Sitting down to write this blog, I took some time to look back through prior content on my blog page. I grinned as I recognized that “mindset” is clearly an important and impactful topic for me. From various angles, I have written about this topic 5 times, including the following Blogs: Gratitude (thought life / choice); New Every Morning (thought life); The Trees (source of information, belief); Systems & Schemes (orphan vs sonship mindset); Relationship: The Original Intent.
In fact, here is a quote from “Relationship: The Original Intent:”
“What we believe – about God and about ourselves – drives what we think about, which then fosters how we feel about both God and ourselves. These beliefs and thoughts result in an outcome of what we say as well as the actions that we take.
This process within our minds occurs moment by moment, day by day. Ultimately our mindset is fed by the bedrock foundation of our belief. We are either having our minds renewed as we walk reconciled with God in a loving parent / child relationship; or we are independently processing – as orphans.”
In the last blog, I ended by saying that I wanted to “contrast how the application of a healthy mindset versus an unhealthy mindset influences the human experience within the design construct of spirit and soul and body.”
As I presently sit here, I feel that further commentary on mindset will be redundant. So let’s explore the impact of mindset upon physical health. For me, this is the ‘application’ within the ‘construct.’
Several years ago I read a book entitled, Deadly Emotions, by Don Colbert, M.D. (Published in 2003) In the first chapter he defines and discusses stress. He makes the following statement: “No person experiences an emotion just in his “heart” or in his “mind.” Rather, a person experiences an emotion in the form of chemical reactions in the body and the brain. These chemical reactions occur at both the organ level… and at the cellular level.” Further, when over-viewing the scientific research, he states the following: “What we feel as emotions results in how we feel physically.” (pg. 9, followed by citation of 6 different studies)
On page 13: “Stress reactions at the cellular level are pervasive and far reaching. Fear, for example, triggers more than fourteen hundred known physical and chemical stress reactions and activates more than thirty different hormones and neurotransmitters.”
In pages 15-17, he outlines the physiological effects of chronically elevated levels of adrenaline and cortisol. He cites Dr. Hans Selye, an endocrinologist, as one of the first researchers to link chronic, sustained emotional stress and disease.
From chapter three, I want to share several quotes:
“Stress is not about events and experiences nearly so much as it is about a person’s perception of the circumstances that occur in his or her life. A person’s stress level has to do with what a person believes.” (pg 21-22)
“What you believe, what you perceive, determines how much stress you have, and the amount of stress determines how tired you feel at the end of the day.” (pg 23)
He then spends several chapters sharing the link between chronic stress, negative emotions, and specific physical conditions. Throughout this book, Dr. Colbert shares anecdotal examples that he encountered with his patients in his medical practice.
Part two of the book includes several chapters of what he calls “The Prescription.” These chapters include: Replacing Distortional thinking with Truth; The Cleansing Power of Forgiveness; The Therapeutic Value of Joy; and Peace Can Flow Like a River of Health.
Reading this book was transformational for me on so many levels. It was as if the Holy Spirit connected what He taught me in the Scriptures with the medical conditions and afflictions I was seeing in my patients, every day.
It dawned on me that Jesus had very practical, physical health, quality of life reasons for instructing us not to worry, to forgive, and enter into rest. And why Paul exhorted the Romans that there is joy and peace in believing. And that the Kingdom of Heaven is a matter of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.
The divine order of spirit and soul and body – three part, integrated being – was constructed such that the physical would respond to the spiritual. Our physical bodies respond to the conditions of our spirits and souls – either in health, or “dis-ease.”
This is also true when looking at creation as a whole – that the physical realm would respond to the spiritual realm. Paul, in Romans 8:19-22, declares that “the anxious longing of the creation waits eager for the revealing of the sons of God… the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.” There is a divine order for “on earth as it is in Heaven.”
To trust Him, to believe that He is good, to surrender one’s will to the King. These are not merely ethereal theological platitudes. Rather, they are intentional choices; worthy pursuits with practical application outcomes affecting our quality of life.
God did create us with emotions. They are to be experienced, not ignored or “stuffed down.” And I am not suggesting that we are not to ever feel fear, anxiety or worry. I am suggesting that what we do with these emotions – how we process them / or not – will have actual physical effects on our human bodies.
