The
Comprehensive
You
The human body is made up of 60-70 trillion cells. That’s 60-70 trillion microscopic parts working together to provide us with the blessing of experiencing life as we navigate the world through our senses. As we interact with the world around us, experiences, memories and other information is all recorded in the brain.
Life’s experiences give us a unique opportunity to build, shape and create our mind. The mind is an incredible tool that helps us learn and make sense of the world around us. The network of information that’s stored in the mind makes it possible for us to remember how to walk, talk and eat with ease. It reminds us of how we should interact and behave in different social settings. It helps us create identity.
But there’s more to us than the body, brain and mind.
There’s also an invisible part of us that chooses the thoughts we entertain, how we use our body, how we interpret information and how we shape our mind. There are various components that make up this invisible part of who we are. One of the primary components of this invisible, refined material is our conscience. Our conscience interfaces with our mind, brain and body to help guide us towards making decisions that lead to a healthy, balanced state.
This invisible part of us also has the ability to access and connect to the power of things outside of us, such as nature and God. Difficulties in life happen when we only use our mind to solve problems or make decisions. This is problematic because the mind is only able to focus on information that has been recorded in the past due to personal experience. The mind’s inability to connect with things outside of itself creates a limited perspective and keeps us from tapping into the emotional aspects needed to create new habits. Utilizing the invisible part of us in tandem with our mind however, provides us the tools we need to make authentic, lasting changes in our lives.
As we’re exposed to events in our lives, the interconnected nature of the brain, body, mind and the invisible part of who we are, work together to create what we know as our mortal experience. These interactions directly impact our mental, emotional and physical health.
The Impact of Thought
When we interact with the world around us, information is received through our senses. This information is sent to our brain through chemical and electrical charges that travel through our nervous system or bloodstream. When the brain receives these messages, they stimulate the activation of genes within brain cells. This stimulation creates new chemicals that communicate information to the entire brain regarding what is going on in the outside world.
Once the brain processes the information, it is presented to you in the form of a thought. In that moment, the invisible part of who you are has the opportunity to make a decision. You can decide to entertain, harbor and further develop that thought, or you can decide to dismiss it altogether. Either decision ends up triggering a chain of changes, physiologically, biologically and genetically. That’s because the decision we make to either entertain or dismiss a thought generates brain cell expressions, communicating information to the rest of the body in an attempt to prepare for a physical response.
A DOMINO EFFECT
A comprehensive understanding of how thoughts work makes it clear there’s no such thing as a harmless thought. The truth is, the thoughts we choose to entertain have a direct impact on our health. Scientific studies demonstrate time and again the physiological and biochemical domino effect thoughts have on the body.
The process of metabolizing thoughts begins in brain cells called neurons that produce chemicals known as neurotransmitters. Neurotransmitters control virtually all bodily functions. In addition, they play a critical role in our emotional wellbeing. Neurotransmitters create the sensation and feeling of happiness, modulate hormones and help us manage and deal with difficult, stressful situations. When neurotransmitters are created, they travel throughout the body and interact with every cell in the body.
The thoughts we entertain dictate neurotransmitter production, which in turn determines how the body prepares itself physiologically for the perceived conditions of the external world. In that preparation, there are two basic messages the body receives from the brain.
The first is that no external threats exist. Under these conditions the body spends its resources to heal, repair, regenerate and detoxify. As a result, we sleep well and arise with energy. We’re able to innovate, create and maintain a strong sense of motivation. There is a desire to solve problems, provide service and see the good in ourselves and others. It is much easier to feel love, joy, gratitude, empathy, compassion and patience. Most importantly, we feel at peace. Under these conditions we do more than survive. We live and we grow.
The second kind of message tells the body external threats exist. Under these conditions the body goes into a protective state. Our heart rate accelerates, arteries contract and insulin resistance ensues. Resources and energy is redirected from the immune, digestive and endocrine systems to our large muscles, heart and lungs. This is the physiological state of stress. Its purpose is to keep us alive, help us rise to challenges and overcome obstacles.
While stress is a helpful survival mechanism, and can be beneficial when challenges arise in our life, it’s only meant to be turned on for brief moments. Once the threat passes, or once ideas and plans of action are taken to resolve problems, the body goes back to a state of healing and repair.
Chronic Stress
What happens however if the stress we face isn’t because of any actual danger or a challenge we’re trying to overcome? What if the threat we encounter is psychological, one of our own creation?
When we repeatedly entertain negative or corrosive thoughts, we create neural maps that shape our minds in a way that creates internal incongruence. Ruminating about why my child doesn’t behave, the traffic on the way to work, my spouse’s weaknesses and the less pleasant aspects of my job all turn on the stress mechanism. Day after day and week after week of entertaining, harboring and cultivating these kinds of thoughts creates a state of chronic stress where our health is put at risk.
While it’s easy to see when others are under stress, it can be more difficult to see it in ourselves because we become habitualized to our way of living. We get used to running around from one thing to another, gossiping, getting upset at our spouse or thinking that the economy never works in our favor.
Thankfully, our body has a biological response mechanism that provides us an opportunity to feel and see when the thoughts we entertain aren’t helpful. That biological response is what we commonly refer to as emotions.
The Biology of
Emotional Response
While we’re on this journey of life, we interact with our environment in every moment of every day. As this happens our senses process all of the information received from these interactions, transmitting information to the brain and creating neural connections. This allows our mind and body to interface with one another, triggering a series of electrochemical processes that leads to a human need to respond to the demands our experiences require.
The mental response we choose regarding the thoughts we decide to entertain or dismiss determines the kind of chemicals and hormones that body produces. The variety of chemicals produced interacts with every cell in our body, and dictates the emotions and feelings we experience.
