Healing from inside out is a concept that includes healing at the most base level, your smallest cells and body components, outward. Logically, we figure if we can heal at the deepest parts of us, real healing can happen and possibly continue. The last two weeks we’ve looked at the necessity of including mind, body and spirit healing for such an act to be complete and to last.

At the Health Matters Show, we also tackled the first category, eating right on our list of objectives. Let’s continue and finish up this series. Really good topics await us!

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• Thinking positive,
  
• Sleeping well,
  
• Living spiritually every day at the feet of God and,
  
• Being aware that the results you ultimately want must come from a great beginning– the birth and environment necessary for healthy cells.
  

Below is the critical info for these goals. At the end, the last category is how to begin this “healing” wisely so that we produce the best results. It takes all of these areas working together! Remember…rarely do many chronic illnesses resolve to any degree unless we are balanced and consistent.

Thinking positive as an objective is surely more than trying to keep positive thoughts in mind. On bad days that goal can slip right out the window. Yes, thinking positive surely helps. Still, to keep an upbeat, positively-minded mental state most of the time requires a bit of pre-planning and purposeful thought.

I find the best tool for me is to use the concepts promoted and written about by Wayne Dyer, Ph.D., in the Power of Intention. If I know where I want to go (example: how I want something to happen) and I have the right, positive frame of mind in place to help that reality come true, chances are I will attain my goal or a satisfying degree of it. This concept is not hype or salesmanship. Not at all. My efforts are the catalysts to success in making things come true! Whether my goal is eating right, sleeping well or writing a book, I find that adhering to personal goals and the principles of power of intention, I keep my desired end results in mind and do not allow illness to overwhelm me or be victorious. Yes, I strive daily to be in control of my health outcome => => HEALING!

One other reference work that may help you to realize the power of your thoughts and how they can undermine you is well expressed in Jon Kabat-Zinn’s Full Catastrophe Living.

Next let’s address sleeping well. What does that term really mean? Sleeping well means different things to each of us. At the very least, it should mean that you’re sleeping an adequate amount of time almost every night. For young people that is about 9 to 10 hours. For mid-life adults that is more like 7 to 8 hours. And for a bit older people, that commonly is a shorter period, however 8 hours is still optimal. Your body cells and organs do most of their healing while you’re asleep. Also your subconscious brain dumps all the day’s activities into your sleeping time. Sleeping is critical to physical and mental health!

Here are some tips to insure better sleep:

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• Make sure your sleeping environment is cool enough for you, dark and free of extraneous sounds. I find it helpful to get all electrical and batteyr-powered appliances (including cell phones) at least 5 feet away from my body. Their energy patterns can cause sleep disturbances for some sensitive individuals.
  

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• Don’t try to go sleep after an argument, exciting television show or any time you’re “amped up” or anxious. Such events make calming down that much harder . Relaxation tends to set in at a slower pace. That could mean an hour or more of tossing, turning and beating your pillow to death!
  

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• Purposely doing some easy relaxation work before bedtime may help. Example: yoga, meditation, prayer or reading a boring book. I keep such reading material beside my bed all the time. It will cause my eyelids to droop when I’m already tired from the day.
  

*Keep sleep medication to a minimum. They often are habit forming, alter your body chemistry and most of the time inhibit a natural sleep pattern. The only thing that doesn’t seem to produce those problems is taking either aspirin, acetopminophen or ibuprofen for pain control before bedtime. Imagine your body note being in pain. It can relax quicker and therefore drop into sleep sooner.

People with chronic illnesses that involve pain symptoms often have abnormal pain responses in the central nervous system. To obtain relief, it may find taking a prescription drug to better relieve your pain -or- you might get by with taking certain supplements. Example: For twenty years, I have taken a Pro-Health combination supplement twice a day that includes magnesium and malic acid. That combination helps my muscles relax and not cramp and therefore lessens my body pain.

These are simple ideas that may help wonders in improving your daily sleep. Next on this important list comes living spiritually.

I find that my life has the best meaning and most satisfaction when I am in daily contact with God. As a Christian, I keep it no secret that my savior is Jesus Christ. However, different people call their God-presence by different names or they believe in different concepts of who God is. I’m not here to pass judgment. Even so, if you strive to be a spiritual person, you will feel allegiant to whomever you believe in. Such a spiritual belief system can help you exude more confidence, have faith in an entity more powerful than yourself and not feel as if you’re fighting life’s battles by yourself. Spirituality is a necessary tool for strength and comfort. Use it; you won’t be complete or as capable without it.

Living spiritually also helps to lengthen your lookout on the horizon in front of you. Oftentimes when we’re sick, we cannot see much beyond our current circumstances. This short-sited viewpoint tends to encourage catastrophe-type thinking and possibly rash, repercussive reactions. Living spiritually helps one to feel more calm even in the face of massive symptoms.

I hope you see how wanting to be healthy and enjoying real healing ultimately comes from consistent physical, mental and spiritual beliefs and practices. Yes, the birth and environment necessary for your new, healthy cells come from within and help you attain healing from inside out.

Thank you so much,

Cinda Crawford, your host of the Health Matters Show