The idea behind the Healthy Dimensions blog is our soul is made up of 4 dimensions: the mind, body, spirit, and social connections. We must nourish all these parts of our soul to be happy, healthy, and thriving. Over the next four weeks, I will deep-dive into each dimension. This week I’m talking about the mind. I hope this inspires you to nourish your mind and find ways to nourish your soul.
How The Mind Works
Dr. Joe Dispenza says “The mind is the brain at work.” Our mind contains all our memories, feelings, pictures, ideas, experiences etc. It holds a vision of who we are. It guides us through situations based on past experiences and tries very hard to keep us safe. It signals to our body when something feels off and lets us know when we’ve pushed too far. Our minds can be changed and moulded even though it tries hard to stay the same and keep us safe. We have the choice every day to think positively or negatively. We can change our experience just by changing our conscious thought. We can change our bodies, our health and all our day-to-day experiences just by being conscious of our mind.
The Mind-Body Connection
Many years ago, there was no research to support that everyday thoughts affect our bodies. These days, we know better. There is loads of research to support that our thoughts can affect our health. Dr. Joe Dispensa hosts events where spontaneous healings have occurred just by the attendees changing their minds. They use Joe’s meditations to no longer live as the person they were when they were sick. They decide to no longer live with the fear, the pain, the thoughts and experiences that were keeping them sick. They decide today they will live for their future self and not be stuck in the past.
Louise Hay’s book, Heal Your Body, goes through the mental causes of physical illness. She breaks down everything from Acne to kidney stones to cancer. She believes each illness is directly related to some emotional block or belief. She gives you the cause and the new belief to work with to overcome it. Here is an example: Elbow issues, Probable Cause: Represents changing directions and accepting new experiences, New Thought Pattern: I easily flow with new experiences, new directions and new changes. I’m sure a lot of you are skeptical. Thats ok! We’ve been taught that healing doesn’t come from within, it comes from a medical treatment or pill. I challenge you to open your heart and mind. Take a look at the book. I have had success using Louise’s method. If you have an illness you’d like me to look up, leave it in the comment section below.
We can’t argue that what we think becomes our reality. Think about your life, do your thoughts reflect your outward environment? Take some time to reflect on this. I bet the answer is yes. We manifest from our mind. Our beliefs become our reality. This is the law of attraction. Think about it, if you believe something about yourself, does it become true? The amazing thing about that is we have control of our minds. It takes a lot of practice and a conscious everyday effort, but our new thoughts and beliefs will become our new reality after a while.
My Favourite Ways to Nourish The Mind
- Meditation: I wish I could scream this from the rooftops. Meditation is the best way to clear the mind and become conscious of your thoughts. And if your thoughts control your reality why not find a way to be more mindful and conscious of what you spend your time thinking about? A regular meditation practice has so many benefits to your everyday life. It can improve your ability to cope with stress, you can feel more at peace inside, you can reflect more and make changes in your life, you will experience better relationships, make healthier life choices, have more meaningful and purpose-driven paths etc. The list goes on. Here’s an article on Deepak Chopra’s website about meditation.
- Read often and learn new skills: Challenging your brain in ways it’s not normally challenged is a great way to strengthen the mind. Neuroplasticity is the brain’s ability to rewire by learning and experiencing new things. You can create new neuropathways by exposing yourself to new things. How cool is that? Keep your brain from becoming stagnant and getting old. I challenge you to learn something new every week and build up daily.
- Journal: Dump out your thoughts and work through issues that arise on paper. Journaling is an excellent way to release the mind and let go of things that are weighing on you. Going back and reading your journal is also a great way to see how far you’ve come. It’s encouraging and encouragement can give you momentum in life.
- Exercise: Moving your body daily is crucial to a healthy mind/body. Exercise can improve memory and sleep, prevent diseases that affect the brain and body, improve mood, and improve decision-making and memory. The list of positive effects of exercise could fill a stadium. I encourage you to add exercise to your daily rituals and watch what happens! Remember it only takes about 30 days for a new addition to your routine to become second nature. Is it hard to exercise on cold winter mornings? Yes, but once you start it feels so so good!
Add Mindfulness To Your Day
Today can be the day you change your life just by changing your mind. Who do you want to be? Where do you want to go? How do you want to feel? You can decide that! Train your mind to look for the good and move past the challenges. Your thoughts can make you sick or happy. If you change your mindset, you change your life! It’s so easy to stay where you are, but I encourage you to add mindfulness to your day. Keep working on yourself and in a year from now, you will look back and be so happy you did.
xo Alayna
