The Power of Positive Energy for Lifelong Wellbeing
Hi everyone! Catherine here.
I’m thrilled to bring you my new wellness blog where each month I’ll share tips for your wellbeing. I've acquired this information from my personal experience of surviving an agressive cancer several years ago. Knowledge is power. My hope is to bring awareness to what we can do to further our personal wellness and how we can limit or avoid being exposed to toxins that exist all around us. I’ll also share trusted, safe products I absolutely love.
How did my wellness journey begin?
It started following my diagnosis of cancer for which I underwent eight rounds of chemotherapy and several radiation treatments over the course of ten months. I’ve asked my doctors repeatedly, ‘How did this happen? How did I get this?’ No one could give me a straight answer. As I delved into my own research, I was outraged to learn just how much toxicity we are exposed to each and every day - way worse than I could have ever imagined! I also came to understand how the toxicity of prolonged stress, worry, anxiety, and constant negativity can play a huge role in causing cancer as well as the ability to survive cancer.
If I can prevent even just one person from getting sick by writing this blog, that will be yet another reason why I feel blessed to have experienced such a challenging moment in my life, which has brought this opportunity for me to share here with you today!
I thought I would start off by talking about the one fundamental tool that was paramount for me in fighting and surviving cancer and continues to advance my daily wellness: The Power of Positive Energy. Creating and maintaining positive energy, I believe, is key to protecting physical and mental health. Although at times challenging, I strongly believe maintaining an upbeat attitude is essential for daily wellness. When ignored for long periods of time, negative emotions end up brewing and can ultimately have a detrimental effect on our lives. By providing insight and identifying useful tools, my hope is that we can be proactive in combating negativity to prevent the possibility of compromising our health and our overall wellbeing.
Let's ask ourselves - do we recognize what triggers our negative feelings?
It may start as just one teeny tiny pessimistic thought or belief, which, if left unresolved, can then snowball into doom and gloom. When we lose our ability to see and feel the positive in any given situation, negative emotions will fester, and eventually will not only affect our mental and physical health, but start to attack the person we are - diminishing our character - and ultimately stripping us of our goodness.
The mind-body connection is a strong partnership.
What we consciously fill our mind with can have a positive or negative affect on our physical wellness. Our mind, our brain is incredibly powerful; this is where it all begins. It is the starting point of how our body functions, just like the engine of a car. However, if we don't keep it tuned up, it won't run well. Sure, we can keep the tank filled with gas and maintain its pristine appearance, but it won't go very far without regular service, air in the tires, and changes of oil. The same goes for maintaining tunes-ups for our mental wellness, and this has a direct effect on our physical health.
Consider a daily mental tune-up, a 5 or 10-minute quiet time, where we’re completely alone with the phone turned off, so we can take uninterrupted time for some slow deep breaths, in through the nose and out through the mouth, while our eyes are closed; imagine a place of peace and tranquility. This daily quiet time, even if only for 5 minutes, will have a positive effect on our wellbeing.
What are the dangers of prolonged negativity?
Well, when bad thoughts, feelings, and emotions are left unchecked, they trigger the release of the stress hormone, cortisol. We know that high levels of cortisol cause all sorts of physical problems like high blood pressure, a weakened immune system, digestive issues, increased inflammation, and more. It wreaks havoc on us mentally, causing anxiety, frustration, and stress, and it affects our cognitive ability, making it difficult to think clearly and get things done throughout the day. As these become chronic conditions, our health becomes severely compromised with problems such as diabetes, heart disease, weight gain, depression, fatigue, and more.
Yes, being negative is not only bad for our health, it has a harmful impact on our daily life, and manifests into bad behavior. When negativity reaches a heightened level, people become irrational; behavior becomes extreme; actions become over the top and that’s when self-destruction begins to spiral out of control. A proactive approach is a must in preventing the risks from being angry, callous, combative, cynical, hateful, hostile, inhumane, insensitive, malicious, narrow-minded, violent, and more.
