Herb Corner Issue 4

This month, I would like to talk a little bit about positive/negative thinking and other stresses that have a big impact on our lives. Jordan Rubin, in his book called The Maker's Diet, says: "You are what you think." In this book he has several sections on stress management, the effects of fear, dysfunction, and negative thoughts and words.

Beginning with stress management. Stress comes from four areas. Forces that we have no control over, forces we do have control over, inward attitudes, beliefs and thought patterns, and physical conditions. He suggests that if we are feel like were on the run or can't seem to catch a break, to turn off the phone for a while, sit while you eat, and try to get enough sleep.

Fear and dysfunction also cause major problems. These two can trigger heart attacks or other vascular problems, and cause or make worse other diseases. A study was done by Doctors McMillen and Stern and compiled in a book called None of These Diseases. A partial list of diseases includes: digestive system disorders, circulatory system disorders, genito-urinary systems disorders, nervous systems disorders, glandular disorders, allergies and immune system problems, inflammation of joints and muscles, infections, and cancer. So, the choice now becomes, will this stress work for me or against me?

Last, negative thoughts and negative words. Jordan Rubin begins with a story about a Holocaust survivor. He watched the Nazis kill his family, but he decided then and there that since hate had destroyed what meant so much to him that he would spend the rest of his life "loving every person [he] came in contact with." So how can we have this kind of attitude? We need to find the positive despite the negative around us. An example of this might be, "Even though I may have a headache in five minutes, right now I feel good, therefore I will work on this assignment."

As the positive thoughts start to come, they soon will be easier and easier to fill in. Healing comes faster when positive thinking accompanies it. In an article in Parade Magazine, they discovered that those who believed they would get better recovered 30-70% from their diseases just by thinking positive. If that is not amazing, I don't know what is.