Our life is what our thoughts make it. Life is neither good or evil, but only a place for good and evil. ~Marcus Aurelius

A belief is something you consider to be true. You cannot decide to believe one thing this week and another, opposing thing, next week. You might think you can, but it really doesn’t work like that. I read recently that baby circus elephants are tied to a strong metal post with a heavy chain because they will try to escape and expend a lot of energy on pulling at their tether. After some time, they accept that they will not be able to escape and so stop pulling. The adult elephants are tethered to a wooden stake with a light rope: they could easily escape, but they believe they are unable to do so, and so the light tethering works as a kind of symbol of their bondage. It is clear that whether your beliefs are true or not is irrelevant. What matters is what you regard to be true. It seems to me that this is a good definition of ‘belief.’

People believe all sorts of things for all sorts of reasons. Some beliefs are trivial and others are very important, but two things are certain:

1. Our underlying beliefs operate at a deep, subconscious level, and
2. These underlying beliefs affect what we experience in life, including our level of success or failure in any endeavor.

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Worrying is like a rocking chair, it gives you something to do, but it gets you nowhere. ~Glenn Turner

We live in a culture where everyone seems to worry. Turn on the news – someone got shot, there’s mercury in the fish we eat, the cows have got BSE, a new super-flu is coming, terrorists are regrouping, … On and on it goes. If you take all of this stuff seriously, it’s likely that you’ll never go out, never eat, never travel, never take any kind of risk at all.
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If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend six sharpening my axe (Abraham Lincoln).

Have you watched TV programmes like Downsize Me? I really enjoy watching this! People living unhealthy lives are given a lifestyle makeover and end up losing weight, and generally seeming very happy. Obviously they do make great strides over the two months they are being followed by the cameras, but I often wonder how many of these people go back to their old unhealthy ways once the TV cameras have left. The trouble is that these kind of programmes focus on external things – diet, exercise, giving up smoking – but they don’t address the inner world of the individuals they are seeking to treat. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with eating better, giving up smoking, drinking less and doing more exercise, but there’s something deeper here.
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We’ve all heard about the connection between mind and body, where our mental state can affect our physical wellbeing, sometimes in very profound ways. A recent study shows that laughter – a reflection of a happy mental state – can improve the way blood vessels function.

In the study, blood flow was measured before and after subjects had watched clips from film which induced laughter, or created states if mental stress. The differences were very significant – blood flow increased greatly after subjects had been laughing. The increase in blood flow was due to a change in the inner lining of blood vessels – the endothelium. This lining has many functions, in addition to controlling blood flow – it regulates coagulation and blood thickening and also secretes chemicals in response to the presence of infections. Read the rest of this entry »

“When you arise in the morning, give thanks for the morning light, for your life and strength. Give thanks for your food, and the joy of living. If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies with yourself.” ~Tecumseh

Adopting an attitude of appreciation towards the good things in life makes an enormous difference to levels of happiness. People who make a conscious effort to adopt an ‘attitude of gratitude’ report a greater sense of peace and general well being. Read the rest of this entry »