Can we make a positive choice and change the way we eat?
I was interested to read in the news about the British Heart Foundation (BHF) concerns on the sale of “junk” food in places where children may exercise. The BHF wants councils and private venues to ensure healthy food options are also available. This seems like a sensible step but does it really help Children to make a choice? Society seems to be trying to protect both Children and Adults from unhealthy products but what can we do to help people make a better choice for themselves?
It has been said that we spend most of our time not really thinking about our decisions as we make selections biased on previous experience and expectations. How can we make a positive change to select the best choice for ourselves? To me, this means we need to somehow be more in the moment, experiencing the world to make the best choice, the most positive selection to help us get to where we want to be. Being back in control of our bodies and minds rather than responding to past events.
NLP and cognitive hypnotherapy can help provide a framework and techniques by which you can be back in control of how you respond to these “unhealthy choices”. By creating a change in how we respond to these factors can really place you back in control and allow you to create your own positive outlook. I read somewhere that change must come from within to provide a lasting result and this seems to be an area where we need to increase our focus for a positive future.
Positive change and the mind-body connection
I just find it amazing, the human body is a complex system comprising of many cells in states of communication either by direct contact, release of chemicals or via activation of the nervous system.
The brain can control how we talk, walk and breathe and many aspects of our health without a conscious input so we don’t even have to think about it. However it is possible to change these automatic controls and that regulate our health by thinking about it. Good actors can make them self cry or experience emotions just like the real thing. So why can’t we control of blood pressure any health in a similar way?
Recently I heard about how the power of the brain can impact change in the bodies function. Ideally these techniques to harness the mind-body connection can be used to facilitate positive change.
Think positively is a great way to start. My experience is that if I start thinking about all the problems I can see with a task or opportunity – it is difficult to break out of the spiral and get started on the path to success.
A recent article in the New Scientist (16 May 2009) magazine highlights the power of belief. This can happen in modern society, as the article notes example where an individual’s beliefs have been shown to have dramatic impact on their lives. A Patient diagnosed with terminal cancer died as expected but subsequently was shown not to have cancer at all. This process matching the expected morbidity or mortality in response to suggestion has been coined the nocebo effect. Clearly in these cases, the individual’s expectation can result in somatic changes in their physiology and morbidity. Is it better to focus on the positives to bring about a positive change?
A great book I recently read really shows this principal for me. The power of visualisation and the positive expectation can be seen in the example of Joe Dispenza. He was a keen triathlon competitor who experienced a traumatic bicycle accident that left him with a broken spine (see Evolve your brain, 2007, ISBN 9780757304804).
He was subsequently informed of his poor prognosis but declined surgical intervention which in his experience left individuals with poor flexibility. As an alternative, he harnessed his strong beliefs in the power of the mind-body axis and focussed on recovery. Visualising his spine healing and repairing over a number of months he regained full mobility. He also reported the power of belief in a number of individuals he was treating in his chiropractor clinic. The case of Dean, who was diagnosed with leukaemia and given 6 months to live and was still active 24 years later with at least 2 tumours visible in his neck. His secret he reported was that “you just have to make up your mind”. I think these are truly great examples of thinking in a way that can drive a positive change.
There is a maxim (Orr’s Law) that states “what the thinker thinks, the prover proves”
The most extreme examples may indicate the effects of a voodoo hex or the report of an individual suffering serious adverse effects on what they thought was an experimental drug, which later turned out to be placebo. Use of cognitive hypnotherapy and NLP can therefore offer ways to help you find that positive change to get back on tract and help your mind and body work together in harmony.
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