You have probably at some point in your life heard about the power of positive thinking. A lot of focus in fact has been given to this idea, especially in the last 2 decades.

While it is no surprise that positive thinking makes us feel good, it may come as a surprise to you that positive thinking may also heal our ailments, whether they be physical or psychological.

But is it that easy? Do we just think happy thoughts and everything goes perfect? Well the answer is no. In fact, we need to take a deeper look into just how intricately our thought process is tied to our health and healing. 

To help us do this, we are going to examine this topic, with a special video from world renowned author and biologist, Dr. Bruce Lipton.

The Power Of Our Thoughts

While initially laughed at and pushed away by the scientific community, today thanks to Quantum Physics, we are leaping forward with knowledge where the power of our minds is concerned. While some scientists still choose to ignore the mountain of information available, others are quickly starting to incorporate one of the most powerful pieces of information of our time, and one that is still far from being fully understood by many.

That idea is that our thoughts create and control our reality. And while we are not going to get into the whole discussion here of what this means to our lives, we are going to look in short at what this means for our health.

More and more information today is blatantly showing us that our reality, and everything in it, comes as a result of our thoughts. Pretty powerful stuff, one might say – and it really is. No matter what science or field of medicine one may be in, everyone can agree on one thing – we are just starting to scrape the surface of what the human mind is capable of.

We hear more and more stories of tumors dissolving and all sorts of diseases being cured by individuals who have been told that there is no hope for them. We hear more and more stories of people turning their lives around, once they get a hold of their thoughts, and changing them to serve them and their lives. And of course who can forget the famous placebo effect.

But we also have to stop at this time and ask ourselves, “if our thoughts are powerful enough to heal us, are they also powerful enough to make us sick?”

And to this the answer is a whopping YES!

This is perhaps one of the most fundamental ideas where our health and well-being is concerned. However, consider this also: we can use our thoughts to heal ourselves, or not get sick in the first place. How do we do this?

It can actually be very simple, IF we are committed to it that is. And as always, with holistic medicine it is based on prevention.

First, start becoming more conscious of your thoughts and words today. Start noticing the relationships you have with others, and how they contribute to your well being or lack thereof. Start noticing how often and why you get angry. Start noticing how often and why you get upset, depressed, frustrated, etc. Notice how often you are cynical or unnecessarily dramatic about the day-to-day events of life. The first step therefore, is awareness.

The second step? Well that actually involves doing something about it.

Once you become aware of how you think, act and speak most days, then you can begin to work on changing those thoughts, words and actions. This change will come as easily or as hard as you make it. Sounds obvious, but the more you resist or justify, the longer the process will take.

The famous biologist, scientist, speaker and author, Dr. Bruce Lipton eloquently presents these ideas in all the work that he does today. He has taught medical students, he has given numerous lectures and talks and written various books and publications. His most influential and famous to date, and one that I highly recommend is The Biology of Belief: Unleashing the Power of Consciousness, Matter, & Miracles.

In his work he explains that our health is completely tied to our thoughts – in fact it is a result of our thoughts. The thoughts and emotions we hold about ourselves and our world, shape every single one of our cells each day. In fact he dispels most ideas about how you can “blame your genetics” for your health. Our environment, and our thoughts are key players in the state and shape of our body.

So are positive thoughts able to change our health? Stating it again, you bet! However, our discussion needs to go a little further yet, to truly understand how exactly this happens, and why it works for some and not others.

Positive Thoughts and the Healing Response

Instead of trying to explain everything here in words, I am going to let Dr. Bruce Lipton tell you a little about the connection between our positive thoughts, our health and healing that we are trying to understand.

In this video, Dr. Lipton explains the idea of how healing works with positive thoughts, and most importantly, why positive thoughts are not enough. He also examines the placebo effect, the pharmaceutical industry and our conscious and subconscious minds. And for all my natural health loving enthusiasts out there, you will absolutely love what he says about the medical and drug industry and the studies that are done in terms of what their primary motivation is.

And one more thing before you watch it. This video is an excerpt of an interview that was done with Dr. Bruce Lipton for the movie “Try It On Everything.” This movie is an outstanding look at how we can put the Emotional Freedom Technique and idea of tapping to free ourselves or overcome pretty much any physical, mental or emotional obstacles that lie in our path.

The Connection Exposed

Well, I hope you enjoyed that video as much as I did. I know for me personally, the best part was the clear cut explanation of why positive thoughts alone are not enough. And I am sure it is not that hard to see countless examples of this in your own life or in the lives of those around you, that positive thinking does not always get us what we want. In fact, sometimes it may frustrate us more than it helps us.

The hard wired conditioning of all the past years that is within us, unfortunately or fortunately plays a huge role in why so many of us are where we are, where our health and healing is concerned. So many of us have been conditioned to repress our feelings, or lead to believe that we are not good enough, pretty enough, smart enough and the list goes on and on. And while you may be tempted to lash out with anger and frustration at those involved in your upbringing – it will not solve a thing, as they only did what they were conditioned to do themselves.

It therefore takes a generation, or on a small scale a person, to break the cycle, to become conscious of life, specifically their life and start acknowledging the roles that thoughts play in their lives. And if you are a parent, even more power and responsibility rests with you. You have the choice of raising your children unconsciously and letting the old, limiting patterns of thoughts and beliefs consume your children also, OR consciously by teaching them about how powerful their thoughts are, and to see life as the beautiful gift that it is.

That is why,  recall what I said above, about first becoming aware of what are we thinking about most of the time. All of these are habitual patterns that are ingrained in our subconscious mind, and all the conscious positive thoughts are not going to help us, until we make them our subconscious wiring.

So yes you may be taking medication and not getting better, while your friend is taking none for the same condition and recovering perfectly. You may be battling weight, anxiety, stress, depression or any number of things and wondering why nothing seems to be working. And I have to tell you, nothing will, until you change your mind about yourself and the world.

We really have to understand that until we make a serious effort to get a conscious hold of our thoughts, our actions and results will continue to be the same.

In conclusion, please do not leave misunderstanding me, that we should then not even bother trying to be positive. Oh, no, on the contrary, continue being positive, but understand that there is more to it than just that. Understand that unless and until you consciously tap into the thoughts and beliefs you hold deeper about yourself, others and the world, and change any toxic patterns, you cannot expect to reap the benefits of good health, whether in the present or future moments.

Yes, we can heal ourselves of anything we want using our minds, but better yet, let’s prevent getting anything we need to heal, in the first place, by going through life with beautiful, loving and peace filled paradigms. Change is possible. It is really not as hard as some may think. Your first step is simply choosing to change your thoughts.

So I leave you today with the famous words of Dr. Wayne Dyer:

“When You Change Your Thoughts, You Change Your Life”

Dr. Wayne Dyer

*Photograph provided by Christian Sisson

About the author:
Evita Ochel, B.Sc., B.Ed., CHN - is a certified holistic nutritionist, biologist, educator, writer, researcher and speaker in the areas of health, science and holistic wellness. She is a nutritional science expert and her teaching and writing focus on natural, wholesome, plant-based and organic nutrition to achieve optimal health and longevity. Learn more about Evita Ochel or Follow Evita Ochel on Twitter.