End to the perfect day

What we think is as important as what we put into our bodies in maintaining a healthy holistic lifestyle. We have read and heard of stories where patients have healed themselves of life threatening illnesses simply by shifting from negative self talk to positive self-talk. If a shift in one’s self talk can have such a miraculous outcome, why wait until diagnosed with a debilitating illness in order to change our thought process?

Studies have shown that what we think or say has a great impact on how we emotionally and physically feel. In one such study, Dr. Masaru Emoto, author of The Hidden Messages in Water, spent years taking photographs of frozen ice crystals. These crystals were the result of frozen water in bottles that had been wrapped in either positive or negative messages. In his research, Dr. Emoto discovered that “water had the ability to copy information”. The ice crystals wrapped in positive messages of gratitude and love had formed beautiful hexagonal crystals, while the ice crystals wrapped in negative messages of anger and hate produced fragmented and malformed crystals.

Since our bodies are essentially water, it stands to reason that a negative mind, whether brought on by self-talk or external forces, has the ability to emotionally and physically impair us. How then do we break a bad habit?

A gratitude journal has been known to successfully alter one’s thought process. How does it work? At the end of the day one writes down five or more things to be grateful for. At first, this simple task may seem difficult. The purpose of this exercise is to use the power of the written word to transfer negative internal language to a more positive one. We tend to beat ourselves up for all the things that do not go well. Living with grand expectations of the perfect day is not only unrealistic but also self-defeating.

If you decide to incorporate a gratitude journal to your daily routine, keep in mind that it takes 21 days to break bad habits, so be willing to commit three weeks to the task. As the days go by, you will find it easier to list things to be thankful for. Once you recognize a shift for the better, writing in your journal will be a welcoming end to a positive thinking day.