Let’s continue our personal journey to gaining an understanding of positive thinking where we left off in Part #1.

We learned that the mind and body are strongly connected. Because of that connection, we learned it is vitally important to think the right thoughts.

Well, it turns out that those thoughts also affect our emotions. And, the vast range of emotions that we experience everyday has a profound impact on our well-being.

Our daily emotions can run the gamut from contentment to anger, from jealousy to rage, from joy to sorrow. Each of these emotions has an impact. Each emotion affects the body.

I wonder if you have ever been in a situation where it was inappropriate to laugh (say during a serious presentation). Did something overcome you and you found yourself bursting into laughter at the most inopportune moment?

Well if that scenario had happened to you, you have experienced an unintended action.

An unintended action basically is something that your body does that you did not mean for it to do.

A person does not usually shed tears because he or she decides to. The tears are unwelcome and typically follow an effort to suppress them.

Why do the tears flow?
Well, when the mind is filled with sorrowful or distressing thoughts, increased activity in the tear glands results. The fluid is produced in an excessive quantity, and the eyes overflow. Although you may not have intended to cry, the thinking that preceded the crying caused it to happen. An example of an unintended action.

When the sad thoughts subside, the tears no longer flow and your facial muscles return to normal.

What are some of the unintended actions of other emotions?

Well, have you ever noticed the physical changes your body experiences when you are angry?

• Does your heart beat faster?
• Does your blood pressure rise?
• Does your face flush or pale?
• How about when you are scared?Do you break out into a cold sweat?
• Do you experience severe muscle tension?
• Do you grit your teeth?

All of the bodily reactions described are unintended and occur when you are experiencing emotions like fear or anger. Some of these reactions, like increased blood pressure, could be having a detrimental effect on your health.

Vastly different bodily changes occur if the thinking is of a humorous, witty or happy nature. The chest, throat and face muscles react through laughter and smiling to show your pleasure. You feel the beneficial flow of more oxygen to your brain.

Your muscles and breathing moved in response to the actions of your mind, even though it was not your intention to move them. And, the laughter and smiling you experienced won’t stop until the thinking that produced the reaction ceases. The laughter and smiling can even be renewed with the renewal of that thinking.

I’m sure you have found yourself smiling at your desk when you think back to a funny incident or joke. Just thinking about that pleasant memory can make you smile again…

Well, we’ve shown that the physiological changes your body experiences when faced with different emotions are numerous.

When you think positively, your body also reacts positively
Negative thoughts like fear, sadness and anger cause physiological reactions that have far-reaching negative impacts on the body.

The mind body connection can be so strong that some people when hearing bad news will react by having serious problems with digestion. Others may experience a debilitating headache.

With the obvious distress the body experiences in reaction to negative thoughts or feeling, it becomes even more important to employ positive thinking techniques.

With positive thinking, your body experiences stress relieving reactions like laughter and smiling instead.

With negative thinking, your body experiences stress-inducing reactions like increased blood pressure and adrenaline.

Positive thinking is not all bells and whistles. What I mean is positive thinking does not mean going around pretending everything in life is perfect.

Positive thinkers are optimistic and realistic in the face of everyday adversity. They look for the positive in people, situations and experiences.

Conversely, the negative thinker focuses on the bad and they can even have stress related health problems. Negative thinkers may also find that people become less tolerant of their negativity and go out of their way to avoid being around them.

Want to know what can you do?
The next time you find yourself responding negatively to a situation or experience, think about the physiological impact that the negative reaction is having on your body.

Think about the stress on your heart. Feel your blood pressure rising. Recognize that your negative response is having a detrimental effect on your body.

Perhaps by thinking about all the negative impacts to your body and to your health that your discordant thinking is causing - will help you on your path to positive thinking.

What have we learned?

• Thinking affects our emotions
• Our body physiology changes when we experience different emotions.

Negative thinking:

• Causes negative emotions
• Causes physiological changes with negative impact to our body.

Positive thinking:

• Causes positive emotions
• Causes physiological changes with positive impact to our body.

Are you puzzled about how to control your negative thoughts so that you can start seeing the positive impacts on your body? Then stay tuned for Part 3 where we learn about how to control our thinking.