“Each of our cells is a living entity, and the main thing that influences them is our blood. If I open my eyes in the morning and my beautiful partner is in front of me, my perception causes a release of oxytocin, dopamine, growth hormones – all of which encourage the growth and health of my cells. But if I see a sober tooth tiger, I’m going to release stress hormones, which change the cells to a protection mode. People need to realise that their thoughts are more primary than their genes, because the environment, which is influenced by our thoughts, controls the genes.”
~ Bruce Lipton, author of Biology of Belief.
Balanced health & wellness is a combination of several factors, which when in harmony, support us to achieve the health we desire. The first of these core factors I’ll introduce, of which I believe there are eight key ones, is our beliefs.
As Bruce Lipton explains in the quote above, our beliefs are foundational in our overall health and wellness. More and more research now proves the powerful influence our beliefs have on our health, from how we view and treat symptoms and more importantly, how these symptoms came to be present in our body in the first place. None of it is coincidence, by chance or without biological explanation.
So how does it work?
Our beliefs start forming the moment we’re conceived. Some would argue even before that. As a growing foetus though, we pick up on what’s going on around us, especially from our Mother. Our Father’s influence is important too, even in this early developmental stage, as Rupert Sheldrake explains with morphic resonance. Most of our beliefs are thought to be formed in those formative years, from birth up to approximately seven years old. We’re like sponges and believe everything around us, especially from our primary carers. From here to approximately our teens, we’re more experimental and model what we’re observing from our primary influencers. The often intense stage of socialisation from teen onset to early 20’s is also a powerful time for forming beliefs, as well as other traumatic experiences like relationship breakups, job loss and homelessness.
The point is, our beliefs impact the health and vitality of our biology more than we’ve realised up until more recently. And what’s more, most of these beliefs aren’t simply hanging out for us to see, realise and then simply erase. They’re generally a bit more invisible…and are part of our unconscious mind, which helps run our autonomous nervous system. We need this system because it helps us breath, digest, see etc. It also includes our fight-flight-freeze-fawn response too…how we recall, perceive, respond and react in any given situation. Therefore, if we’ve grown up believing the world is a dangerous and unhealthy place, this will more likely be our reality in our body’s health too.
This can be positively influenced and changed by our conscious mind though. And that’s the point Bruce Lipton makes above. We can choose to change our thought patterns and beliefs and these new thoughts and beliefs can thus positively influence a healthy change in the body’s homeostasis, towards more balance, harmony and health again. Quite simply put, what you think about, you bring about because thoughts become things…as well as other factors too, which we’ll come to in future posts.
This is one piece of the health and wellness puzzle, albeit an important one, which is why I start with it. And as the poem THINK so succinctly says…
“If you think you are beaten, you are,
If you think you dare not, you don’t.
If you like to win, but you think you can’t,
It’s almost certain you won’t.
If you think you’ll lose, you’re lost,
For out of this world we find,
Success begins with a fellow’s will –
It’s all in the state of mind.
If you think you’re outclassed, you are,
You’ve got to think high to rise,
You’ve got to be sure of yourself before
You can ever win a prize.
Life’s battles don’t always go
To the stronger or faster man
But sooner or later the man who wins,
Is the man who thinks he can!”
Watch this space for the next part in this health and wellness puzzle. And in the meantime, as Mike Dooley says, “Thoughts become things, so choose the good ones.” 💚