Part 3: Can My Thoughts Really Affect My Health?

I’m life coach Peter Winslow. Throughout my years in practice I’ve worked with many people who believe that what they think about has little if anything to do with their physical health. If you agree, buckle your seat belt because you’re about to discover a whole new reality.

Consider this: thoughts in the mind create changes in the body, many of which we can easily observe. For instance, if you see or hear something that you find embarrassing, you might "blush" and your face turn red. That's a good example of a chemical change that happens in the body in response to your thoughts.

Our thoughts produce physical reactions, many with predictable results. Sexual thoughts can create responses in the anatomy that are easy to observe; creepy thoughts will make your skin crawl and your hair stand on end. Scary and stressful thoughts cause us to secrete catecholamines, the stress hormones including cortisol and adrenalin that must be burned off regularly to prevent ongoing tissue damage.

Conditions like hypertension, stroke, ulcerative colitis, heart disease and many other health challenges are clearly impacted by mental stress, establishing the fact that there's a link between our thoughts and the internal chemical reactions that affect how we feel and how we heal. This is called the "mind-body connection."

Every day we feel our bodies respond to our thoughts and subconscious beliefs. Unfortunately, attitudes like anger, jealousy, resentment and guilt are stressors that can create grave consequences for our health and well-being. These emotions deplete a lot of the energy we need to maintain healthy immune function.

Emotional stress is a problem which worsens the pain and symptoms of chronic illness. Now researchers are discovering that we can reverse chronic illnesses through changing our beliefs and behaviors, which are the central factor in our own health outcomes. The good news is that your body is designed to heal itself naturally and keep you healthy. Your job is to get your mind on board to help it succeed.

-Peter Winslow, Life Coach, Counselor and Trainer

Part Two: Can My Thoughts Really Affect My Health?

I’m life coach Peter Winslow. When I look back to my days with Ankylosing Spondylitis, I realize that deep and heavy emotional stress was constantly with me, which weakened my immune system and made my body more susceptible to chronic illness.

By releasing the deep-seated toxic emotions and buried stress I carried, I helped my body do what it is originally designed to do—repair itself.

Only now, years after recovering from the symptoms of Ankylosing Spondylitis, do I truly understand the role that toxic, stressful emotions play in creating and sustaining chronic conditions.
You might think the daily challenges of your life are stressful, but how you respond to those challenges is what counts. What we refer to as “distress” is the type of stress universally recognized as a primary cause of illness.

Distress is often an emotional response that affects the body. As the body becomes so stressed that it begins to break down, the immune system can no longer repair the damage.
This is because under stress, the cells in your body don't take in proper amounts of oxygen, water or nutrients. They don't release wastes and toxins, and they don't communicate to other cells with messages intended to help keep your body healthy.

However, stop fomenting the distress and you assist your cells to move out of their defensive mode and into normal growth mode. Your immune system then works to rid you of illnesses and protect your from creating new ones.

Your body is designed as a perfect healing machine, but only when it is not forced into the defensive position brought on by mental and emotional stress. How to stop that defensiveness is something you really should know about.

–Peter Winslow

Part One - Can My Thoughts Really Affect My Health?

I’m Peter Winslow. As a life coach I’ve worked with all types of people seeking solutions, but here’s an example of one who really surprised me. I was completely taken aback when she claimed, "I know exactly why I got cancer!"

She went on to explain how she realized that the stressful issues in her marriage had compromised her health and helped to create her illness.

My surprise came from the fact that this particular woman describes herself as an atheist, and  strongly believes that illness happens strictly at random.

As for the notion that "our thoughts influence our reality" she still considers it to be a steaming load of excrement, although now she is beginning to examine her own internal biases.

She's not alone; many people believe their thoughts and feelings have absolutely nothing to do  with their health, how they feel, or their healing outcomes.

When I suggested to her that we all can learn to think in a way that helps us be healthier, she  responded with vehement anger that I certainly don't know what it's like to be ill.

Well, I do in fact know exactly what it's like.

When I look back to my days with Ankylosing Spondylitis, I remember the anger, resentment, guilt, depression and other suppressed emotions I held. I didn't really understand what caused these feelings at the time because I was in the midst of living them, and coping with the constant, chronic pain of a cruel and punishing autoimmune disorder.

If someone had told me then that I was in any way responsible for my own condition, they wouldn't have wanted to stick around for my reply. But there is a wonderful silver lining to the story. If you’d like to know what it is, stick around for the next segment.

–Peter Winslow