negative thoughts

People often say “you are what you eat” - but I think it’s more true to say you are what you think.

It’s been scientifically proven that your body responds at a cellular level to stress and negativity (insert link). Our thoughts are important because they can affect us at a subconscious level and even physically change us.

There is a lot of emphasis on external physical appearance, being thin, beautiful and fit. But mental health often takes a back seat. (It’s important here to note the difference between mental illness and your daily mentality and approach to life.)

I’m talking about mentality, our thoughts and how they affect the way we live and interact with others.

If you are constantly thinking about how stressed and tired you are, it’s likely that you will always feel stressed and tired. It’s important to sometimes just try and change your inner thought patterns and replace a negative with a positive.

I know it’s not easy. A good friend once mentioned how throughout our lives we are told not to do things - do not steal, do not lie, do not be jealous. There is a lot of emphasis on not doing things. We should still take these as valuable lessons for life but we should try come at them from a more positive perspective:

• do not steal - be more generous

• do not lie - speak more gently and truthfully

• do not be jealous - be grateful for what you have

It isn’t a quick change, it’s difficult to change a lifetime of thought patterns to a new way of thinking. A good way to start is to become more conscious of your thoughts and your surroundings. Pay attention to what you think - was it a negative or a positive thought, pay attention to who you speak to - is what they say positive or negative. Once you start doing this it becomes a bit easier to bring more positivity into your life because you know where to focus the effort.

Start small - identify one negative thought that pops up a lot, for example “My arms are too fat to wear sleeveless shirts” and replace it with a positive “My arms are strong and capable, it doesn’t matter what shirts I wear”. See how it feels and then keep going with other thoughts.

It's important to look after your body but don't forget about your thoughts - 'the body hears everything the mind says'.