Body, Mind & Soul An Integrative Approach

So I thought today I would talk a bit about why I believe in an integrative approach of body, mind, and soul.  And why I follow a plant-based diet as well as other lifestyle choices.  

Since science can’t really articulate the separation of the physical brain and emotions/thoughts, this will be a little bit philosophical. We all have our different views that come from a combination of things we’ve read from science or the Bible or even social media posts. And while I could document the sources where I get my ideas from, the reality is, I cannot prove it and my goal is not to convince you of my believe but rather to understand a little bit more about why I do what I do.  So, I hope you will read all the way through this article with that in mind.

You may have heard me say body mind health, or body mind and soul, or integrative approach, or various combinations of these. Certainly it's in the name of my blog, website and facebook pages. LOL. Obviously, when I say 'body,' I’m referring to your physical body. Mind refers your thoughts and feelings and soul is the essence of who you are or your personality. 

You might be with me so far, or not, but I’m not sure you’ll be on board with my next belief which is that not only our minds, but our souls are also intricately linked to our physical brain. One of the evidence is for this is Phineas Gauge who had an abrupt personality change when a tamping bar went through his frontal lobe. There’s actually many more stories of people who had brain injuries or disease, and had personality changes, emotional problems, or even the way they think changed. Unlike alzheimer's, some dementia patient's family members will tell you this is NOT the person they remember. So we know that physical disease and injury to the brain do you change thoughts and emotions in a person, and even their personality. As a Christian I believe the breath of life comes from God, as mentioned in Genesis and in the New Testament, and goes back to God when we die. I just don’t believe that the soul and the breath of life are the same thing. I don’t think that your soul lives on without a body.  I actually have a Bible study on this if you like and you can get that here. Don't get me wrong, I do believe in heaven and life after death, just not life immediately after death, I believe in the resurrection John 5:28. 

You might have different definitions for these words, or beliefs, and that’s absolutely fine. I do know many things that affect one affects the other. Having a doctrinal difference won’t affect how we work together, it only explains why the body, and specifically the brain, is so important to protect. Because whether you believe the soul is a separate entity from your body or not, we can agree the mind is affected by physical health, and that one can no longer make good decisions if they get a stroke from a poor lifestyle. Our brain's can't function properly without our whole bodies working in good order.  We need proper nutrition for the chemical messengers in our brains, we need exercise for circulation and delivery of these, and so much more.  We’ve seen this in science many times. We know that extreme lack of sleep can cause emotional problems such as irritability and poor cognitive function. Likewise we know certain thoughts can actually reduce physical pain, reducing emotional stress can lower your risk of cancer and heart disease, and many other interconnections.

A plant based diet is one of the best ways to get on the road to optimal health.  The blue zones are centuries of proof that eating lots of plant foods and limited sugar, added fat, and animal products, is the most healthy way to eat.  There are hundreds of studies and books in modern research to back this up. And even some of those following a keto or low card diet believe this so much they endeavor to be vegan or close to it, which is not easy to do, but is possible. 

  

I think in general people forget how important their overall health is to their emotional happiness.  Of course I totally believe in any state of health you can have peace and even happiness. And I do believe that we can’t always determine how healthy will be by our choices. I realize there are other factors that influence our health such as DNA, environmental factors, and other unknowns out of our control.  Let’s do what we can, when we can, is my philosophy. This is why I choose to walk with you on your journey, rather than dragging you along on mine.

Desiring to change & choosing to change!

A couple weeks ago we talked about desire doesn't equal change in the article "Empathy is Not Responsibility". I thought I’d talk more about that this week. Wanting to change and changing obviously are not the same thing, because when you actually change there is some kind of difference that happens. Now, sometimes we say, “I’m trying to ...” like "I’m trying to lose weight," but really what we’re saying is we would like to lose weight. We say "I’m trying" because maybe you’ve attempted a few efforts in that direction but the actual change has not happened yet. The problem is, every time we say something out loud, or even in our heads, we believe it and that can set ourselves up for failure. We start to think we've put in so much effort to this change and we’ve tried for so long to do this thing, that we feel like it’s never going to happen. 

It’s just too hard. I've tried and tried. I often hear this from people who are struggling to break free from a bad habit or an addiction or those who desire to start a new healthy life choice. Eating better, eating less, exercising, getting more sleep, quit smoking, the list goes on. Some of these issues are quite comprehensive and they can look insurmountable as goals, we really don’t know where to start when we just look at the big picture and think I would like this. But if we were to break them down to smaller goals, that were simple and pretty easy to attain, it would be easier to make the change. Maybe we’ll talk more about goals next week, but for now will continue on this theme of desire and trying.

