Are Your Thoughts Toxic?
With wellness and mindfulness high on the agenda for 2018, Nina Khoo talks to us about the importance of positive thinking.
In my last blog I wrote about the importance of paying attention to what we put in & on our bodies in the form of beauty products. Once you’ve rooted through your bathroom cupboards & thrown out anything with ingredients you can’t pronounce let alone spell, then what?
Avoiding chemical nasties is all very well, but did you know you could be poisoning your body with your thoughts? The mind-body connection is well researched, & we’ve all read about the miracles that can occur through the power of positive thinking.
It follows that the flip-side is also true. We have the ability to make our bodies ill & create dis-ease through our thoughts. Of course we don’t do this consciously, but the power of our unconscious minds are such that they listen closely to what we say & make it happen.
Do you ever say things like this to yourself?
‘I’m sick & tired of putting up with this…’
‘My children will be the death of me’.
‘If I have to endure 1 more day of this boring job, I’ll kill myself’!
‘Just looking at my fat tummy/bottom/thighs makes me sick’.
I’m guessing we’ve all said similar things to ourselves at some point. The danger comes when we’re repeating these things to ourselves over & over again. Negative self-talk is so destructive, both to our self-esteem, but also to our immune systems & our health.
If you’re a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP), with a highly responsive nervous system, you really need to monitor what you say to yourself. And the fact that HSPs process things deeply & have 10 thoughts where a non-HSP may only have 1, means there are a lot more thoughts to be mindful of!
One exercise I share with my HS clients to help shift the balance from negative to positive thoughts is the mirror exercise. Be warned, it’s hard to do at first, but persevere & you’ll develop a loving connection to yourself that will impact all areas of your life.
Stand in front of a mirror & say the following 3 statements to yourself:
- Your name, I’m proud of you for fill in the blank (repeat 3 times)
- Your name, I forgive you for fill in the blank (repeat 3 times)
- Your name, I commit to you that fill in the blank (repeat 3 times)
Do this every morning when you get out of bed - even when you really don’t want to. If you find yourself struggling to meet your own eyes in the mirror, you so need to do this!
Most of us will feel really uncomfortable the first few times we do this exercise. After all, we’re not really taught to look at ourselves in the mirror & say kind things to ourselves!
Have a go & see what comes up for you. Be prepared to encounter resistance, it’s all part of the process. You may be surprised at what goes through your mind as you stand there. Just by becoming aware of what we say to ourselves will help tip the balance & start shifting our toxic thoughts to loving ones. Your body will thank you!
If you think you may be Highly Sensitive & would like to explore what this means for you, I’d love to hear from you. Contact me by emailing info@ninakhoo.com to arrange a free clarity call. You can also find more information on my website: www.ninakhoo.com, my facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/NinaKhooCoaching, or take a look at my YouTube ‘The Sensitive Voice’ weekly videos – here’s a link to the latest one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAZx1xISvNk&t=9s