Emotions play a critical role in helping us understand the state of health our body is in. As cells come in contact with them, the cells send a response to the brain regarding the cocktail of chemicals that they just came in contact with. If the biochemical mix is healthy for the cells, pleasant emotions are produced. Feelings of happiness, satisfaction, gratitude, compassion and other healthy sensations act as the biological mechanism that the cells have to let the brain know that the mix of chemicals produced is beneficial and helpful for the body.
On the other hand, if the mix is unhealthy for the cells, less pleasant feelings are produced. Sensations of guilt, shame, insecurity, fear or anxiety are how the cells awaken the brain and our mind to the negative impact that corrosive or negative thoughts are having on a microbiological level on the body. While unpleasant, these emotions play a critical role because they provide an opportunity to reflect, learn and grow.
Without the sensation of these emotions, it would be impossible to reconcile things in our lives that lead to the development of an unhealthy mind and the degeneration of our physical health.
The Biology of Transformation
When it comes to change and transformation, the majority of what we’ve been taught has been largely influenced by gene theory. Gene theory claims that a person’s characteristics are fixed and unchangeable. Under gene theory, genes control every aspect of our physical composition, behavior and our susceptibility to physical and mental disease. In effect, in addition to eye color, height and other physical traits predetermining how we look, all behavior is hereditary, from criminal activity to belief in God.
Breakthroughs in the field of genetics however have shown that genes are fluid and dynamic, rather than static or fixed. The human genome actually responds rapidly and instantaneously based on what we experience, including how we think, talk and act. As each day brings new challenges and opportunities, the physiological connection our mind has with the body impacts gene activity. In other words, our mind plays a critical role in determining which genes are activated, and which stay dormant.
This field of science is known as epigenetics. Epigenetics allows us to see with greater clarity the way in which the dynamic nature of genes provides a path that grants unlimited options to choose our destiny, regardless of the genes we’ve inherited from our parents and ancestors.
The knowledge we gain through epigenetics helps us further comprehend how each of us have control of our own lives, and that we are not bound to what was perceived in the past as the rigid nature of our genetic composition. The decisions we make however, are an important part of genetic expression. This concept is in complete contrast to the concepts that biology makes our destiny, where genes effectively take away our ability to choose for ourselves. The reality is that our decisions, including the thoughts we entertain and our lifestyle create the genetic environment in our body.
How do Changes Happen?
How quickly and the degree to which changes happen have amazed scientists and researchers. Changes can happen nearly instantaneously at the genetic level. For example, activities that help our physical body such as exercising, eating a balanced diet, sleeping well and reducing stress all create biological benefits through the mechanism of genetic expression.
The mind is the hub by which biological transformation occurs. That’s because the mind is where all of the information and memories from our experiences are stored, including the history of our lifestyle, thoughts and behavior and emotions – all of which directly impact genetic activity.
While our mind is the receptacle for storing information, our conscience plays a critical role in helping us recognize the quality of the thoughts we entertain. Our conscience, which is part of the invisible part of who we are, helps us discern whether certain decisions harm or help us. Through our conscience we’re able to see areas of our life that require change. Any intention to change the course of our lives is initiated by these invisible components that are a part of us. Because the invisible part of us directs intention, it holds the key to self-transformation. Intention creates a cascading effect that impacts biochemistry and genetic expression.
Paradigms or beliefs rooted in evolution or gene theory limit our comprehension of how these biological processes happen because they don’t account for the fact that genetic expression is not an actor, rather it is acted upon by us. We control our physiology. We control the way we feel. We control the degree to which we suffer mental and emotional anguish or pain.
The moment we realize what our desires and intentions have created, the suffering we’ve endured and when we change the focus of our lives, only then do we experience the kind of internal change that creates the beginning of our transformation.
The sincere desire and intent to change creates an initial firing of potential action by billions of synapses in the brain, which is created by thousands of millions of nervous cells, creating a biological experience. Neural wiring in your brain is constantly changing, depending on your thoughts, feelings, beliefs and habits to direct those changes. While these changes happen, genes and neural circuitry work together to bring feelings of motivation and support that allow us to hold strong in our desire to do the work required to create change. This is a critical part of the process since what we think, say and do today gives shape to our genetic makeup in the future.
It's important to keep in mind that transformation is biologically intertwined with energy and information. Similar to all changes that occur on a chemical level, there can be a little bit of chaos or disorder in the form of less pleasant feelings during the process. It can be painful at times, while at other times bringing feelings of joy. The way in which we interpret or perceive the emotions associated while we undergo changes play a role in how long we experience less pleasant feelings as we undergo transformation.
The Opportunity for
Transformation
Sometimes personal transformation is planned. Sometimes transformation happens due to crisis, a desire to progress, observation of the world around us or due to healthy habits that we’ve cultivated over years.
While the catalyst for change can vary, what remains constant is the fact that a healthy mental environment is what’s needed in order to induce physical, mental and behavioral transformation.
Life constantly provides us experiences that inspire us with dreams and aspirations to help guide us towards transformation. Unfortunately, obstacles such as strong emotions, unhealthy or addictive behavior and ignoring the suffering these conditions produce hinder the ability to initiate change. That’s the reason why change for many can be a long process, and why so many people create limiting beliefs that lead them to think that change isn’t possible.
MediPure uses its years of experience and research to guide people on the path of transformation. Our goal is to help create healthy communities through helping people connect with themselves, especially in recognizing the mental stories and narratives they’ve created and repeated. In reconnecting with themselves, we also help people see, feel and realize the divine potential that already exists inside of them. We integrate the comprehensive parts of the brain, mind, body and the invisible part of who we are to create transformation that’s both achievable and enduring.