Having a positive outlook and making new friends could be as important to your health as diet and exercise, scientists have revealed.
People with a positive outlook have more upbeat emotions, which leads them to make more social connections, which in turn leads to an 'upward spiral' to better physical health. This is hardly surprising for those of us who have been advocating holistic therapies and spiritualism for years.
The benefit of positive thinking has
been proven through much research.
Affirmations and positive thinking are very powerful tools that can
bring about healing and change. However negative thoughts are just as
powerful and can be very self-destructive. Although we have no control
over all what goes on in the world and certain aspects of our lives, we
do have control over the way we interpret and how we deal to it.
"The thoughts we think and the words we speak create our experiences"
You experience your interpretation as an internal dialogue. Thoughts,
judgements and feelings are ceaselessly swirling through your mind.
Thoughts like: I like this; I don't like that; I am afraid of this; I am
unsure about him/her. This internal dialogue is not random, it is
generated from a deep level by your beliefs and assumptions which have
been formed and accumulated from the time you were born. It is worth
remembering that a lot of these assumptions and beliefs were formulated
as a child and have never been re-examined and therefore may be highly
inappropriate to you as an adult or just simply wrong. When someone's
interpretation changes, a change subsequently takes place in their
reality. Thus we can make big changes in our lives by changing our
thinking.
Never underestimate the power of positive thinking, but to explain I
need to tell you about your Auric field. We are spIrit in a human body
whilst we are incarnated on Earth and around us is an electromagnetic
field our Aura, this has several layers or subtle bodies, the closest
layer around our body is known as the Etheric body and it is a complete
blueprint of our physical body but perfect eg. supposing we were
unfortunate to have lost a limb, well it would still be present in the
Etheric body. If you wish to start and try viewing the aura, the Etheric
body is the first one you will see as you start to develop this
ability.
Exercise for seeing the Human Energy Field commonly known as the Aura.
You will need a partner and a plain wall, not patterned and for beginners a fairly light coloured one.
Get your partner to stand a few feet away from you against the wall
Now
let your eyes go out of focus as you would in day dreaming and stare at
your partner until your eyes begin to get very uncomfortable and when
you reach this stage when you need to blink you will have a clear view
of the Etheric body. (Now I know what colour it is and I'm not going
to try and influence you here, please leave a comment on your findings
if you do this experiment.)
The other layers *SEE BELOW HERE FOR DETAILS
are comprised of different colours and are constantly moving and
changing according to our emotions and mental state and what lies before
us. Psychics are able to tap into their client's Aura to give readings
for all your past, present and future is contained therein.
OK so
that is the background, so what has this to do with positive thinking?
well when we think positively our Auras expand, they are directly
connected to our Chakras, these are spinning vortices of energy and what
gives us our vital life force. If our Chakras are able to work
correctly without being impinged in anyway, we will be happier mentally
and emotionally and physically a lot healthier.
On the other hand
if we think negatively our Aura's shrink in on themselves and this
affects how the chakra's work, it restricts the flow of vital energy of
the life force and starts to cause us problems both mentally and
physically. Take for example the throat Chakra, it governs the thyroid
and parathyroid endocrine glands and all the structures surrounding our
throat and necks and vocal chords. It also governs communication between
ourselves and others. So if we are thinking negatively it can lead to
stiff neck muscles, causing tension headaches, make us more prone to
sore throats, coughs and colds and can lead us to have communication
problems relating to others perhaps causing arguments and an inability
to understand others. This of course is just one Chakra.
Exercise for sensing and feeling the Human Energy Field commonly known as the Aura
Again you will need a partner and a chair.
Get your partner to
sit on a chair facing away from you with their eyes closed and stand
some distance away, several feet if possible.
Rub your hands
vigorously together until your palms get warm and with palms facing one
another you should feel a sensation like tingling, pulling them apart
and bring them together, it should feel like you are bouncing an
invisible ball between them, rub them a little more together then pull
them apart and bring them together until you feel this.
Now with
your palms facing outwards towards your partner ask he/she to think of
something positive and happy, something which made them feel really
happy.
