selye states if we operate from peace, goodwill, and gratitude, we enhance the quality of our own lives and that of others. In living this way we achieve a state of functioning that is totally conducive to ideal health, a state he calls"altruistic egoism." Now isn't that what we all want?
It is no secret how the mind can effect awesome changes in the body. It is perceived that the body gets sick on the mental/emotional side before it gets sick on the physical side. Negativity of all kinds and especially the killing emotions of anger, fear, resentment, hatred, jealousy, revenge, and self pity create a physiological, endocrinological, biochemical, nervous disorder throughout the body that poisons and unbalances a person until he succumbs to disease. Visualization helps because our mental/emotional states can either drag us into disease or boost us into health. Studies have shown that terminally ill patients have survived by using visualization techniques. Let this be a reminder of the old saying "mind over matter" as your mind truly is an amazing thing and controls your body in all matters.
Love: To love thy neighbor as thyself. If you are able to surrender to love, peace, gratitude, goodness, and your faith then you have realized your highest potential and live your true essence as love and in service to others. That is some powerful stuff there. If you can't love yourself or your neighbor you won't have true health. The other side of this coin is affirmations. Affirmations are much like visualizations but instead of seeing it in your mind you are speaking it to yourself. The power of the conscious and subconscious are directly employed to reprogram our thinking/feeling habits. We have to be able to turn off the self talk we have been listening to our whole lives and talk to ourselves with kind, healthy, loving words. It is time for joy, beauty and sweetness to replace the old self and embrace all that is good and wholesome.
As the last blog was on exercise I won't go into to that here but I do want to mention a few things as it pertains to positive addictions in this blog. Exercise is a way to also strengthen the person who is too weak. Positive addictions like exercise will help release the new self. Dr. Glasser states that what makes strong people strong is the ability to find love and worth in life and their belief that they deserve both. To me those are powerful words and puts exercise in a new light. Dr. Glasser states the P A State of Mind (Positive Addiction/Alternative) opens up more pathways in the brain, which lead you to experience more positive alternatives in day to day living. A positive addiction can be anything that a person chooses to do that does not harm others or himself! They often fall into two categories: Physically demanding or physically non-taxing activity and total passive activity. When exercise has become a positive addiction you will know because you will crave it and feel withdrawal symptoms when you miss a session. These types of addictions have helped people get control over their lives, give up bad eating and living habits effortlessly. These same people have reported sharpened mental alertness, increased self awareness, and an improved physical sense of well being and confidence. They also report they are more tolerant and less angry, in better physical shape with more energy and less need for sleep and increased mental strength and self esteem. I can attest to that fact in my own life since I have developed a PA for exercise.
Everyone at some point suffers from denial and I don't think I have to go into this but do know that denial is a robber of your nerve energy and is a killing emotion that we need to learn to control. When we are overweight, denial is a form of self destruction that will ultimately keep us from realizing our goals. Keep that in mind and remember it too is a dis-ease. Now, to wrap this up on a positive note. Don't be a procrastinator! One who puts off action until a further time. Become a Peak Performer! A peak performer is one who is motivated to be and do his best in all areas of his life. This is having the big picture in your mind, having a mission, a passionate commitment to something that matters, doesn't live just for today and has a commitment to an ideal that takes him to his long rang goals. This is where I am at today with my studies, my book, my blog, my future practice and life in general. I do hope you have been enjoying this series of blogs and continue to tune in for future blogs in this series. I hope you have learned a new thing or two and have taken away nuggets of information to help you in your journey. Please feel free to post comments and let me know if this has touched you in some way. Let your mission in life be seeking health!
Yours in health, happiness and freedom,
Cherise
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