By: Gabriela Yareliz
In Cómo Hacer que te Pasen Cosas Buenas (How to Make Good Things Happen to You), the wise Marian Rojas Estapé points out that the body and mind don’t distinguish what is real from what is not real. What becomes real for us lies in our choice. In other words, if we panic or create terrible circumstances in our minds, our body reacts as if this is real, even if it isn’t.
I found this to be a profound reminder of how much power our mind really has. We see this everywhere– just look around. People these days have a tendency to panic about things that really don’t merit the cortisol. You could argue that bar will be different for everyone– and based on personality, some people like to panic more than others (or due to other external factors, some people should be more worried than others maybe due to circumstance or choice/consequence). But my general point is simply that if our default as humans is to cause stress on our minds and bodies with worries over things that aren’t real (or aren’t real yet, or aren’t as imagined), imagine what would happen if we could convince our minds of good (or the good that isn’t real yet).
Our stress and cortisol cause imbalances that help feed illness and inflammation. Imagine if we took a pause and made the decision to have healing thoughts, even in the midst of dark circumstances. When I was reading the Bonhoeffer book, I found interesting that Bonhoeffer wrote in his letters from prison about the birds singing around and other notable positive things around him. His attention to the right details and his dwelling on them strengthened him in his last days. It sounds simple, but it’s a profound act and choice.
As we enter this new season, what things do you want to feed your mind, and by extension, your body? What are the thoughts or reactions you want to trade out? What reality will you choose to focus on? The mind and body can’t make the distinction by default, so the choice is yours.
GABRIELA YARELIZ 