Mind and Body Are Not Separate But Affect One Another

Our minds and bodies are not separate entities that operate independently. What and how we think affects our physical health, and our physical health affects our mental health. Your mental health affects such things as your immune system, blood pressure and energy levels. Poor physical health can make you feel hopeless and depressed.

Have you ever met someone who, within just a few minutes into the conversation, tells you all about their diseases? This is an extreme imbalance, and these people have little hope of recovering, because their entire identity is wrapped up in their illness. There are also those who have resigned themselves to their disease and will not take proactive steps to learn how to heal through dietary or lifestyle changes.

Some people benefit emotionally by being ill, because they receive extra attention, or their illness gives them an outlet for their anger to abuse others who care for them. Or maybe it gives them an out from choices they know they should make but are afraid to.

Being diagnosed with an “incurable” illness and the mental anguish that follows can devastate your immune system. Diagnostic labels are simply descriptions of symptoms within a body out of balance, and yet people take on these labels and identify with them.

Instead of, “I have blood sugar regulation problems,” we say, “I’m diabetic.” Instead of, “I need to learn to manage stress better,” we say, “I have hypertension.” Instead of, “I hate my job (spouse, city, life) and need to find another,” we say, “I’m depressed.”

The best tool in beginning to heal is a positive, proactive outlook and a refusal to identify with a label. We are spiritual beings, and all illnesses have a spiritual component.