Many years ago, I realized that my attitude and my thoughts greatly impacted my entire life. However, it wasn’t until later that I realized I had only scratched the surface of that power.

The turning point - when I really began to realize what incredible power our mind has to influence not only our circumstances, but, also our physical self - was when I delivered my third child. During the pregnancy, I interviewed an incredible woman who believed that, through the power of the mind, a woman could experience child birth in a completely new way. This appealed to me, frankly, because I had two children and was definitely not looking forward to going through the birthing experience again. After we spoke, I immediately bought a book and set of tapes, and determined that I would change the way I looked at the birthing experience and see for myself if it would be different by simply changing my mind.First, I had to get rid of all my notions about what childbirth was and was not. How I was told it should be before my first child was born and how I had experienced it during the birth of my older children were beliefs and experiences that I needed to shift in my mind. I made the decision that childbirth didn’t have to be painful. It could be a beautiful, quiet experience. My brain and I played many games because at first this felt like a lie….I would think “it will be beautiful and quiet”…my brain would counter “Are you insane?” - and so on. However, I persisted. I continued to visualize, I learned about colors and how they affected my mood…I learned to visualize intense colors to change my internal thoughts and feelings - I learned about music therapy and aromatherapy…..and then the day arrived when it was time to test out all this information and practice.

It was actually night. The doctors made the decision, due to my health (which I will get to!), that they needed to induce my youngest daughter almost a month early. My stress level could have been through the roof - actually, it probably *should have been* through the roof - but, it wasn’t. I just trusted and knew that everything was going to be beautiful and wonderful. They started the induction gently around midnight, and the waiting began. I was amazed as the contractions came and left, but, I didn’t feel the need to cry out in pain. When it came time to deliver, I hung up the phone with a friend that I had been talking to through most of my labor, called the nurse, and calmly told her that the baby was ready to come.

I honestly don’t think she believed me. The nurses (and my doctor) had commented on how quiet, calm, and relaxed I seemed - and none of them seemed to think that I could possibly be ready to deliver. After the nurse came in to check and verified that I was ready to deliver, my doctor arrived with an intern, asking if I would give permission for the intern to observe his first birth! I agreed, and after everyone got prepared and ready, my doctor said “I want you to give me a big push!” (yes, just like in the movies!! LOL) I looked down at him and said….”I’m not going to push….I’m just going to exhale.”

And, that’s exactly what I did….and my youngest daughter came into the world. I looked over at the intern who looked terribly disappointed. I knew that he was ready to see what the media feeds us - the screaming woman, the crying, the groaning….and, what I gave was a gentle exhalation. It was beautiful - and quiet (until my daughter’s first breath!). It was exactly what I had trained my mind to expect for all those months. And, it happened.

That is an awesome example of the power of your mind.  And the power of your mind is something we discuss often during our holistic health coaching.  Your mind and your thoughts have a tremendous influence on your health and circumstances.  I used the experience of childbirth because it is a well-known MYTH that childbirth is painful, loud, and not a very fun experience.  However, for those of you who are still wondering how much influence your thoughts and your mind have on your physical health, here’s another example:

As I mentioned, my doctors induced my labor with my daughter due to health concerns for me.  Shortly before I found out I was pregnant with my daughter, I was diagnosed with a chronic, incurable disease - SLE - commonly called lupus.  I have discussed the symptoms and problems commonly associated with lupus previously, so, I will not go in depth here.  As an overview, lupus is an auto-immune disease in which the body attacks itself.  As I mentioned, it is not considered “curable” and is usually managed with high doses of immuno suppresssants or corticosteroids or a combination of those (and potentially other groups of drugs - depending on the individual, their type of lupus, and the manner that their body responds to treatment).

After my pregnancy, my physical health continued to decline and before my daughter turned a year old, the doctors had recommended to take drastic measures to get the lupus under control.  I had spent almost 2 years listening to my doctors tell me how terrible the disease was and the best we could hope for is to control it - but, it would be cured…just dormant.  During that time - even though I had witnessed the power of the mind during my childbirth experience - I felt helpless as far as the dis-ease was concerned.  I went through with the drastic treatment that was recommended - and continued to feel worse and physically decline throughout.

After that course of treatment was finished, and I had some time to start processing everything going on, I realized that I might be able to change my body through the power of my mind.  On my own, I gradually started decreasing the drugs that were being prescribed.  (Disclaimer: I don’t recommend this method to anyone - my educational background gave me just enough knowledge about how to do this on my own that I was confident I could do it - and I was very in tune with my body by that time -  if you are under the care of an allopathic physician, you need to consult your physician BEFORE you take any course of action.) At the same time, I started using visualization techniques, practicing medical QiGong, using aromatherapy, and changing my eating habits.  All of this, however, started with me telling myself (over and over and over again) that my body was healthy and able to function properly.  Yes, I played the game in my mind - my mind telling me I was lying….and me continually affirming my health and confidence in my body.

Now, when your body is attacking itself, it may seem like a lie to tell yourself that your body is healthy.  Let me explain how I got there.  First, the dis-ease I had did not damage certain parts of my body.  I was able to move my fingers, wiggle my toes.  I was able to use my arms, my legs….I reminded myself that THOSE “parts” - which contribute to the whole of my body - were healthy and unaffected.  Therefore, I could tell myself that I was health and be grateful about the health in those areas.  Gratitude is a powerful thing in the realm of the mind and spirit…..

As I continued along this path, I noticed that there were days I was pain free.  There were an increasing number of days that I had physical energy.  My thoughts were not as cloudy as they were the day before…..I began seeing change in my whole health.  That encouraged me to continue on this path, and made my thoughts of health and harmony within my physical body more powerful.  The further along I traveled on this path, the easier it was…..and I continue this process today.

The changes I made in my mind had a positive impact on my body.  Health leads to health - it doesn’t matter where the health begins….it has a cascading effect.  Yes, I made other changes in my life at the same time - however, it all started in my mind, with my mind, and was driven by my mind.  The mind is an extraordinarily powerful tool that many people take for granted.  “Thinking” is more that what we realize.  We think millions of thoughts every day - many go completely unnoticed because much of the time, our minds are on autopilot.

Once you begin to harness the power of your mind, though, and become aware of your thoughts, your health - your circumstances - your life - your entire world can change.  And, all you need to do is start with one thought.