Random life thoughts can be difficult to control. We feel we have no power over our intrusive thoughts. Our thought process is made up of a multitude of positive thoughts and negative thoughts.
Often we choose to see thoughts as simply intangible, they come and they go. We see no danger in this innate behavior. After all, it’s only a thought, it doesn’t really matter.
However, unfortunately, we are putting ourselves in jeopardy.
As a student of psychotherapy, I was taught that every thought has a consequence that each and every thought that we experience has a consequence. And those consequences can and do have an incredible affect, not only on our mind and our feelings, but also on our body. The mind and body arguably are interconnected and both have a positive or negative effect on us depending on how you “choose” to focus your attention.
Believe it or not our thoughts can and do play a big part on our physical well being.
“All illnesses can be considered to be psychosomatic. That is, they inevitably involve the mind’s reaction (psyche) to a physical illness. However, in some illnesses, psychological factors seem to play a particularly important part. They can influence not only the cause of the illness, but can also worsen the symptoms and affect the course of the disorder”.
Source: Surgerydoor.com
So we have all probably heard the phrase “it’s all in your mind”.
So by example our thought patterns are extremely powerful. The mind tells the body it is ill because the mind is struggling to cope. It is the mind’s way of telling the individual that there is a problem and it needs to be addressed.
One of the biggest problems for anyone suffering from a psychosomatic illness is that they feel that their doctor is not taking them seriously and this in itself causes stress and stress as we all should know affects our immune system.
Typical questions your Doctor may ask when you present with a potential psychosomatic disorder;
Are you under a lot of stress?
Is your job particularly stressful?
Are things all right with your home life?
These questions help the Doctor deduce whether you are suffering physically or psychologically.
So by reducing our stress levels we can reduce our illness’s.
To make this easier to understand, let’s compare your body to a pressure cooker. A Pressure cooker operates by building up steam, the steam creates pressure, the cooker vents the steam in a controlled way. If it’s not allowed to vent its steam, the pressure will build up and up until the lid blows off! Hence the phrase; “flip our lids”. So we need to allow our steam to release slowly yet consistently.
Suppressing and re-suppressing your feelings is like the the pressure building up in the cooker, the pressure will find a way out. You can be like the pressure cooker that is venting steam in a controlled way or you can let the stress find your weakest point and explode:
Access a counsellor, psychotherapist or some kind of talking therapy or simply talk to someone you trust; join a support group; learn some relaxation techniques; or take some time out for yourself.
See some of my other posts regarding Stress Management.
