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How Negative Thinking Can Actually Kill You.

by Sean Croxton

“All thoughts are forces of attraction.” – Paul Chek

Attitude is everything.

Well, maybe not everything. But it’s a pretty big deal.

Have you ever known someone who can’t open up his or her mouth without spewing out some kind of negativity?

You know, the one who’s had three fender benders in the past two months, who just can’t catch a break, who takes everything the wrong way.

We all know this person.

Maybe YOU are this person.

Not only are these folks suffering from a horrendous case of stinkin’ thinkin’, but their defeatist mind muck may be killing them. Literally.

No, I’m not about to get all “woo-woo” on you and suggest that you commit to a life of unmitigated optimism. Hey, life happens.

Instead, what I would like you to consider is how your limiting beliefs, chronic stress, and cynical perceptions may be impeding your body’s ability to heal.

I can speak from experience on this on. When I was a health coach, I generally had a good idea of which clients would heal and which would not.

What criteria did I use to make this assumption? Well, if I felt like I needed to take a shower right after a coaching call due to an hourlong onslaught of my client’s negativity bombs, I had a pretty good idea of how things would turn out.

On the other hand, there were those clients who brought a positive attitude from day one or who were committed to reducing their stress and to the practice of recognizing and replacing their automatic negative thoughts (ANTs). These clients were a joy to work with. And they usually (but not always) healed and regained their health.

I don’t think this was a coincidence. In fact, research is showing that it is a matter of physiology.

Is it really as simple as changing our thoughts?

Well, yes and no.

Of course we have to follow all of the other foundation principles — eat real food, get to bed on time, exercise just enough, and so on. However, if you’re the consummate JERFer who exercises daily and hits the sack at 10 pm nightly BUT your mind is a mess, you may be not be as healthy as you think you are.

Think of it this way, when negative thoughts and limiting beliefs are swirling through your dome around the clock, your brain is producing stress hormones and chemicals — cortisol, for example — that literally damage cells, generate inflammation, and compromise the immune system.

Conversely, positive thoughts and perceptions cause the brain to produce pleasure hormones and chemicals like serotonin, dopamine, growth hormone, and oxytocin — the ones that heal.

The brain is the chemist, regulating the health of the cells and thus the body. And only YOU can control the chemicals your brain makes — by the way you think and how you perceive and interpret the world.

But what about diet?

Diet is huge, of course. But I can’t help but think of what I was going through last year when I decided to hell with all of this confusing and conflicting food information — Just Eat Real Food (JERF)!

Searching for this perfect diet (one that does not exist, in my opinion) was stressing me out. Although I was doing my best to only put the highest quality foods down my pie hole, my noodle upstairs was probably cranking out its fair share of inflammatory chemicals, counteracting all the good I was trying to do!

If you’re stressing out over following your anti-inflammatory diet to a T, keep in mind that the stress is creating inflammation.

Whoops.

You eat maybe 3-5 times a day. But smart guys at UCLA say we have 70,000 thoughts a day. How they figured that out, I don’t know.

So what’s more important, your thoughts or your diet? I’d say it’s at least a tie. At least.

Yet which one do we tend to neglect the most?

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg, friends.

Last night, David Scharps, maker of the film The Cure Is…, stopped by UW Radio to discuss what he learned about the mind-body connection when he set out to interview the world’s leading experts — Dr. Bruce Lipton, Paul Chek, Dr. Bernie Siegel, Marianne Williamson, Dr. Joel Fuhrman, and more — for his film.

You can listen to OUR SHOW below.

Listen to internet radio with Underground Wellness on Blog Talk Radio

David was cool enough to give you a FREE limited-time online screening of The Cure Is. Click HERE to claim your rental.

Seriously, it’s a must-see flick that I hope you can share with your friends and family. You just might change someone’s life. Maybe yours.

“Be kind. For everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.” – Plato

Enjoy the show and the movie.

