A Healthy Body Begins With A Healthy Mind

I recently met a new friend. We chatted easily, got to know each other better, and exchanged information that would help both of us in an area we both are passionate about – climate change.

And then as we were parting ways, she asks if it was possible that she was making herself sick with her thoughts. I asked her to tell me more about her suspicions.

She told me that she felt she was increasingly becoming more sick with “something.” She didn’t know what that something was. More fatigue, more colds, no energy, not sleeping well. Totally stressed out.

And then she explained that she was working 75-80 hours per week. She was on assignment with a big project. In 2 months, she would be assigned to a different project in a different part of the country.

She told me she didn’t think she could keep up with her current pace. She craved more “balance” in her life. She wanted some free time to rest, relax and rejuvenate.

Basically, she wanted to tell her boss, “No. I can’t do more right now...

Change. What does this word symbolize for you? Fear, dread, annoyance, panic, irritation, maybe even a little motivation to control the situation so nothing really changes?

Yet change must occur if we are to grow, evolve, gain wisdom, and just feel alive.

Your ego, that fear-based portion of your self, wants to block change at all costs. Your ego convinces you that change is scary. Your ego makes you believe that you are safer if everything remains the same.

Yet your true inner Self wants and needs change in order to grow, evolve and feel alive. Your true inner Self craves new and different experiences. Your true inner Self guides you energetically towards your wants and desires (better health, harmonious relationships, meeting new friends, new career, more money, peace, joy, fun).

We learn from other people (and their egos) how to control our surroundings so that we don’t allow change. You want to be healthier…nope, it’s too scary. You want a new career…nope, you aren’t smart enou...

Winston Churchill once said, “You can always count on the Americans to do the right thing…after they have tried everything else.”

This reminds me of what we are taught about health, disease, and our bodies in general. From a young age, most of us learn to “take something” if we are not feeling good. Taking something might include some type of herb, supplement, over-the-counter remedy, prescribed medicine, or other type of drug (legal or otherwise).

We are taught that our health depends on something “outside” of us, as if we couldn’t be healthy otherwise.

In medical school, future doctors are trained that prescribed medicine is what the body needs when it is in a state of illness or disease.

In chiropractic school, future doctors are trained that a chiropractic adjustment and good nutrition are what the body needs when it is in a state of illness or disease.

And while all of these things can help us feel better, the benefits are usually temporary at best. We need to keep taking tha...

Have you ever been in pain, or been sick with an illness or disease, and searched for the cause?

• Why or how did you get sick?
• Do you have a chemical imbalance or a nutritional deficiency?
• Are your hormones out of balance?
• What caused your pain?
• How did you get this illness or disease?
• Did you “catch” it from someone you were around?
• Were you exposed to toxic chemicals?
• Did you eat certain foods that made you sick?
• Did a product or medicine make you sick?
• Did a certain treatment make you worse?
• Were you exposed to a certain pathogen (yeast, virus, bacteria, parasite) that made you sick?

Most people who are in pain or sick will seek medical advice to learn the cause of their pain or illness.

In the medical world, doctors are taught to run series of tests to give you this information. Sometimes it can take years to figure out the “cause.” The more searching that is done, the more the search costs in terms of time, money, and your health.

And while I believe you should se...

Trust is one of those topics that can bring up a lot of fear and anger within us. Rarely is someone calm and peaceful when they think of trust, because we tend to think about all of the ways our trust has been trampled upon.

• I’ve been cheated on by my significant other.
• The therapy my doctor recommended made me feel worse.
• My caretaker stole money from me.
• My co-worker stole my ideas.
• My child lies to me.
• My parent didn’t protect me.
• My close friend broke a promise.

One online definition of trust is this: firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something.

So “Who” or “What” is this someone or something that we placed our trust in, only to be hurt and disappointed by? The list can be quite long:

• Love interest/Significant other
• Close friend
• Confidante
• Boss
• Co-worker
• Neighbor
• Caretaker
• Parent
• Child
• Other relative
• Doctor
• Teacher
• Celebrity
• President
• Government
• Business
• Product
• Religion
• God

Why we want to trust        

I used to have a lot of sensitivities.

