Did You Know That Your Thoughts Create Energy and Good Health?

Are you aware of the connection between your thoughts and your energy level?  Thoughts are very powerful and what we think about has a profound affect on our health and energy level.  The images and words that fill our minds will change the body physically, affect our mood and our ability to function. Thoughts, emotions, desires, our mental states, they all generate a field around us. Like the electric field, this field can be positive, negative, or neutral, depending on our response to people, places and things around use.   There are thoughts and words we speak that are conscious and intentional and then there are the subconscious thoughts that can be an “energy drain” that can suck the life out of us and leave us exhausted with no energy!

Our Thoughts and Energy Inputs

As certified health and wellness coaches we have the privilege to work with clients utilizing a human operating system called the Wellness Inventory which is composed of the 12 dimensions that affect a person’s overall health and well-being.

This platform allows us to look at the whole person in regard to energy inputs, such as breathing, sensing, eating, moving and feeling.  What we know is that the thoughts we create in our minds can affect those energy inputs and how we feel and vice versa.   When we feel “down” or stuck by the story we are telling ourselves, we decrease those energy inputs that are so vital to our physical and mental health.  We can all relate to days when we start out with a negative story and find ourselves eating less or eating the wrong foods, avoiding exercise and avoiding people.  We set ourselves up for a “low” energy day and spiral downward.  What goes in and out of the mind is every bit as important as what we put into our mouths.

The latest science has demonstrated that our thoughts affect our physiology.  The field of psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) in medicine has demonstrated that our thoughts affect the neural, endocrine, and immune process.  Simply put, what we think can affect our ability to create or avoid disease.  Chemical messengers, called neuropeptides found in the brain cell walls and in the immune system constantly circulate throughout the body in the blood, lymph and cerebrospinal fluid.  These messages affect physical and emotional states in a person.

There is also a brain and heart connection that has demonstrated that frustration, worry, stress and anger cause heart rhythms to become unbalanced and disorganized.  There was a study cited in the 2017 Lancet journal that showed increased activity in the amygdala, the part of the brain that registers stress, causes the  development of inflammation in the arteries and changes in heart functioning.

Managing our Thoughts and Getting More Energy and Overall Health

According to Dr. Barbara Fredrickson, a well-known and respected psychologist in the field of Positive Psychology, positive thoughts and emotions play an essential role in our survival.  In her work, Dr. Fredrickson has shared that positive emotions, like love, joy, and gratitude, promote new and creative actions, ideas, and social bonds. When we allow ourselves to experience positive emotions, our minds broaden and open to new possibilities and ideas. This allows people to live with more energy and vitality.

Here are some tips and ideas that can help you develop better thoughts and create more energy for yourself.  Some of these tips include questions that they may require you to take a “deeper-dive” into your thoughts. 

• Quiet the inner-critic through mindfulness practices, ie: yoga, meditation and visualization.
• Reading a daily inspirational quote or passage.
• Developing a daily spiritual practice.
• Reframing your thoughts to a more positive spin when thinking about a stressful situation.
• Developing a breathing exercise practice-there are many free Apps available to assist with the development of a breathing practice.
• Journaling and writing your thoughts down to gain insight into issues that are stressing you.
• Changing a behavior that is draining you and creating negative self-talk.
• Recognize how you approach a problem or stressful situation. Is it seen as a challenge or threat?
• Track your thoughts and see how they affect parts of your body.
• Are you a controlling person or a person who can go with the flow- this can be zapping your energy?
• Are you being truthful with yourself or are you living up to the expectations of someone else?
• Developing self-compassion for yourself to support your journey of introspection- learning not to beat yourself up!
• Accepting that it is OK to pause and take a look at our thoughts.

If you are a midlife or beyond woman who wants to learn more about this topic and many more midlife issues consider joining our Free Magnificent Midlifer Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/magnificentmidlifers