Words can hurt. Words can heal. What you say to other people matters. What about what you say to yourself? For this week’s Wine & Wellness Wednesday, I want to talk about positive self-talk.
Many years ago, my father kept telling me, “the body doesn’t hear negatives.” The philosophy he’d picked up was that if he told himself, “I’m not sick,” the body would hear and absorb “I’m sick” and then it would become a self-fulfilling prophecy, and he’d get sick. However, if he said to himself, “I am well,” it would also become a self-fulfilling prophecy and he would stay healthy. I didn’t think much about it for years, until I came down with pneumonia and then pleurisy after surgery for kidney cancer. It was at about that point that I decided I was DONE being ill. I started saying to myself, “I am healthy. I am healthy.” More importantly, I put conviction behind it. Instead of feeding myself a negative (“I’m not sick”), I invested in a positive (“I am healthy”). It worked. For the better part of two years, I avoided coming down with anything. Eventually, a point came when my immune system was run down enough that all of the positive self-talk in the world couldn’t prevent me from coming down with something. For the most part, when I feel as though I’m starting to be run-down enough to get sick, if I focus on “I am healthy,” for example, as my mantra when I’m meditating, I can (mostly) avoid coming down with whatever-it-might-be.
Positive self-talk can take many forms. I am focused. I am successful. I am kind. I am…any manner of positive things. (It sort of follows the theme of “eliminate should,” from several weeks ago.)
What positive message to yourself can you put conviction behind? Your health will thank you!
Cheers! Here’s to your health!