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99% of stress begins with our thoughts...
Yes, you heard me, 99% of STRESS begins with your thoughts!
From my experience, most people do not understand the power their thoughts have on their health and happiness. Thus, if you have stinking-thinking, you will create unwanted stress on your body, mind and spirit. Increased stress can lead to weight gain, muscle loss, illness, depression, sleep issues, constipation, etc., etc. etc. Even if what you are telling yourself is not true, YOUR negative thoughts, toward the situation, will have a negative impact on your health.
Prevention of stress, then, is best done by focusing on our thoughts, by changing how we think about those things we think are threatening.
"We first need to focus our attention to our thoughts and start asking ourselves a few simple questions:
1. Is the threat real? What is the perceived threat? What is the likelihood of this perceived threat actually happening? What is the chance of its occurrence? (Almost always the answer to this is that the threat is rarely going to hurt us.)
2. Can I handle this? (Our past experience tells us that we can always handle things)
3. Is the perceived threat one which I can do something about? Is it in my circle of concern or my circle of influence? (As one of my wise students once told me, “If you have control over it, there’s no need to worry about it. If you don’t have any control over it, you also don’t need to worry about it. There is nothing else. So why worry?)
4. Can I think about this differently? There are hundreds of ways to interpret the situation differently. That is the wonderful thing about free will or our innate freedom to choose."
-Dr. Michale Olpin, Leader in stress management
If you find your thoughts are not supportive to your healing, then KNOW you have the power to change them.
Let me give you an example:
Someone has been ill for a few years. They were diagnosed with chronic fatigue after a chemical exposure and have had HIGH stress levels for years.
The thought is, " I am exhausted ALL the time. I will never get better, I will always be sick. I am too tired to do anything. Everything I do makes me feel worse."
1. Now, I understand having chronic fatigue is not a joke. Chronic fatigue is very real, and millions of people suffer from it daily. Yet, is chronic fatigue going to kill you? No. Is it true you have no chance of getting better? No. Does EVERYTHING make it worse? No.
2. Can you handle this? Yes, most likely you have been already handling this feeling for awhile. Your history tells you, you CAN handle this.
3. Is there something you can do to help your situation? Yes. Rest. Focus on what you CAN do. Eat nutritionally. Get some sun. Be around people that support you. Keep your thoughts positive.
4. How can you think about your situation differently? Personally, I believe all illnesses, unwanted life changes, or challenging situations are opportunities to learn about yourself on a MUCH deeper levels. Yet, for you to see the learning, you have to STOP resisting the problem. Meaning as long as you see the challenge as something that is making you unhappy (remember "the challenging event/situation" is not making you unhappy, it's your thoughts around the challenge making you unhappy) you will miss the learning.
Continuing to focus on your illness, symptoms and everything you can not do, is NOT going to help your body heal. Remember your thoughts are adding more stress to your already fragile body. Redirecting your thoughts on what you can do, and and what is GOOD in your life, is going to reduce overall stress on your body, thus allowing for healing to occur.
*Bottom line: Almost ALL stress begins with your thoughts. Stress inhibits thyroid function and lowers metabolism. Thus, if you want to heal and increase metabolism, shift your thoughts.