Think Yourself to Good Health

How much control do you really have over your health? It’s clear that diet, exercise, and stress can affect your health, and that lifestyle changes in these areas can improve or eliminate many medical conditions. But what about your thoughts, can you think yourself to good health?

Positive thinking has been promoted in countless books from “The Power of Positive Thinking,” to “The Secret,” to “A New Earth,” all of which I have read over the years, but I’ve recently experienced its power first hand in regards to my health.

I started getting minor aches and pains that would linger or get worse, and prevent me from exercising or participating in high adventure outings with my Boy Scout Venture Crew as an adult leader. I was frustrated, and realized that I was always complaining about some medical condition or another. I started to feel like a hypochondriac, but I had very real pains, and so I was confused. Was I somehow bringing this on myself? If so, why? I’m tough, I’m active, I’m not a whiner.

After reading a book about fear, I asked myself, What Am I Afraid Of? The answer was clear: I’m afraid of aging, and afraid I will sustain an injury that will prevent me from enjoying my active lifestyle. I’ve been an outdoor enthusiast my whole life, and have enjoyed running, surfing, backpacking, and skiing. I walk, play tennis, play soccer with my kids, ride bikes; this outdoor lifestyle defines me and keeps me sane.

My self-therapy consisted of eliminating negative thoughts about my health. It’s a fact that we have more aches and pains as we age, and that our recovery time from injury is longer, but I summoned up my faith to overcome various medical complaints ranging from colds to a strained ankle to recurring back problems. Whether you use religious faith and think of negative thoughts as an evil force at work, or just a generalized faith in your ability to be healthy, daily affirmations are a powerful tool. Every time I woke up and limped to the bathroom on stiff muscles and joints, rather than getting discouraged, I would tell myself “My body is strong, it has an amazing ability to heal itself, this body has brought me a long way and will continue to do so.”

It’s only been a few months since I started to push back on those negative thoughts, but I swear I feel better already. I feel hopeful. I know I will age, and that it will continue to present challenges, but I also know that staying active and having faith in my body will help. Part of this isn’t a mystery; when I tell myself my body is strong I exercise more to reinforce that idea. But there is also a certain amount of mind over matter, which top athletes use to will their bodies to do the impossible. Could you run 100 miles in 24 hours? There are people who do ultra-marathons like the Angeles Crest 100 in our local mountains every year; they know how powerful the mind is, and how much can be accomplished with a large dose of faith. See next week’s column for an interview with AC100 runner Rafael Raceo to find out how he does the seemingly impossible.