One of the keys to going from desire to change, is figuring out where you’re at right now. What is it about the state you’re in that makes you want to stay there? What are some positive aspects about your situation right now that you wouldn’t want to change? Let’s take my example of trying to lose weight. Well, first of all, it requires me to set aside more time for exercising and creating healthier meals. Time is a pretty precious commodity and I’d have to give up something else I’m doing, like cleaning my house, sorting through books, organizing photos on my computer, and so on.  Note, these are all important things and they mean a lot to me. Some of them are I would even say are necessary. 

What do those things say about me?  I like to be organized, is that a good thing?  I need to keep stress down for my health and these things help me do that,  Isn't that good? I could make a really long list here.  Do you have any suggestions? I'd love to here them in the comments section.  The more you participate the more relevant and helpful you'll find this. 

Now, let's also look at what does it say about me that losing weight is really not that important to me (since I haven't done it yet, it must not be THAT important)?  I’m not as worried about self image as I am keep my life organized. That’s a pretty good character trait to have. Again, I wonder if you could come up with some ideas of your own (put them in the comments)? 

What is it that you would like to change and why would making a change be a problem for you? What positive thing does it say about you? These idea were inspired by Dr. David Burns concept of paradoxical agenda setting. That we really have to find the positive things about ourselves even for the negative things that we have decided we’d like to change.

Let’s do one more example. Let’s say you don’t get enough sleep because you don't get to bed on time.  A VERY common problem for many of my clients. Notice I just made something general, not getting enough sleep, to something specific, not getting to bed on time. Being specific makes it easier to break down so we will get even more specific. Why aren’t you getting to bed on time? Perhaps because you’re visiting with friends on social media or the phone, you are enjoying a movie, you’re finishing chores it didn’t get done, maybe that’s when a particular family member calls you. Each of these I’ll say something positive about you. For example visiting with friends isn’t a bad thing. We all need social interaction and it shows you care about others. Isn’t it good to care about others? Of course. Enjoying a movie, well this is you know how to take a break and it shows you’re not afraid to relax. Isn’t that a good thing? I’ll leave the others for you to ponder. And this will work much better if you can list your own.

Once you see the benefits of not changing AND the positive things this says about you, it actually helps you to see it from a new perspective. That you are not a BAD person for not changing...yet, LOL. It even helps you see ways you can change and still keep all the benefits you currently have. 

The reason we don’t change is ultimately because there’s something positive holding us back from making the choice. Discovering what that is will be far more effective than forcing or punishing yourself. The effort is not correctly directed. A wise writer once said we need to understand the right use of the will (Steps to Christ by Ellen White). In other words we don’t need more willpower, instead we need to make the right choice, and the only way to know what that choice is, is to fully investigate in our own minds with a neutral, non-judgemental attitude, and discover where we are at right now and how is that benefiting our lives.

Lower Your Risk of Disease with Life Purpose

Life purpose may seem like a vague concept that has little meaning or value, but research is showing it does have a real impact on health.

One analysis of over 130,000 participants over 10 studies found: "The analysis showed a lower risk of death for participants with a high sense of purpose in life. After adjusting for other factors, mortality was about one-fifth lower for participants reporting a strong sense of purpose, or ikigai.  A high sense of purpose in life was also related to a lower risk of cardiovascular events. Both associations remained significant on analysis of various subgroups, including country, how purpose in life was measured, and whether the studies included participants with pre-existing cardiovascular disease."  “'Purpose in life' linked to lower mortality and cardiovascular risk.” Medical News Today, MediLexicon International, 4 Dec. 2015, www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/303569.php, retrieved 2017-10-19.

So what ikigai?  Its a Japanese saying for a life worth living or a reason for being.  Life purpose can also be described as being useful to someone else.  We talk about volunteering and how that has been shown to increase your life expectancy by up to 7 years in our Optimal Health course, which I'm sure you've taken by now, so I won't belabor the point.

Life purpose can even help improve the quality of sleep and is being research as a drug free way to help with sleep issues.   Prof. Jason Ong, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine stated, "Helping people cultivate a purpose in life could be an effective drug-free strategy to improve sleep quality, particularly for a population that is facing more insomnia. Purpose in life is something that can be cultivated and enhanced through mindfulness therapies."  “'Purpose in life' linked to lower mortality and cardiovascular risk.” Medical News Today, MediLexicon International, 4 Dec. 2015, www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/303569.php.

So how do you find your life purpose?  It starts with discovering more about yourself and what you enjoy.  What motivates you? What brings you joy?  And if you want to go even deeper, you can use your life purpose as a career.  We have a step by step plan to help you discover your life purpose, book a free 15 minute consultation today! Limited seats available.