Can a Healing Attitude Help You Get Better Faster?

Yes, yes and yes it can. What do I mean by a healing attitude? A positive attitude, a belief that you are getting better, a belief that you can get better, that you can achieve your health goals, that you aren’t stuck where you are.

I have questioned for years why some people heal faster than others, why some heal and some don’t. This is a vast topic with a variety of answers, because after all we are all individuals with our individual set of variables.

However, no matter what the circumstance that has gotten you to seek medical help, having a healing attitude can only help in your healing process.

When we are sick, in pain, trying to achieve our health goals, we get stuck in our symptoms or our particular less than ideal body.

However, focusing on our fears and our symptoms can interfere with the healing process.

You have likely heard the term “mind over matter” and other phrases that suggest that we can heal our bodies with our minds. Could this be true? I happen to think there is truth to this. However, lets look at some physiological evidence that our minds can heal our bodies.

Our minds actually are very powerful indeed. When you think a stressful or fearful thought it creates a chemical reaction in your body. It sends a signal to your adrenal glands to release stress hormones. Not a good scenario if you are trying to heal your body. By focusing on unhappy thoughts or anxious thoughts about your condition you are leaving your body open to stress hormones. These hormones suppress your immune response and can interfere with healing. If you want to read more about the effects of stress on the body read my article on the subject here.

On the other hand, if you think about and visualize a good outcome, that you are getting better day by day, that you are achieving your health goals, you will likely smile. Smile and your body will release chemicals called endorphins that enhance the healing response. Smiling, laughing and anything having to do with happy thoughts will release endorphins into your body.(By the way, endorphins are your body’s natural pain killers, if you are in pain.)

So how do you shift from focusing on unhappy symptoms or situation into happy ones? Gently, little by little. Yes, be gentle with yourself as you do this.

I know this may not be easy to do for many people and it has not always been easy for me to do as well. But practice I do.

So start small. Try to replace the current picture of yourself with a new picture of health for just a minute at a time. When you catch yourself focused on your health problem, just for one moment, picture the opposite. Picture what you desire for your health, your perfect outcome.

With practice you can focus on this positive outcome for longer periods of time. The more smile time you can muster, the more endorphins you can generate.
Eventually maybe you can sustain that thought for longer periods of time, especially as your body starts to heal.

Give it a try and let me know how it goes for you.

I wish you all well in your healing thoughts.