Dr Candice Pert is regarded as discovering the mind-body connection. In her book Molecules of Emotion, she says that “virtually all illness, if not psychosomatic in foundation, has a definite psychosomatic component…” So let’s break that down a moment. She is estimating that ALL illness has a mind-body connection and most often has a foundation in the mind-body connection. It will become clear, stay with me…
She states that “It is the emotions that link the mind and body…the molecules of emotion run every system in our body…”
Ooohhh…
People seem to miss the fact that emotions are a chemical release in the body that is potentially affecting every cell in the body – pretty powerful. Dr Pert’s point is that our emotional states and beliefs can underlie almost every illness. In the movie E-motion they argue that “90% of all pain is trapped emotion”. If this is true, taking a panadol for a headache suddenly seems a little …off-point. Why is there an ache in my head? What is the underlying emotional or energetic block or stress? Maybe we should be looking for that instead of popping a tablet to block pain.
My feeling is we see it but we don’t acknowledge this connection as real. For example, a couple I know: husband starts working lots of extra shifts at work. Suddenly mum (home with new baby) gets really sick with flu. Most people would say: “she got sick with a nasty flu, probably run down”. I said “Gee, she really wants him home from work huh?” Whilst it may not be intentional – our emotions are very powerful controllers of our body systems – if we feel we aren’t coping emotionally we could absolutely convey that to our physical body and feel “run down” or fall ill.
Our bodies have an inherent ability, a DRIVE in fact – to heal and be healthy, happy and whole. Our cells work really hard to try and bring us back into a healthy balance every day. If we don’t supply what they need to do it, well then things get a bit haywire. If we overload them with stress and undernourish them through lack of rest, nutrients or water…or don’t adequately allow ourselves to detox…suddenly the push to stay in balance just isn’t enough. But the drive is there. We CAN heal ourselves, if we don’t mess with a brilliant system.
If we add in emotional stresses, environmental stresses and step away from loving and nurturing ourselves there is a chemical storm going on within our bodies and that’s going to have an effect. It could be a headache. It could be stiff joints or a sore shoulder. It could be a whole lot of ways our body tries to store the stresses when it’s too overloaded to cope or detox them. It’s so simple it’s almost hard to explain. Your emotions and your stresses are stored in your body. Ignore them long enough you’ll FEEL them because your body will start to communicate that it’s holding on to all this stuff and it needs help. Ignore THAT long enough and you’re likely to end up ill.
We ignore it because we are programmed to. We are taught stress is just a part of life. Working in a sucky job is part of your life. “Life wasn’t meant to be easy” – how many times have you heard that? Even when my daughter was having panic attacks and nightmares at school – she was told it was her “Job” to turn up (not kidding). She was told she needed to learn “resilience” because life is tough…she’s 5 by the way.
I call bullshit. It’s time we reclaimed our choice to put ourselves first. And I don’t mean in a selfish way – I mean we are ALL supposed to be nourished and healthy. We are created to find happiness and joy and live a life of purpose and passion. Passion doesn’t have to be something saved for hobbies on the weekend and a 5 year old should NOT be just sucking up the crap life throws at her and told there are no choices. Noone should be miserable and sick all the time.*
If we give ourselves enough that we overflow with health, love and light, we have more than enough to share. Imagine a world where everyone felt nourished and loved. And where we blieve we are worthy of health and happiness. Crazy but simple. Make choices that nourish you. Emotions matter. Nurture the good ones and take time to release the ones that don’t.
I teach a class about essential oil for supporting emotional health. The one point I try to explain to people is if you FEEL something and THINK it at the same time – that can become a BELIEF. If you get a sick feeling of overwhelm and think “I can’t do this, this is too big for me…” You begin to believe you are not enough and you will continue to find confirmation of this in your life as this is the belief you are trying to prove to yourself.
The Emotional Aromatherapy Kit was designed by a psychologist with a family history of mental health issues. The intent is that when these negative emotions or feelings rise, instead of allowing a negative belief to take root, we can reach for an approprite aromatic anchor to say no, actually, I am enough. I can do this. I will get motivated and take the next step.. (Motivate is one of my favourite blends – smells divine!).
In previous posts there are lots of other tips for being healthy from diet to detox and gratitude to self-belief. If you’d like to learn more about essential oils to support emotional health please never hesitate to get in touch and ask loads of questions. Emotional health isn’t just important – it’s pivotal. It is in all things…
*as a side note, I do acknowledge that a person needs an appropriate frame of mind to choose to look for gratitude and positives in their life in the situations that they can’t change or that need to be accepted. However there is also a certain courage in not tolerating things that can be changed to improve our lives and our emotional health. It’s about knowing the difference…