Food sensitivities, chemical sensitivities, odor sensitivities, and even people sensitivities (lol). The term in the modern world is Multiple Chemical Sensitivities.

It seemed that everything bothered me, made me feel icky, or gave me a headache. And my list of bothersome things kept growing longer. More and more things in my environment were irritating me. I thought that it wouldn’t be long before I would need to retreat to my own little shack or safe haven in the woods in order to “protect” myself from the outside world.

Does this sound like you?

I stayed away from certain stores and malls because the air freshener they used gave me an instant headache.

I yelled at my husband every time he used air freshener in his car.

We couldn’t use any chemicals in our house or in our yard.

I restricted my family’s diet by only purchasing certain “safe” foods.

I wouldn’t allow over-the-counter medications in my house.

Basically, I had become "Extra"...

Negative Nellie isn’t much fun to be around. She’s that voice in your head that just won’t shut up. She’s mean. She’s cruel. She’s judgmental. And she is LOUD! It’s like she is shouting at you all the time.

So what’s going on with this? Who or what is Negative Nellie? How can you give her less airtime? How can you make her go away?

Negative Nellie is basically our ego. Within our mind, we think thoughts. And thoughts are said to be the most powerful form of energy. Thoughts that we keep thinking over and over again become our beliefs. And we make our beliefs true just by continuing to think about them over and over again.

Let me give you some examples.

Here are some of my thoughts --> that are now my beliefs --> that are now my truth:

• I don’t get sick
• My body knows how to heal itself
• I am good enough
• I matter
• My body will produce symptoms to let me know when my thoughts are “off” so I can reverse or clean up my thoughts faster
• My feelings or emotions let me know when my tho
...

[I made a funny YouTube video with my bestie to illustrate this blog! Click here to watch it!]

We all have problems:

• I have chronic health problems
• Someone is being mean to me
• My car is always breaking down
• I can’t pay my bills
• My boss is a jerk
• I have constant pain
• My job & coworkers are unbearable
• No one will help me
• No one respects me
• Others use me or take me for granted
• I have no energy
• I have this incurable disease that is ruining my life

Did you know that by merely focusing on your problem you actually make it bigger? And when you make it bigger, it stays around. You remain stuck in your problem.

So I want you to start softening your thoughts about your problem. Start viewing your problems as Unicorns that aren’t real. In the world of mindset basics, you are only making your problems real by your constant attention to them.

Begin telling yourself that you can focus on something else more enjoyable (a pet, beautiful day, favorite music, kids/grandkids, nice re...

The Road to Wellness is completely backwards from what I used to think it was. Yep, #Backwards.

 Here’s a fun list of what I USED to believe about health:

• You have to eat healthy to be healthy
• You have to exercise to be healthy
• Taking prescribed medication is BAD
• Using chemicals on your lawn is BAD
• Using chemicals in your house will KILL you
• Getting vaccinations will HARM you
• Using plastic will HARM you

I could go on, but I’m sure you get the picture. I USED to be AGAINST a lot of things, and I took every precaution to avoid everything “bad,” while eating as healthy as I could and exercising regularly.

And then I got sick anyway. WTH???

Now, don’t get me wrong, I did the best I could at the time. And I especially believe that eating healthy and exercising regularly helped me feel better most of the time. But when my emotional stress got the best of me, none of the other “healthy” things worked.

On my road to wellness, I’ve had to take a look at ALL of my beliefs and fea...

1. Get the message and move on
   
   
2. Ignore/Distract (soften)
   
   
3. Pivot and move towards a better feeling

Pain is a big industry. A lot of time and money gets dumped into searching for answers to or merely managing pain. At some point in our lives we all experience pain. We are taught to deal with pain in various ways: walk it off, take a product to help it go away, numb ourselves with food/alcohol/drugs.

But what if your pain was simply a message? And what happens when you ignore messages? They tend to get bigger, more obnoxious, more in-your-face. The more you ignore something important, the greater the chance that it snowballs out-of-control. This message is trying to get your attention. It won’t stop until you finally get the message that something is out-of-balance, something needs to change in your life.

As a mind-body doctor, I’ve had to personally confront my own messages. At first I ignored the messages, thinking they were going to be too scary. We all do this. It’s what we are ta...