Positive thoughts and emotions matter for your health.
For the second time, I tested my strengths through the VIA Institute’s survey. The first time I tested, my top three scores were (1) love of learning, (2) love, and (3) kindness. The second time, the results were the same except kindness was replaced by zest. Zest is the feeling a child has the eve before Christmas. Yes, feel zest when I start each day.
I get pumped working on websites, making social media posts, building my portfolio, and learning these crazy Star Trek cinematic video skills. Long ago, I proposed a thesis on how to make cinematic light flares. Now I’ve found how through online training, free of charge.
My zest feels so comforting that my headaches disappear. My backaches fade. I can sit in my uncomfortable chair comfortably for hours.
But when I go to bed at night, I think of family woes. My head aches so badly I say an extra prayer in case I don’t awake. So, why do troubled thoughts lead to migraines? “According to the HeartMath Institute, heart rhythm reflects most notably your inner emotional state and stress level. They found that negative emotions lead to increased disorder in the heart’s rhythm, and the autonomic nervous system, thereby adversely affecting the rest of the body. In contrast, positive emotions create increased harmony in heart rhythms and improve balance in the nervous system” (Merk & Nester, location 5242 of 9932, 53%). In other words, when it comes to health, positive thoughts matter.
Each morning, as soon as my alarm goes off, my pain subsides and the zest returns.
But design doesn’t excite you? Then what gets you pumped? An act of kindness? A courageous deed? A funny joke? A generous act?
Whatever makes your heart skip a beat raises your vibrational frequency. “Depending on what your normal vibrational frequency is, you may need to raise your emotions from a lower-frequency emotion (such as shame, fear, or anger) to a higher frequency emotion (like gratitude, love, and joy) to heal your body” (Merk & Nester, location 5176 of 9932, 52%). Whenever my mood drops, I think forgiving thoughts. That heals my aching head. After all, “Every word you say, every thought you think, and every emotion you feel has tremendous creative energy and shapes your environment according to their nature” (Merk & Nester, location 5163 of 9932, 52%). And “resilient people actually resist illnesses, cope with adversity, and recover quicker because they are able to maintain a positive attitude and manage their stress effectively” (Steinberg, July 17, 2012). Also, according to research, “People with a family history of heart disease who also had a positive outlook were one-third less likely to have a heart attack or other cardiovascular event within five to 25 years than those with a more negative outlook” (Johns Hopkins Medicine, n.d.).
Thus, try to think positively for as long as possible: “Scientists explain that, when you consistently give attention to a thought or focus on the same emotion, the brain begins to produce more of the same thoughts and emotions. If you can hold a thought with emotional energy for seventeen seconds, other energies that vibrate at the same frequency will be attracted to it” (Merk & Nester, location 5163 of 9932, 52%). And we want to attract the positive, don’t we?
Authors Merk and Nester take a unique spin on how to raise our vibrational frequency. “You can raise the frequency by keeping your thoughts and words positive and by adding high vibrational accessories in your home such as Himalayan salt lamps, high frequency essential oils like frankincense and myrrh, placing green plants around your home, burning herbs like sage to clear the negativity, playing high frequency meditation or classical music, and/or placing high frequency crystals such as rose quartz around the room” (Merk & Nester, location 5163 of 9932, 52%). I opt for positive thoughts, eucalyptus essential oil, meditation, prayer—and exercise.
So, for health’s sake, watch your thoughts. Nurture forgiveness, love, kindness, generosity, empathy, compassion—all the good stuff. Treat those thoughts as if your life depends on them. Because, in the end, it does.
