Use the Mind to Heal the Body

We cannot control emotional responses, and we shouldn’t try. Emotions are not a question of right or wrong — they just happen. Picture this: You are strolling down a quiet street, enjoying the sunshine. You pass a picket fence. All of a sudden a dog charges the fence, teeth bared. It jumps and almost clears the top. Your heart leaps in your chest and you shudder away from his angry bark. If you had a bad previous experience with a dog, the fear may be paralyzing, not really connected to the current situation.

Fear is not always rational. It depends on one’s coping skills and life experience. Each and every feeling translates itself into a complex set of chemical triggers that cause neurons to fire. Even healthy, well-adjusted people are subject to daily assaults, which make it much harder for the mind to be productive. Stress hormones make us more susceptible to illness, but we cannot reconstruct our lives or undo physiological changes that happen automatically. We can, however, lessen the long-term harm with a variety of relaxation techniques.

Thousands of self-help methods are available. No one system is right for everyone, but researchers have shown that journaling has some surprising health benefits. Putting a bad experience into words by writing it down has a way of telling the unconscious emotional channels that we have dealt with that issue and can move on. The mind can undo the effects stressful situations have on the body.