News & Events

Constructive Thinking
Michael O’Doherty on how your state of mind could be holding you back

The Corkonian : June 2009

Download PDF copy of Article here, including photographs

I would like to borrow a few lines from a song that I heard recently by Martina McBride called “Anyway” which I feel reflects exactly what is going on in the minds of our people today with regard to our present economic situation.

“You can spend your whole life building, something from nothing. One storm can come and blow it all away”

When I look at what people over the past 15 or 20 years have built and bought into, getting caught up in the illusion of the Celtic Tiger, building portfolios of property etc. borrowing heavily to create a better life and future for themselves, their families from nothing, and suddenly find themselves in the eye of this economic storm that has blown it all away, the implications are immense. Every day I see those implications with people trying to find ways to cope with the stress, fear and anxiety of an unsure future coupled with a government that lacks vision, hope, imagination and creativity. But where this economic shock frequency is felt most, is on our health and with this fear and anxiety that exists right now we already see the increase in the prescription of antidepressants and admissions to our hospitals, and if we are to go on the projections with regard to diseases such as cancer, which does not make for good reading, I think we might realise that what is happening right now is a reality check for people, and that the human existence depends on a lot more than our economy.

Sickness, illness, disease whatever you would like to call it, in my opinion is the body attempting to draw our attention to aspects of our being that we are ignoring and until we understand who we are and how we function at this level we will continue to suffer. The time has come to awaken out of the illusion and face reality that if we don’t take responsibility for our own health we risk becoming a statistic and the architects of our own failure. Happiness, peace, contentment and health can’t be bought - they are only acquired by hard work, time and effort.

Right now our society is projecting a future based on what our government, our health-care and educational institutions are saying and if we are to go by that we might as well shut up shop and go back to the caves.

But I believe it does not have to be this way, I believe there is hope for a better future and if each one of us takes individual responsibility we can play a major role in ensuring that we don’t end up in a depressed or diseased situation. Over the last 20 years I have seen many people overcome the most extreme circumstances emerging out the other end as more evolved beings with greater awareness and control of their lives not allowing themselves become controlled by the world of materialism, which only detaches us from who we truly are. I believe we now have an opportunity to reconnect to ourselves and dictate our own future because what we see we attract into our lives and we don’t need to go into quantum physics to understand this. Right now what you are seeing, feeling and thinking is having a direct effect on your physiology and your body is inheriting all of this information and manifesting in ways that are destructive or constructive depending on what your state of mind is.

So it is important that your thinking and feelings are not negative because if so you are sending signals to the brain and a gland called the Hypothalamus, a chemical producing factory, is secreting negative hormones via your pituitary gland into your blood and attaching to your cells causing harm, which in turn will lead to disease. What you need to do is when you feel or think negatively immediately interrupt the thought and feeling and replace it with something positive like using the affirmation:-

‘I am healthy, I am happy, I am secure and my future is secure. I don’t need to be ill or depressed or stressed.’

This can be a very powerful way of stopping yourself developing anxiety. Take time each day to do a little exercise for about 30 minutes. It does not have to be in a gym - it can be a brisk walk. Exercise can help you deal with stress. But one of the most important things that you can do is to take about half an hour each day and practice visualisation. Lay down and breathe in through your nose, expanding your abdomen then exhaling through your nose, relaxing your abdomen. After a few minutes visualise a river of divine energy flowing through body internally showering all the stress out of your organs, muscles and joints, knowing that your body is reacting to what you are doing. If you have nice relaxing music in the background you will be amazed how effective this can be for you. Make sure your phone is off, no interruptions!

Try also to avoid excess stimulants like alcohol, coffee and sweet foods as these can exacerbate symptoms of nervous tension and have an effect on your kidneys and adrenals. There are a lot of people today who lack energy, feel down and have digestive problems and muscle pain with no medical diagnosis - this reflects adrenal function problems and signals a real need for change to lifestyle. Taking a good digestive bacteria, omega 3 fatty acid and a good multivitamin and mineral from the health store will also help. Right now, no matter what the situation is, you can change it by making a decision not to accept negativity and illness and begin a programme of recovery and maintenance. Make it a family programme, ensuring at least a better quality of health and life. Health is wealth. Don’t make excuses to be miserable, make excuses to be successful and happy and believe in yourself, this is your time. Don’t waste your life living in the past and focusing negatively on the future. Focus on today, live for today - there is something great around the corner waiting for you.

Have faith in yourself, there is hope, we will survive and in time we will look back and ask, ‘what was all the worrying and stress for?’ The energy, time and effort you put into being negative, if you used that same time, energy and effort in being positive you would gain a lot more.

Remember you are a powerful infinite and dynamic being with the ability to achieve whatever you wish to achieve and if you believe this you will attract into your life everything and everyone that will enable you to achieve it. Focus on the light, not the darkness. Just do it.