Give Health a Piece of Your Mind

Four Cornerstones of Good Health

What does healthy mean to you? Do you think you are healthy because you are not sick? Do you feel healthy because you are filled with joy, energy, happiness, etc.? Healthy can mean different things to different people; I would imagine that it all depends on how you grew up, and your environment.

Health is not just the absence of disease, the World Health Organisation defines health as “a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”

Health is the responsibility of each person, it is all about making choices, choosing a healthful alternative over a less healthful one.

For some it may feel like a difficult task to build good health. I want to try and make it a bit easier. Imagine your health is a table or chair, it has four legs, if you place stress or weight on the chair/ table you want it to remain upright, therefore all four legs need to be strong and present. The same for your health, if you want to remain strong and healthy even under stressful situations, then you will have to make sure the four legs that build good health are in place.

According to Dr M. Murray and J. Pizzorno the four cornerstones of good health are:

1. A positive mental attitude (PMA)

2. A healthful lifestyle: exercise, sleep, and healthy habits.

3. A health-promoting diet

4. Supplementary measures

Each of these will be discussed in upcoming articles.

Give Health a Piece of Your Mind

Real health begins with a positive attitude. I am sure this is not new to you. We have all come across it somewhere in the media or a book, maybe we just did not pause long enough to really think about what it means. It is true, there is more and more evidence that your thoughts and emotions determine your quality of life, your mood, and your health.

Life is full of unplanned events, just take our current situation. Worldwide countries are in lock down, people are not allowed to go to work, play sport or even go to church. This was beyond any of our control, but how we respond to this, well that you have full control over. I do not have to prove it in any way, it has been done, so I will state the obvious again – you will be much happier, healthier and more successful if you can change your mental attitude from negative to positive.

Why is positive better than negative?

Studies have shown that people with a pessimistic attitude suffer from the following:

• Poorer health.

• A tendency to be depressed.

• Frequent need of medical and mental care.

• A decline in memory and brain function with aging.

• A lower survival rate compared to those who are positive.

I am sure most people are able to classify themselves, but if you are more of a realist, then see into which group, positive attitude, or negative attitude you fall by taking the Attributional Style Questionnaire developed by Martin Seligman. Seligman noted that attitude is reflected by our explanatory style, it is how we choose to describe or explain the events in our lives to others.

Immune Function and your attitude

Psychoneuroimmunology teaches us that every part of your immune system is in some way connected to your brain, either through the nervous tissue or through the complex language of chemical messengers and hormones. Do not think anything escapes your brain? Every thought, emotion, and experience send a message to your immune system and has the ability to either enhance or impair its function.

Joy, happiness, gratitude, kindness, enthusiasm, and hope, etc. will enhance your immune function. Negative emotions such as fear, anger, sadness, rage, loneliness, and melancholy will tend to depress your immune function.

Plan for a better immune system by analysing your thoughts. It is impossible to examine them all as we have on average about 60 000 – 80 000 thoughts per day, but before your thoughts change your behaviour think about them, you are not supposed to ignore them. There will be times that you have the right to be sad or feel other emotions, but they must not overpower your decisions and control your behaviour, you must have a strategy. Researchers have identified a collection of immune power traits that will surely help you boost your immune effectively, they are:

• A positive mental attitude.

• An effective way of dealing with stress.

• The capacity to effectively deal with life’s traumas and challenges.

To live life to the fullest a PMA, positive mental attitude is absolutely necessary. It is what propels us to be the best that we can be, it is that goal of self-actualisation, the striving for goals, the reaching of potential, the fulfilment of a mission, the development of talents. In short, healthy people strive for and are driven to be the best they can be. Do not despair, it is a process and you have your life to practice it, but they key is – you must start now. How do you start? By taking responsibility for your mental attitude, life, and health.

7 Steps to a more positive outlook

Step 1: Become an Optimist

By nature, we are all actually optimists, so with a little practice you can do it. Focus on the positive things, it is vital for good health.

Step 2: Become Aware of Self-Talk

We all actually talk to ourselves. What you say to yourself makes an impression on your subconscious mind. Become aware of what you say and keep it positive. Step 3 and step 4 are powerful tools that can help guard against negative self-talk.

Step 3: Ask Better Questions

When you experience a stressful event or are faced with a serious problem, you can ask a couple of questions, often it is “Why does this happen to me?”, “Why am I always so depressed?” Do these questions build self-esteem or a better attitude? No. You can rather ask “What do I need to learn from this situation, so that it never happens again?” or “What do I need to do to feel happier?” This is quite an exercise and I am not a psychologist but there is alot of literature on this. Dr Murray recommends these books by Anthony Robbins, Unlimited Power and Awaken the Giant Within.

Step 4: Positive Affirmations

Affirmations are positive statements with emotional intensity that are repeated in your mind or out loud and the purpose is to create a healthy, happy, positive self-image and imprint that on the subconscious mind. You can search them on the internet, use Bible verses or think them up yourself and write them on little cards or make notes on your phone and read and repeat them several times a day. You do not have to believe them you just have to read them! It can change your life! I know because I practiced them and have experienced the incredible power.

Here are some: I am blessed with great health!

I am thankful to God for all my good fortune!

I only eat healthy fruit and vegetables!

Everything is possible.

I can handle any obstacle that comes my way!

Here is how to make your own affirmations:

1. Always use the present tense in your affirmation.

2. Always use a positive statement. Do not use words like not and never.

3. Try to associate with the positive feelings that are generated by your affirmation.

4. Keep it short and simple.

5. Imagine yourself experiencing it.

6. Make the affirmation personal and it must mean something to you.

Step 5: Set Positive Goals

Setting goals and achieving them makes you feel good about yourself and this all helps to build a positive attitude.

Guidelines on how to set your goals:

1. State a positive goal, instead of saying “I won’t eat chocolates” rather say “I only eat fruit and vegetables.”

2. It is important to make your goals attainable and realistic, does not matter if they are small and simple. Rather reach small goals and experience the success than have big goals where you always feel disappointment because you are unable to attain them. Success builds success, the big ones can come later.

3. Be specific. State exactly what you want, for e.g. instead of saying “I want to exercise more” say “I want to exercise 15 minutes per day”.

4. State the goal in the present tense just like your affirmations, as if you are doing it.

Step 6: Practice Positive Visualisation

Imagining yourself where it is that you want to be is a powerful tool in creating your health and happiness. You must be able to see your life as you want it to be. Make time every day to sit for a few minutes, and just imagine yourself in that healthy space, if it is that you need to lose weight, visualise yourself as the person who has already lost the weight, if you have a picture of a leaner you, stick it on the fridge or somewhere to remind you of your goal, or create a vision board. If you have a chronic disease condition and you are unable to do things you used to do, imagine yourself again doing those, being without pain, etc.

Step 7: Laugh Long and Often

Laughter is the best medicine; life will be more enjoyable if you spice it up with a bit more humour. Laughing enhances your immune system, enhances blood flow to your extremities, improves cardiovascular function, releases happy hormones, and oxygenates your internal organs.

I hope that this will give you a little more insight into how powerful your mind is, and that we are all capable of good health. If this is a little overwhelming and you need more guidance, feel free to send me an email to explore the possibilities.

Reference: Murray, M. T., & Pizzorno, J. (2012). The encyclopedia of natural medicine. New York, Aria Paperback.