The Healing Mindset

One of the most important and often missing pieces within the process of healing is the healing of your mind. After receiving a difficult or life-altering diagnosis part of the battle is confronting the mental and emotional facets that come along with such prognosis. We are not here to tell you to just smile and power through, of course, take the moment (that moment isn’t singular) to embrace the situation you are in, explore what you’re feeling and know it is fine to not be fine sometimes. When you are ready, just know that you don’t have to be hopelessly stuck, if anything that mindset can actually prevent you from getting better. We are all familiar with the idea of a placebo effect, where a person experiences an improvement in symptoms because they convinced themselves that they will, but there is actually something called a nocebo effect, where a person’s health can deteriorate due to the belief that it will.

The Science Behind Negative Thinking

The mind is powerful in its way of influencing healing as well as its ability to further impair healing processes. For instance, chronic stress increases the number of inflammatory cytokines, contributing to a weakening of the immune system. This can be a risk factor for cancer. This stress may be caused by various factors such as past trauma, family problems, and a lack of feeling in control. People can suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder without having been present in a war or another major disaster; they may have suffered from depression, loneliness, or been unable to express themselves for a long time. The condition known as Alexithymia is where a person is unable to understand and express their own emotions.

Emotional distress can cause physical toxins to become trapped in specific areas of the body, creating the ideal environment for pathogens to grow. These pathogens then release toxins of their own, perpetuating a vicious cycle. To stop that cycle, the underlying emotional problems that started need to be resolved. Once their environment has been disrupted, the physical toxins can be eradicated. This will improve the overall health of the affected part of the body. Different emotions tend to cause problems in different parts of the body. For example, fear can affect the urinary bladder and kidneys. Anger impacts the liver and gallbladder. Grief and sadness can affect the intestines or the lungs. The emotions lead to toxins being built up in the relevant organ, which can ultimately become the site of cancer or another chronic disease. This may be a gradual process that escalates from developing allergies to developing more severe health problems. So the question arises, how can you find that mindset while enduring such tremendous trials and tribulations? By having a dream.

The Power of A Dream

It has been discovered by psychologists that without a strong reason to get better, it’s difficult for an individual to take action. This could mean a delay in recovery or just not fully recovering from their ailment. By having a dream of your future and setting a goal, you are actively working towards something to look forward to and by doing this, can help yourself physically heal faster. Once you find a reason or dream, you need to acquire a belief system that can propel you toward that goal or dream, you need to believe that you can achieve this. This is why New Year Resolutions usually fail. When the New Year commences, many people set a goal to lose weight, but they aren’t completely convinced that they actually can, or they aren’t confident in their willpower to hold out long term. Their belief system hinders them. It sets them up for failure.

This is why believing in yourself and expressing self-love is fundamental in the healing process. Healing isn’t simply based on physical or physiological symptoms, it is a multi-dimensional concept that involves interconnecting factors. The mind needs to align with the healing process as well. Various studies and reviews support this connection between healing and purpose, that your mind and body are powerful allies. Let us help break down how you can find this purpose and sustain a clear vision for your life.

Step 1: Visualize Your Dream

The visualization method is now being used on patients with serious diseases including cancer. Patients are taught to visualize the body’s immune system cells fighting the tumor cells and killing all of them. The patients also visualize themselves getting better and healthier day after day. Imagery (visualization) has harnessed the power of the mind through various therapies for centuries. By creating images in your mind, you can reduce pain and other symptoms tied to your condition. The more specific the visualization, the more helpful it will likely be. People are taught to imagine sights, sounds, smells, tastes, or other sensations to create a kind of daydream that "removes" them from or gives them control over their present circumstances.

Imagery usually involves a program with certain aims and goals. You are guided to visualize your goals and work toward them.

Two imagery techniques are widely used today:

• Palming. This involves visualizing color. You place your palms over your eyes and picture the color you think of with stress. This is usually the color red. Then you change the color to a more relaxing color, such as blue. It is thought that changing colors in the mind helps you relax.

• Guided imagery. This involves thinking of a certain goal to help cope with health problems. Guided imagery is most often used as a relaxation technique. It involves sitting or lying quietly and imagining yourself in a favorite peaceful setting such as a beach, meadow, or forest. Imagery may be guided by direct suggestions from a qualified imagery practitioner. Another example where a person with cancer imagines Pac Men (from the old Pac-Man video game) gobbling up bad cancer cells.

Step 2: Set Goals

From this dream, you’ll want to set goals for yourself. These goals are milestones that help get you to where you want to be. Using the SMART method, S.M.A.R.T. standing for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely, remains one of the more consistently used and well-regarded methods to not only identify reasonable goals but also to specify characteristics that make goal achievement more likely. Setting a SMART goal requires the goal setter to think about the factors involved in achieving their goal. Defining each of the five characteristics can help to define a pathway to reaching the goal. The more well-defined that pathway becomes, the easier it is to follow.

For example, the goal of simply wanting to lose weight or be healthier is too vague and does not incorporate the SMART criteria. But if you use the SMART criteria, a more clear objective might be aiming to walk for 30 minutes, five times per week, for a period of four weeks. It identifies clear, actionable steps and a scheduled end-point where non-judgmental evaluation can take place.

Step 3: Find Mental Exercises to Support a Positive Mindset

Meditation, self-affirmations, and practicing gratitude are a few popular techniques that can change your mindset. Meditation is a proven technique that helps with mental clarity and defining your life’s path. ‌ Regular meditation practice has been shown to reduce stress, improve mood, increase self-awareness, decrease anxiety, and more.

Try out the following meditation technique:

Sit still and tall somewhere comfortable; a chair with good back support works well. Close your eyes and begin breathing through your nose. Inhale for a count of two, and exhale gently for a count of four. Keep breathing evenly and smoothly. Set a timer and breathe this way for at least five minutes.

One nice element you can add to this exercise is a mantra. On the inhale say to yourself, “I am,” and on the exhale, say to yourself, “perfectly well.” In doing so, you’re tuning into the idea that you’re not just your physical ailments, and you’re making room for your true self to breathe. Afterward, you will notice a positive difference in your mood.

Unlock Your Mind, Empower Your Body

Uncover your reason. Use it to take action toward a healthier life. Your mind can be your best asset or your worst enemy. Learn how to train your brain to help your body perform at its peak. Perspective is everything, either move toward your dream or shift away from your nightmare. If you have a strong enough dream, you don’t need a nightmare. But if you don’t have a strong enough dream, define your nightmare. What do you want to move away from?

Recovery comes down to an empowered healing strategy driven by purpose. And ultimately, this determines the success of your treatment. This is why a health care provider’s bedside manner is also very important because they affect what patients think and expect about treatments and can influence their mindset going forward. That’s why we focus on all aspects of health, including the mind, to better serve our patients and get you back to living the life you envisioned.