Could the thoughts you are having be more important than the food you are eating? I'm quite serious. Because we rely so heavily on our eyes and our eyes cannot see our thoughts most of us don't regard them as all that important. But could your mind, or consciousness, be affecting your body more than the food you eat? See, the body doesn't know the difference between you thinking something and that something actually happening. This is the power of mind. What I'm suggesting is that if you thought the fast food you were eating was the most nutritious and loving thing you could put in your body, it would be. And it would be better to eat that than the most expensive, organic foods you could find if you thought those foods were disgusting and harmful in some way. Do you follow?
Thoughts, just like food, have to be digested. We have to process them. When we process information it leaves us with something useful that will be assimilated, and something not so useful that needs to be eliminated. This process is very clear when we take in food - we assimilate and eliminate. But because we rely so heavily on our eyes and we can't see our thoughts, it's not as clear. Some of us rely so heavily on our eyes in fact we think we are our bodies (we are so much more). And some of us even think we live in the external world (we don't). We live in our minds. And your mind can either be your friend or your enemy, it can be a place of freedom or imprisonment. You get to choose. If you want to be healthy, if you want to feel good and live in a way that makes you happy you need to talk to yourself in a loving way and you need to have happy thoughts. I mean this literally. Look at how you talk to yourself, how you feel about yourself and if it is negative or critical in a harmful way you have got to learn to change it. Because, I'll tell you a little secret, that voice that is saying those nasty things - that is not your voice. It's somebody else's voice you picked up along the way. Your natural voice is a loving voice. You can look at babies and small children and know this to be true.
Your experience of the world is controlled by your nervous system and it is your mind that controls the nervous system. And your mind is taking in too much information. It doesn't have time to process all that information. It's unsettling for the mind and body. One of the reasons why unplugging and adventuring out into nature is so therapeutic is that you slow down. The information is moving slower. Being in nature, outside, in the elements, without distractions, is much more aligned with the natural rhythms of the body. We humans are part of nature, part of the animal kingdom. And everything you find in nature has intelligence. Your body tissues are no different, they also have intelligence. Intelligence responds differently to different kinds of energy. If you told yourself how fat and stupid and ugly you are the tissues will respond accordingly. If you speak to yourself in a loving way, reminding yourself that you are doing the best you can and that you are a beautiful, special kind of wonderful unlike anything else on the planet your tissues will respond in a completely different way.
Meanwhile modern man and woman try constantly to cut him/herself off from nature or tries to control nature, neither of which behooves them. We have walls, floors, ceilings, artificial lights and temperatures. We stay up later than we should, eat the wrong things and at the wrong times. We have chemicals in our foods and pharmaceuticals that we take. And we think we are better than or superior to the rest of the living world. We are not. It is this kind of thinking that will eventually lead to our demise. And I don't think that's what people want. And contrary to all evidence, I don't even think that's what the oil and gas companies want for us and for our planet. But there has to be a change in the way we think if there's to be any lasting change in the world. Everyone just wants to feel good. To feel at peace. And some of us are seeking that peace outside of ourselves when really it can only be found within. The only way to find lasting peace is to learn how to stop the fluctuations of mind. In the stillness, between the thoughts, there is where you will find yourself. If you want to hear your true voice you must experience what's underneath the thoughts. Because you are not your thoughts. Only when you can find the stillness that is within will you be able to train the mind and learn how to control the thoughts. This is a skill. Relaxation is a skill. Being kind to yourself is a skill. And like any skill, the more you practice, the better you get.
If you need guidance practicing these skills visit my site to find various recordings to help you. Remember, we are all in this together. No one is going to be going ahead of you. There is no rush, no place to get to actually. And you are worth the time it will take to learn how to be kind to yourself. It will transform your life. You can either make yourself happy or miserable - it's up to you. They both take the same amount of effort. One of my beloved teachers, Judith Lasater, once gave us an assignment to look in the mirror everyday and tell yourself, "I love you." Do this every day for 3 weeks. It's a really good place to start. You could also try drinking more water, eating less sugar, sweating, crying, breathing, going for a walk outside and thinking positively about the foods you are eating while you are eating them! Once you learn how to be kinder to yourself and once you learn how to link your thoughts up with what you are doing I believe your health will improve, your longevity will increase and your tissues will be more balanced. So, yes, I think the mind, or consciousness, could be affecting your body more than the food you eat. At the very least it's affecting it as much. Either way, as an experiment, start thinking of your thoughts as food. Do you want to eat thoughts that will help you or harm you? "Our life is shaped by our mind; we become what we think," is a quote attributed to Buddha and it may be the simplest way to put it. Think beautiful, healthy thoughts and you too will become beautiful and healthy.
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photo creds: Kimberlee Hewitt and Tyler Pierce