Attitude is the way in which you look at and respond to life, and as we have all experienced, attitudes affect the body and how the body performs. Fortunately, we all have the innate ability to choose our attitude in any given set of circumstances.
As difficult as it may be to accept this for some people, the events that occur in our lives are purely neutral. They are not positive until we have decided that they are, and they are not negative until we have decided they are.
If it goes on long enough, an emotionally induced state – positive or negative – tends to cause organic change in the body. Chronic love, peace and joy are healing. These positive emotional states trigger feel-good hormone production that cause the body to glow. Chronic negative emotional states such as prolonged anxiety or anger cause raised levels of stress hormones and these in turn cause permanent physical damage to your health.
The following are just a few examples of dis-orders that have been caused by chronic negative emotional states. It is medically documented that:
- Anger causes heart attacks & increased cholesterol.
- Sadness causes a weakened immune system & depression.
- Fear causes excessive stress, post-traumatic stress disorder & all sorts of phobias.
- Guilt weakens the immune system and lowers healing energy.
- Inner conflict causes cancer.
- Bitterness causes arthritis.
On the other hand, a persistently optimistic and positive outlook produces different hormones and can preserve or even extend life by several years. This law means that since the way you think is a personal choice, you can think yourself healthy.
If your goal is to live a successful and healthy life, you need to take control of your thinking. It might seem foreign to some people, but you can manage your attitude, and in the same way, you can manage your reactions. Again, what happens in your life is purely neutral. But how you react to what happens is not; it can affect your health, performance and results.
As you probably have learned through experience, the more attention and power you give to your fears, the more they affect you and the more likely they are to manifest themselves into your world. If you continue to fear ill health, constantly talk about your “nerves,” “tension headaches,” “nervous stomach” in time; those organic changes will occur. Your nerves will act up, you’ll get more tension headaches, and you will experience chronic stomach problems. All because you kept those negative notions alive in your mind.
When it comes to success, what you put forth comes back to you, and usually when it does, it has gained mass and momentum. In other words, what goes around, comes around – multiplied. Therefore, if you develop an attitude of gratitude, and you look at your life in terms of all you have to be grateful for, you’ll start seeing more to be grateful for, focusing on positive things, and more positive things will then be attracted to you.
