Coherence of Mind, Body, and Spirit

It’s entirely possible that I may ramble ever so slightly today and in the near future. I’ve been doing a lot of research into different topics that are all quite interesting, and I’m trying to tie them all together. If it’s not all perfectly articulated yet just bear with me because I’m definitely on to something, and the topics (even separately are useful). Today I want to go over why it’s important to have coherence within yourself. 95% of your day is controlled by the unconscious, which means that if the actions of your unconscious are not in alignment with your goals and desires, you have very little chance of getting to where you want to be until you fix that. What got me really thinking about this was the research I did for the last episode. There was a lot I didn’t have time for, but I was looking really closely at the mind/body connection, and just how powerful that interaction is. So by now we all know that our unconscious mind is essentially unaware of the difference between imagination and reality. The unconscious is also responsible for pretty much everything that goes on behind the scenes within us. We don’t have to think about regulating our heartbeat, we don’t have to decide when to create various chemicals, or when to release them into the bloodstream; That’s all the unconscious at work. What was interesting to me was looking at how the nervous system communicates with the brain in a two way dialogue. The network of communication within your body is incredibly complicated, and it’s all regulated without you really even being aware of it.

Between looking into that and anxiety related issues, I’ve really been paying attention to my body the last week or so. While my symptoms of OCD are now at a very manageable level, I was starting to notice that throughout the day I was still feeling anxious a lot, and I’ve been having stomach problems. So I started trying to pay more attention to my thoughts, how those thoughts made me feel, and what habits I had built around those thoughts without realizing. What I noticed almost immediately is that every time I thought of anything stressful that bothered me (maybe situations with certain people for example) I got a quick little rush of stress hormones. Now I don’t know how to tell the difference between adrenaline and cortisol, but it wasn’t too hard to figure out that there was a chemical response to virtually all of these negative thoughts. What really blew my mind was just how often this was happening. I mean it felt like every couple of seconds there was another little dose coming in and perking me up. Once I started to tune into these thoughts and feelings it was honestly really discouraging for a minute. I’ve felt pretty good lately, and if you’d asked how I felt I really wouldn’t have focused on any anxiety. I knew it was there but I felt like a fish not knowing it’s in water.

I’ve spent the last week paying very close attention to my thoughts now, because if a two second flash of memory or imagination can trigger an adrenaline dump that stays with me for much longer, that’s something that’s worth paying attention to. Gambling is the only vice I’ve never had, but I would be willing to bet some serious money that I’m definitely not alone in this. Most of the people I’ve ever met have had a tendency to hyper-fixate on the problems in their lives, and to stress themselves out running through “what ifs” until they’re finally exhausted and just collapse. That idea that “it’s all in your head” is kind of true because it does all stem from your thoughts, but it’s not just an idea, it’s physically in your body. That mind/body connection is stronger than we realize, and if we want to live to our fullest potential (or at least not get stuck in negative states) we have to understand it, pay attention to it, and do what we can to set it on the right path.

If you’re walking through the jungle and a leopard jumps out and starts chasing you, that’s a great time for your body to jump into survival mode and just channel all of its resources towards keeping you alive. You don’t need to worry about digestion, about rebuilding your cells and muscle tissue; you don’t need to worry about healing any current injuries or flushing out any bacteria or disease. You need worry about channeling your inner Tarzan to make sure that you either kill or evade that leopard before you become a fossil in a museum.

The thing is that this is how your body reacts all the time. That co-worker who gets under your skin causes the same stress response. When that happens, all of your energy goes towards keeping you alive. Living in a state of constant stress is so bad for you, because your body never gets a chance to heal itself. There’s no energy for maintaining your health. Dr. Joe Dispenza talks about this a lot, because your body has incredible healing powers, but most people live in a state of constant negativity which draws energy away from that natural ability. When I realized this it dawned on me that this stress was probably the cause of my long term stomach issues. Nothing seemed to help and the symptoms were kind of sporadic. I started looking a little deeper and sure enough, digestive issues are one of the effects of chronic stress.

So let’s start to tie this all together. In the introduction I said we were going to talk about coherence. What I mean by that is it’s really important to get your unconscious, your lesser (more impulsive) nature, and your body to all work together. If you want perfect health, emotional stability, inner peace and satisfaction, fulfillment, love, and to realize your full potential, you have to get your mind, body and spirit working together. If you’ve ever shopped at Walmart you know how annoying it is when you’re trying to push a shopping cart down the aisle, and the wheels are flipping around every which way. The cart is constantly pulling itself in different directions, and it takes some effort for you to get where you want to go. Then you pass the candy and completely forget that you came in for fruit and organic meat. Between the shopping cart and your impulse to devour sugar, suddenly you’re really not in control of anything, and you don’t even think about what you’re doing as you load yourself down junk food and accidentally run over run over people with your misbehaving buggy.

The metaphor is a little sloppy, but this is basically what it’s like to not have coherence between the various dimensions of yourself. If you want to be healthy but you have unhealthy habits, then if 95% of your day is spent (unconsciously) being unhealthy, and you don’t even notice it. But it goes even further than that, as we’ve now seen. Even if you workout, eat right and get enough sleep and water, you’re still going to have health issues if you live in a state of chronic stress. That constant release of chemicals will prevent your body from maximizing its potential.

Now it’s not necessarily the situation that’s important, it’s your response to it. You can train yourself to regulate stress in a way that allows you to go through difficult situations, without them having too much of a negative impact on you. The other side of the coin is that even very safe environments can cause trouble for you if the way you think about them is negative. Sitting at my desk right now I can put myself in a bad mood and make my stomach upset just by thinking about rude customers, ex girlfriends, the possibility of car trouble etc. Absolutely nothing is happening but I’m triggering a flood of stress related chemicals, and because of that I feel anxious. So what I encourage you to do is to first of all start paying really close attention to the thoughts you allow in your head. If a quick flash of memory can stress you out, imagine what sitting there obsessing over it all day will do to you. Your thoughts have power. They create physical changes in your body, so get real good at regulating them.

Because of the spotlight effect we tend to focus on those negative things. When the leopard jumps out of the bushes we don’t need to worry about much else, so that situation takes up all of our attention. That’s great in the jungle, bad in the office. When Facebook decides to show you memories with your ex, or your boss approaches with a difficult customer, it’s natural to fixate on those negatives, because your brain thinks it needs to keep you alive. It doesn’t know that these are just thoughts, or relatively safe situations.

Now that we’ve established that let’s get to work bringing our mind, body and spirit into alignment. Let’s create coherence between our higher and unconscious natures so that we can direct our full potential towards creating the life we desire. Pay attention to the thoughts you have and the physical effect that they produce. Bring your awareness to this process, and start training yourself to develop the habit of immediately shifting from that negative train of thought to something in alignment with your goals. Get control of your lesser nature through self-discipline. Make sure the 95% of your day is created with intention. Remember, your unconscious doesn’t come up with its decisions out of nowhere. Your thoughts, actions and behaviors create a mental map that your unconscious follows whenever you’re not paying attention. Start thinking about what you want that map to look like, and where you want it to lead. When you create that map with intention, you can relax and trust your unconscious to take you in the right direction even when you’re not paying attention.

Getting your mind working right should set you off on the right track for regulating the unconscious behaviors of your body. Notice when your heart and stomach in particular are sending you signals that something isn’t quite right. Bringing your attention to the chemical responses you feel, will allow you to quickly figure out what thoughts and behaviors are hurting you. So you take what was once a negative effect on your health, and you turn it into a signpost that points you towards health, balance and inner peace.

Thanks for reading. Good luck.