By Kamran Bedi
For many years, various individuals considered the mind to be separate from the body. This we now know is definitely not the case. There is a constant flow of communication between the mind and the thoughts that are being formed, as well as the body to the brain, through feelings, emotions, and even physical sensations and symptoms. What you think, you will feel.
As you think through your very many thousands of daily thoughts, from what you imagine and see in your mind to what you say and hear with your inner voice, your body will be carrying the experience of your thoughts physically and emotionally. The thoughts that you think will be transported by electrical impulses along neurons, where neurotransmitters connect through synaptic gaps, which carry and transfer electric impulses throughout the body. Thought after thought, bridges begin to build and connect pathways that carry and produce the feelings and emotions that you feel physically throughout your body. If your thoughts continue to consider anxiety-inducing scenarios or situations, then the feelings that will flow physically and quite easily will be the many feelings of anxiety that can accelerate and grow with ease. It’s the same for happiness, joy, gratitude, desire, and excitement. What you think in your mind will always flow into your body, as thoughts create feelings. The power here lies in your understanding that your mind can and will create the physical experience in your body. This means you can consciously create the feelings in your body that you want to feel, which leaves you in a powerful position.
What do you think you will feel? – Yes, I am repeating myself because repetition allows you to be reminded that this simple formula, mantra, or reminder can help you to interrupt the feelings of anxiety by directing your awareness to your thoughts. You may often feel and experience the very many different feelings of anxiety that could be as panic, fear, stress, worry, nerves, sadness, feeling uncertain, and even being on edge, which can be a clear instigator to check in with your mind and your thoughts. The physical sensations that you feel, whether it’s churning in your gut, jelly in your legs, a weight on your shoulders, or a general whole-body freeze, can be physical communication for you to focus on your thoughts. In changing your thoughts, the way that you are thinking, from what you see in your mind and hear yourself saying, you can immediately change the physical experiences in your body. It’s not just the brain and your thoughts that communicates to your body through producing physical experiences; it is the body talking back and even calling out to the mind.
A few years ago, I had experienced various gut challenges where my body, through the physical struggles and challenges that were experienced in my digestive system, attempted again and again to grab my attention. I lived with them for nearly two years, bloated, constipated, and frustrated with the physical challenges that seemed to slowly get worse over time. It was easy for me to ignore them, but my body struggled to cope and eventually got my attention for a call to action where I consulted a nutritionist. Following the guidance and specific plan for my symptoms, I was amazed at the changes that began to physically happen within 48 hours of me following the advice of my practitioner. If I had literally listened to my gut a lot sooner, I could have eased and even prevented the symptoms that I experienced by answering the call from within that my body kept on calling out to me.
This, in many ways, is the same for your anxious feelings that will be calling out for you to find some healing and inner peace. You may have probably experienced that the longer you have left your anxiety untreated, the stronger it has become in its desire to get your attention. Think of it this way, your anxiety is calling you, asking you, and even telling you that something inside of you needs addressing. The way that your body can attempt time after time to communicate with you that something needs your attention is perhaps a new way for you to consider in working through the challenging feelings and emotions that you are experiencing within. I have worked with people who have gut challenges, skin conditions, panic and anxiety attacks, severe stress, and burnout, which all have a variety of physical symptoms that are a loop of mind talking to the body and, in many ways, the body expressing the state of mind. What do you think you will feel?
Let’s experience the mind-body connection now with some exercises that allow you to change how you feel by changing your thought patterns.
Anchoring: Recalling past memories with positive states is known as “anchoring” in NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming), and I use this technique quite often to help people quickly shift their mental and emotional states.
Let’s try it now:
1. Bring to mind a specific time with family or friends where you were laughing uncontrollably and feeling happy.
2. Take a moment, think back, and now bring it to your awareness.
3. Hear the laughter and notice the positive shift it creates in your body.
4. Close your eyes and picture the memory. See it in your mind, hear the sounds and feel the shift in how you feel.
5. Label this memory (example, “fun time with family”) so that you can recall it quickly anytime you want to feel these feelings. The more often you think of it, the stronger the feeling that you’ll feel.
As you may have just experienced to some degree, you can direct the focus of your thoughts and transform the feelings and emotions in your body from what you’re choosing to focus on. This is helpful because you can’t feel anxiety when you’re feeling joy. You can’t feel anxious when you’re feeling grateful. By changing your thoughts, you can change how you feel, and quickly.
Use the prompts below to come up with a bank of past memories to recall when you need help to shift your focus away from your anxious feelings to then access more resourceful states.
1. Think of two places where you feel safe, calm, or relaxed.
2. Think of two places where you feel the environment is peaceful.
3. Think of two specific times when you were really laughing.
4. Think of two specific times when you felt happy and content.
Now use the previous steps 1–5, each with two examples you have just listed, where you label each example, to anchor and access the desired emotional state.
From the pictures that you see, the mental movies that you watch, and the inner sounds you hear and converse with, these elements of your thinking all contribute to your emotional experience, both positively and negatively. Now you can actively create more calming, reassuring, positive, and empowering pictures and sounds with your thoughts so that you can dissolve any feelings of anxiety.
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