While short mindfulness breaks can help with our daily peace and calm, sometimes, however, it’s just not that simple. In today’s world, becoming overly consumed with angry thoughts and harsh feelings can lead to our inability to exercise self-control, causing terrible repercussions. Over time, the physiological demand from negative emotions puts a lot of wear and tear on our bodies, and it impairs our thinking and decision-making. An ongoing negative mindset hijacks the rational part of our brain; it chips away at our humanity, morality, and integrity, leading to impulsive reactions and poor judgment and causing us to say or do things we come to regret.
To be clear, this is not about eliminating our feelings and emotions; rather, this is about cultivating ways of preventing ill thoughts from consuming us to the point of affecting our health, our life, and our wellbeing in bad ways - from turning into violence, or self-harm, for example. This is about making the conscious decision to nurture our peace and calm, and to foster positivity by navigating through disagreements, difficulty, disapproval, and negative beliefs, feelings and emotions in appropriate ways without compromising our civility, humility, and human decency. Here are some effective tools we can use:
We can choose to practice optimism to find common ground by embracing new opportunities and being open to different ideas.
When a negative thought surfaces, we can make a conscious effort to replace it with 3 positive affirmations. The more we practice this, the more we’ll become in control over the thoughts that enter our mind.
Journaling is a great way to acknowledge and release negative feelings and emotions.
We can make being positive a habit by practicing it every day.
We can recognize what is real and see both the good and the bad.
Negativity is contagious; we can avoid being around pessimists and instead, spend time being around those who leave us feeling enlightened and uplifted.
We can turn negativity into action. For example, if we hate the weight gain we’ve experienced, instead of complaining about it, we can use that energy to motivate ourselves to make healthy lifestyle changes.
Instead of dwelling on the dislike of others, we can focus on what positive changes we can make to better ourselves as human beings.
Practicing daily gratitude is an effective way of placing our attention on all of the positive aspects of our life.
When everything seems to be going wrong, or when we’re faced with what seems to be never-ending challenges, we can flip the narrative by replacing being stressed and frustrated with being thankful for and accepting of the opportunity to develop grit, strengthen resilience, experience personal growth, and build upon character.
No matter how difficult a situation, we can be reminded there’s always a bigger picture. When we can look at things in a different light, we can then gain a more balanced perspective.
Cultivate a positive mindset by accepting situations that are out of our control. This allows us to maintain disapproval over matters we strongly oppose, but - at the same time - it allows us to benefit from letting go of the struggle over matters that we cannot change - and that’s important because of the harmful effects that come from distress, anger, frustration, all of the negative feelings and emotions that wreak havoc on our mental and physical health. Understanding the distinction between acceptance and approval is key to maintaining a positive mindset that will protect us from the adverse consequences of on-going negativity.
Use positive self-talk. We can be proactive in reminding ourselves that we have the ability to cope and move forward, instead of losing control and becoming stuck in a never-ending whirlwind of pessimism. This brings nothing but detrimental hardship to our health and daily life, including the loss of friends and family who no longer can stand being subjected to constant negativity.
Focusing on self-care is a must by prioritizing quality sleep, deep breathing, mindfulness, Reiki, a positive mindset, and surrounding ourselves with the people we love.
If our goal is to prevent illness and disease and to promote health, strength, and vitality throughout our lives, then it stands to reason that we all can benefit from the Power of Positive Energy. A positive mindset is electrifying and contagious. Now, wouldn’t that be a wonderful thing if we could cause a domino effect amongst everyone around us? I hope you’ll find these tools effective in making a positive difference in your health, daily life, and lifelong well-being.
These are my thoughts and opinions, just sayin’ … Until next month, stay positive and stay well!
This month’s favorite is:
I absolutely love this water filtration system for my entire home. I never worry about drinking water from the faucet, and it's the best water I've tasted! My bath and shower water is completely clear and clean, and my hair and skin love it too!