As they are concentrating on this walk slowly towards them
palms outstretched until you feel a sensation like you felt before, you
should be able to bounce it like before even pull it a little, this is
your partners Aura. Note where you are standing in relation to them.
Now
repeat the exercise again, but asking your partner to think of
something that made them very sad and miserable and to focus on this as
you repeat what you did before. Walk forward again sensing where you
detect their aura. Note where you are standing, what do you notice? (Again leave me a comment here of your findings it should be different to your first detection experiment)
Universal Laws The Law of Attraction
One of the Universe's laws is the law of attraction where 'like attracts like'
have you noticed how the same type of people tend to group together? So
positive energy is attracted to positive energy and like wise with
negative energy. Now every time we think we create 'Thoughtforms' these
are comprised of an energy so therefore if we think positively we will
attract more positive energy and likewise negative thoughts will create
more negative energy your way. So no
matter what it pays to think positively. For one you will feel better
physically and mentally and best of all you will attract more positive
and good luck your way. It has to be consistent however you do have to
keep it up to make this work, for any negative thinking will undo all
the good you have done.
You may still have challenges
in your life I can't guarantee life will be plain sailing but I can
guarantee you will cope with those challenges a whole lot better than
you would have done had you stayed thinking negatively.
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ARTICLE FROM THE DAILY MAIL BELOW
Don't bother with the gym today: Positive outlook on life and making friends could be as good for you as diet and exercise
- Study showed a positive attitude caused 'upward spiral' into better health
- People can 'self generate' positive emotions and become healthier
Having a positive outlook and making
new friends could be as important to your health as diet and exercise,
scientists have revealed.
People
with a positive outlook have more upbeat emotions, which leads them to
make more social connections, which in turn leads to an 'upward spiral'
to better physical health, a study showed.
The
research also found it is possible for a person to 'self-generate'
positive emotions which can cause them to become physically healthier.
The
study was lead by Professor Barbara Fredrickson, of the University of
North Carolina, and Doctor Bethany Kok, of the Max Planck Institute for
Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Germany.
Social connections: Making friends and being positive can be as important for your health as diet and exercise, say researchers
Prof Fredrickson said: 'People tend to liken their emotions to the weather, viewing them as uncontrollable.
'This
research shows not only that our emotions are controllable, but also
that we can take the reins of our daily emotions and steer ourselves
toward better physical health.'
Researchers: The study was led by Professor Barbara Fredrickson, of the
University of North Carolina, and Doctor Bethany Kok, of the Max Planck
Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Germany
To study the bodily effects of
up-regulating positive emotions, the researchers studied 'vagal tone' -
the body's control over the vagal nerve which is linked to organs and
helps regulate heart rate.
People
who have higher vagal tone tend to be better at regulating their
emotions, so the researchers studied whether this might lead people to
experience more positive emotions.
Scientists also considered
whether having more social connections would increase vagal tone, and
therefore improving physical health.
To
see whether people might be able to harness this upward spiral to steer
themselves toward better health, the researchers conducted a field
experiment.
Half of the
study participants were randomly assigned to attend a six-week
loving-kindness meditation (LKM) course where they learned how to
cultivate positive feelings of love, compassion, and goodwill toward
themselves and others.
Positive outlook: Being happy means people are more likely to make friends and feel healthier
The other half of the participants remained on a waiting list for the course.
Participants in both groups had their vagal tone assessed at the beginning and at the end of the study.
The
results provided clear evidence to support the hypothesised upward
spiral, with perceived social connections serving as the link between
positive emotions and health.
Participants
in the LKM group who entered the study with higher vagal tone showed
steeper increases in positive emotions over the course of the study.
As participants' positive emotions increased, so did their reported social connections. And, as social connections increased, so did vagal tone.
In contrast, participants in the waiting-list group showed virtually no change in vagal tone over the course of the study.
Prof
Fredrickson said: 'The findings add another piece to the physical
health puzzle, suggesting that positive emotions may be an essential
psychological nutrient that builds health, just like getting enough
exercise and eating fruit and veg.'
The findings were published in the journal Psychological Science.