Positive Thinking: A Biological Concept

Introduction

Many of us wish we were the person that we are not. If we do not feel that we are adequate in our jobs or as successful as we think we should be, we may turn to books and techniques to help us become more accomplished. These techniques may take the form of reading positive thinking books, self-improvement courses, or meditation. We may even develop a lifestyle based on the philosophy of a guru or self-proclaimed individual who teaches the way to a better life rests in following in his footsteps. This guru will proselytize the type of lifestyle and habits that he is comfortable with. What many of us do not realize is that none of the success books teach us how to become a success, but only tell how a particular individual made his fortune or became a financial wizard.

Success and Achievement is Achieved Through the Ability to Accumulate Excess Energy

We may not realize that what our idol has achieved, so can we, not by following in his footsteps, but by relying on our own inborn abilities. This ability to be positive, to be optimistic, to be successful, to be who we really desire to be, does not rest in following someone's technique, but by having the energy to generate creative thoughts and then having sufficient excess energy to carry those ideas through to completion.

Energy is Achieved Through a Balanced Body Chemistry

To feel inspired to achieve, one's body chemistry must be balanced. The condition of one's adrenal and thyroid gland can be a main deciding factor between prosperity and poverty. If one's adrenal gland is weak and his thyroid gland is underactive, (inability to generate energy), one simply does not have the physical motivation to actively pursue goals. This glandular exhaustion also affects attitude, as one cannot feel positive when the body does not have sufficient energy to pursue simple tasks.

Physical Health and Propensity Towards Achievement Have a Significant Correlation

Physical health and propensity towards achievement have a significant correlation. For example, an extreme slow oxidizer, with a hypothyroid and hypoadrenal gland, is in a state of psychological withdrawal. This withdrawal is the body's protective mechanism with which to conserve energy. Introversion is a result of energy conservation. To be extroverted, one must have excess available energy with which to create expression. The extreme slow oxidizer is simply too low key to make his positive feelings visible.

The Extremely Fast-Fast Oxidizer

The extreme fast oxidizer, with his hyperactive adrenal glands and hyperactive thyroid gland, fluctuates between extroversion and introversion. When the fast oxidizer reaches extreme states of oxidation, the adrenal and thyroid burn out temporarily and become insufficient, due to continual stress. Stress creates a personality that is outgoing and even hyperactive one day, and totally exhausted and depressed the next day. The resultant personality characteristics appear inconsistent and disorganized.

The Mixed Oxidizer

The mixed oxidizer will have similar characteristics to the extreme fast oxidizer, however the extreme highs and lows will be modified. The confusion and disorganization may be even more obvious.

The Moderately Fast-Fast Oxidizer

The moderately fast oxidizer (what is referred to as normal), tends to be energetic; positive in his thinking, attitudes, emotions and outgoing. These are usually very successful people, as they have the energy to be expressive and consistent in their effort to achieve.

You Are The World

It is not self-help books that will motivate one to success but proper body chemistry.

The quotation, "You are the world," is significant to consider. What does it really mean? Whatever we are, within ourselves, is how we see the world outside. Our world changes according to the changes that occur within us. The world, in actuality, remains the same, but what we see as individuals is dependent upon our state of mind, which is in itself, dependent upon our body chemistry, which is different for everyone. One moment we look at the world as being something really joyful, because our chemistry is in balance. Other times, even though we are in the same situation or environment, we see life as bleak and we may even be very depressed. This depression may be due to our copper level rising, or a sodium to potassium inversion (sodium/potassium ratio less than 2.5:1) or heavy metal accumulation in the liver and brain.

Environmental contaminants, junk food and negative emotions effect our chemistry negatively. Also, positive emotions, nutritional foods, a naturing environment and exercise affect our chemistry and resultant personality.

There are presently a number of fad products in the health food industry, touted as being beneficial for everyone. They include spirula, brewers yeast, green magma, S.O.D., etc. Each of these products are good for some people, however if an individual is a fast oxidizer with a sodium to potassium inversion takes Brewer's yeast, he may become anxiety ridden, paranoid and confused. The wonder food yeast can be quite harmful to him because over a period of time it can cause a loss of calcium and magnesium, the very minerals that fast oxidizers are deficient in.

The Psychological Effects of Foods on the Emotions

Foods have a profound effect on the emotions. We all know that the drinking or eating of refined carbohydrates such as pop, candy, cake, ice cream, chocolate, etc., will give us a quick energy lift. However, the resultant physical and emotional letdown afterward is certainly not worth the price which we eventually are forced to pay.

