When I was studying for my B.A. degree, I was introduced to a concept called "The Ghost in the Machine". This was used to explain how the body could be influenced by the mind, without making too obvious a reference to the much mistrusted idea of "a soul" and was based on the work of the philosopher, Rene Descartes. There was much speculation about how something that was not mechanistic in nature i.e. our thoughts, could actully affect something that was not only mechanistic but chemical and biological too. Of course in today's world we know only too well that our thoughts carry powerful consequences.
Is it true that the mind can not tell the difference between something that is imagined and something that is real? Amazingly, the answer to this question is yes. When explaining this concept, most people ask you to imagine a sable tooth tiger in close range to you, however, I believe choosing something more personal to you is better for encouraging the right response. So I now invite you to choose your own example of something that might illicit a physical response from your body. Personally, if I think of being locked into a particularly small room, my beathing begins to quicken, until I change the image. To be honest, I usually change this fairly rapidly as I do not like to spend much time in this state. Don't spend too long here, it's just to make the point about how our mind/thoughts affect our body.
Where am I going with all this? I want to help you see that while we may not be fully aware that our thinking controls much of how we spend our day, it does. Our thinking also has more to do with the food choices we make than we realise. It is also said that 95% of our thinking is unconscious. Wow! perhaps you would like to reflect on that for just a short moment. 95%. What a staggering number! This basically means that until you become aware of something, it may be very difficult if not impossible to change it. Difficult, but not impossible.
With many of my clients, one of the first questions I ask them is to outline their top three values. If I don't hear that health is up there in the top three, I ask them to put it there. Good health is one of my top three goals in my own life as I know and value it more than anything else. If it's ever been taken away from you, you will know exactly what I mean when I say this.
However, even though I really value my health, some days my thinkin is so stinkin that it really is only fit for the rubbish heap. Am i alone in this? I think not. It is in these off days that I find myself at the chipper door ordering a single of chips and a veggie burger (was I not listening in the hydrogenated fats lecture!!). After eating, I feel a sense of stillness, almost as if someone has put a muzzle on me. Listening carefully for my motor mouth mind, I can no longer detect any stinkin thinkin. It has been silenced. Actually, I no longer think or feel anything. It is unlikely that we will reach for the mung bean sprouts when we are in this state of mind, and yet, it is almost exactly what we need. Yes, I did just say that!
So what do I suggest you do when it attacks? My suggestion is to run with it, but if you are at home when it hits, at least have your kitchen filled with whole and healthy foods that will lessen the impact. If all you can find are Kimberly Mikadoes(and coconut creams:)), then guess what you're going to much on?? You got it in one. And if you are not at home and happen to be passing the chipper and there's absolutely no way your Ghost in the Machine is letting you away with anything less than a single, then only have one, make it a small bag and do not get the the extra scoop! Oh, and have a handful of sprouts when you get home.
No one is immune to these bouts of madness, but as anyone will know who has started a diet (not a favourite word of mine), when these stinkin thinkin attacks, the chips are eaten, washed down with diet coke and a few squares of dark chocolate that has turned into a whole bar and sure I've ruined it now I might as well finish the Ben and Jerry's and start again tomorrow..but when tomorrow comes, guess who's forgotten to go shopping!
I suggest you, stand strong and stare down your stinkin thinkin...Why? because you're worth it!
Spot on and well put!
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