Show Note: During the show, David mentioned offering you his ebook for FREE. To claim your ebook, send an email to [communications at thecureismovie dot com] with “free ebook” as the subject line.

Sean
Author, The Dark Side of Fat Loss
Dark Side of Fat Loss

Comments

comments

12 thoughts on “How Negative Thinking Can Actually Kill You.

  1. Miss Gratitude

    Have you ever gone through a time in your life when the universe never stopped shitting on you and no matter how hard you tried, no matter how positive you tried to remain, you could not reverse the train wreck your life had become? You know what else is stressful? Having people tell you that if only you could try being more positive, things would turn around. That even when it’s not your fault, it’s still your fault because you just didn’t have the right attitutde. Maybe the clients who are blasting you with their negativity are just crying out for someone to give a fuck about the hardship and heart ache they deal with on a daily basis, because they’re tired of putting on a fake smile and pretending like it doesn’t matter. I don’t disagree that negative emotions have an impact on health, but I can’t stand the condescending way it was written. “Be kind. For everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.” – Plato <- Try that yourself.

  2. chris

    I don’t think Sean was being “no shits giving” he was just pointing out that there’s more going on than just diet & exercise, no matter what happens to us we can learn a lesson (positive) or sit & cry about it (negative) ..obviously there are extreme circumstances, I personally believe we can turn 99.9% of things into a positive.

  3. UW Sean Post author

    Sorry you took it that way. Definitely wasn’t meant to be condescending.

    And I wasn’t “blasting” my clients, all of who I offered kindness as well as everything I had to help them with their outlooks and health. Some were accepting. Others were not. It’s kinda how it goes with health coaching. Not everyone is going to make the changes.

    Anyway, everything is a matter of perception. The way you perceived my blog was certainly not the way it was intended or written.

    Thanks for your input!

    SC

  4. Neal

    Hey Sean,

    I watched the movie last night and I was impressed. Shifting ones perceptions and attitude can make a huge impact in how one approaches their life. I have seen this in how my patients face disease and illness. For example, a patient told me not too long ago that his disease was a factor in his life not his whole life and he attributed his attitude to healing himself and getting back home to his family.
    Norman Cousins, author of Anatomy of an illness as perceived by the patient is a great example of this.

    Cheers

  5. Gary Conway

    Really enjoyed this post. Life can give you an unbelievable pounding. Some people get it, others don’t. On the flip side, I do believe the “Universe” conspires to help you when you combine positivity with action. It happens so often, coincidence, fate, who knows but I see it. If some people decide to train their mind like they do they bodies, then you’ve done some good Sean.

  6. Todd

    Dear Miss Gratitude,

    This message is said with love as I’m sure Sean’s blog was intended with as well;

    Everyone goes through hard times, to blame the universe as the thing that’s causing problems in ones life is quite a convenient way of not being responsible for ones part in any of it. Giving your power away to a story will yes, make you feel powerless. Stop trying. You may not be responsible for every circumstance in your life, BUT you either played some part in it’s creation or because of its now long duration, yes, you are responsible.

    I can already feel your anger toward me bubbling up. How dare I try and tell you how to feel, I don’t know your situation. Well that’s true, I don’t. However I have observed just about every form of human behaviour there is and anything that you or others have gone or are going through; someone else has and has overcome it.
    Oh wait, wait, it’s not fair to compare, they probably had a better upbringing or better circumstances than you. True, some did, but some also didn’t; they had worse and still overcame or changed things.

    Plato said to be kind; true kindness is telling it like it is sometimes when you are tired of seeing people self destruct. I’m all for healing and gentle growth, but sometimes people need to stop whining and living in their ‘story’ and get over it.
    You know how easy it is to get over something? Just stop trying. You are never not living in the NOW. The only time you are not is when you are thinking about the past, which isn’t real anymore or the future which isn’t real yet. This is the basis of almost all stress. Unless you are being chased by an ostrich, being mugged, beaten or are in an accident the moment you are in right NOW is not stressful, sad or raining Universe shit. If any of those things happen to you, it is very unfortunate but when it’s over the question that you and your mind how power over is; What are you going to do about it?
    You’re alive, you’re breathing, you have access to a computer and wonderful information such as this blog at your fingertips. Life is awesome. If you don’t think so, stop trying to feel happy and do something different. Eat a banana, chase an ostrich, buy a shit repellant umbrella and sing in the rain.

