The power of positive thinking – most of us have heard this phrase multiple times in our lives. Many of us have witnessed firsthand its ability to clear our thought processes; to provide us with optimism and belief during difficult times and boost our morale. However, in most people’s minds, the connection between positive thinking and the effect it could have on our physical bodies remains as unrelated as chalk and cheese.
The truth is that the correlation between positive thinking and our physical health is not as distant as you might imagine it to be. It has been scientifically proven that thinking positively does actually heal our bodies and can even prevent disease. Positive thinkers generally show lower levels of cortisol and other stress hormones, are at lower risk for cardiovascular disease and also tend to heal faster after an illness.
This is no coincidence. If science has long accepted (and it has) that stress, anger and anxiety can adversely affect our physical health, doesn’t it stand to reason that positive thinking can improve it; that it can heal us?
Unfortunately, positive thinking is usually classified under what we consider spiritual or metaphysical, but it could not be more effective for us physically. As studies have shown us numerous times, psychological stress not only delays the healing process, but it reduces the effectiveness of vaccines, lowers your immune system and can even cause miscarriages and affect fertility.
With all these numerous benefits to thinking positively, you’d think we’d do it more often. Try it next time you’re unwell. Visualize yourself recovering and recovering quickly. Imagine how much better you’re going to feel the next day; think of everything you’re going to be able to do when you feel stronger.
Once you realize that you literally become what you think and that your body can respond either positively or negatively, depending on the nature of your thoughts, you will become a lot more cautious about which thoughts you allow to take precedence in your mind. We may not be able to stop negative thoughts from occurring at all, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t more than capable of letting optimism, hope and positivity take over; allowing our bodies to heal and even flourish.