    I know it sounds like I’m trolling and coming down on you, that is not my intention. This is my version of being kind.
    I have a story that if I told it to you, you would cry no doubt because of how bad it was. But that was part of the movie… not the whole thing. I focus on the good because I deserve it, and so do you.

    I wish you all the best,

    Todd

  7. AnnaD

    Certainly not everybody is ready for this kind of information. That is normal. And yes everything is a matter of perception and it’s not just being positive, it is changing ones thoughts all together and actually controlling them which is very hard.
    But for starters is very important to start listening to one’s thoughts and choose the ones you like and believe to be positive/helpful/healing/..etc and the harmful ones, just like you do with food: this I want to put in my mouth and this not.

    Somewhere in the middle of the movie Louise Hay was mentioned very briefly, I have been reading her books for quite a while now and would recommend them to anyone, wether new to the ideas in the movie and Sean’s post or not.

    Well done, Sean, for getting so far in your journey! I am following your blog with acute interest.
    Love

  8. jackie

    sean, thank you so much for sending us a link to a free viewing. it is an amazing, important, and powerful movie, and that is exactly what is missing in our quest for health. so many people (including myself) focus too much on what nutrition and the other physical aspects of health, which are very important too, but like you said in your post, if you have the perfect diet and lifestyle but the wrong mindset, most likely you won’t be in optimal health. i really enjoyed the interview with david scharps too.

    that being said, anyone have any helpful advice on how to deal with “orthorexia”? i have some degree of that – i REALLY stress out in situations in which i can’t control the food i put into my body, like in social situations (dinner parties) or restaurants. i can’t stop thinking about all the toxins i’m ingesting (factory farmed animal foods, chemicals, HFCS, gmos, processed stuff, hydrogenated fats, etc). i know it’s probably more harmful to stress out about it than to just eat it every once in a while, but i’m not sure how to not stress out about it. it gets to the point where sometimes i’ll avoid those situations, which isn’t great for my social life…..

    anyway, you rock, sean!!

  9. UW Sean Post author

    Thanks, Jackie! I can understand how frustrating it can be to deal with orthorexia. I don’t have any specific advice for dealing with orthorexia. However, I recommend consulting with an EFT practitioner or a psychologist. They should be able to help. 🙂

  10. jackie

    good idea. eft is awesome and i used it to get rid of excruciating sciatic nerve pain a couple years ago. in the meantime, just curious – what do you (and/or others) do when you go out to eat or go to a dinner party? do you just eat the food and not worry about it? and how often? i used to go to restaurants and not eat – just go for the company. i always ate beforehand. but i’m thinking that makes people uncomfortable…..
    david scharps mentioned in his interview that his dad ate whatever, and drank 2 martinis a day, and never had health problems because he was happy. his motto was probably “don’t worry, be happy”! i wish i could be more like that!! 🙂

  11. Jackie

    haha, never mind…….you just answered my question in your interview with abel james, when you were on his show. i’m in the middle of listening to that right now, and you basically said that when you go out to eat with your friends, you don’t worry about it. i’ll try to be more normal like that! 🙂 thanks!

  12. Erica

    Hi Sean,

    Thank you for this post and thank you to David for giving out this link on your blog. I am currently working on digging myself out of a shitty life situation that has left me low and depressedn for the past couple months. I hit rock bottom and dwelled in self pitty for a while… until I realized… HEY, I don’t want to live like this !! I started to work on myself and am slowly comming out of that rock bottom home. This movie was so eye opening to me and I now have this warm feeling inside and can’t wait to use what i have learned going forward.

    Life is beautiful 🙂

    Thanks again !!

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