Even Nutritious Foods Can Serve as the 'Straw That Breaks the Camel's Back'

Often, foods we think of as nutritious, such as soybeans, avocados, walnuts and almonds, can create depression and fatigue in individuals with excessive copper in their tissues. This is because the aforementioned foods are rich in copper. When eaten in even small amounts they may serve as 'the straw that breaks the camel's back'.

The Foods One Eats Should Relate to One's Individual Body Chemistry

It is not that a food is generally nutritious that is most important, but how that particular food relates to one's individual biochemistry. A slow oxidizer with a sodium to potassium greater than 2.5:1 may get an energy lift from the addition of pure brewers yeast, contributing to his feelings of self confidence.

The Effects Of Positive Emotions On Our Body Chemistry

Not only food, but positive emotions can have a significant effect on our body chemistry. Love, for example, can change one's complete perception of the world.

There is an old saying, "Love changes the world." Love can actually change one's chemistry to where one views life as being beautiful. Whenever a person falls in love, they usually feel really good. They start noticing things that they haven't noticed before, such as landscapes, trees, the stars, the sky, and nature in general. We begin seeing things that we haven't noticed before or develop feelings for them, because love awakens our emotions. The whole world appears to change, but actually it's still the same. Insofar as one can love, the world becomes increasingly beautiful. The world can seem to change outside us, but the changes are actually occurring within us. Loving feelings simply put us more in touch with our inner selves. An example of how love can make a change in a person is the story of a woman who bought a novel. She read the first chapter and found it very boring and uninteresting and put it aside. Years later she met the author and later married him. She picked up the book again with renewed interest and found it so interesting that she read it a number of times. What really changed? The content of the book remained the same over the years, but her perception of it changed.

In terms of specifics how love affects biochemistry, we have viewed people with severe sodium to potassium inversions normalize their sodium to potassium ratio through love. We have seen arteriosclerosis, arthritis, and allergy patients rid themselves of symptoms as their body chemistry approached normalcy.

Emotions: Good or Bad Have a Tremendous Effect on the Status of Our Health

The point is emotions, good or bad, have a tremendous effect on our health!

Many Roads to the Desired Goal

There is only one type of positive mental attitude, optimism, living in the present, but there are a number of roads which lead to the desired goal. An individual with a severe energy loss, whether they are aware of it or not, depending upon severity and chronicity, may be in a state of extreme pretense, trying to act as though they are OK. Pretense is a state of acting. There are many techniques of learning positive thinking to help us pretend that we are positive. Some techniques suggest replacing negative thoughts by what is thought of as positive thoughts. This, of course, is only reinforcing the negativity. As long as our energy holds out, we may put on a good show for a while. How lonely this is, not to be able to share our true feelings with anyone. Putting up a front of being positive no matter how bad we really feel is a tremendous drain on our already low energy levels. In this predicament, we may feel destined never to let anyone really know us, thus never really getting to know anyone, or share this thing called life with them. The only thing we can share with another person in this state of pretense is our techniques that we have learned to unknowingly fool everyone else. There is a saying, "To thine own self be true." If you are going through this type of technique use and fooling everyone around you, at least try to be honest with yourself so that you can do something positive about it. Otherwise, you will eventually become so exhausted from pretense that you will not be able to keep up the front anyway. This condition of pretense is usually associated with slow oxidation, although it also frequently occurs in the fast oxidizer with a sodium to potassium inversion. Nobody is totally immune.

The Achilles Heel Of The Fast Oxidizer

Another type of individual, the extreme fast oxidizer, may have sufficient energy to be creative, ambitious and successful. As a rule he does not follow anyone's ideas but his own. He is individual in his thinking, and yet with all these things going for him, he too frequently fails in his attempt to live a healthy, successful, happy life. His frequent lack of ability, due to impending adrenal burnout, to be able to carry through with those ideas is the fear of failing. His energy is not directed, but is spent in many different directions at once. This is actually a technique for him. By having several different things going for him at once, he has an excuse of never completing or accomplishing, he is withdrawing or repressing his real ability, due to the distorted and unrealistic fear of failure. Again, "To thine own self be true." Instead of using a technique, the basic fear should be evaluated and dealt with. To be able to recognize fear and to deal adequately with it, one must have a high energy level. A high energy level provides one with stability. Stability fosters guidance and perseverance, qualities the fast oxidizer so often lacks. He can become very successful once stabilized.

What we have been discussing is our ability to achieve and to be positive thinkers. In our opinion this ability rests on our internal biochemistry. Our chemistry can be changed, first by asking ourselves, "Do we want to be more than we are? Do we want to be all we can be, and be positive about ourselves and the world we live in?"

What we have been discussing is biochemical individuality, as recognized from a trace mineral analysis. The extreme slow oxidizer is on the inside looking out, so to speak. Always trying but never quite succeeding because he is often aware that he won't succeed based on past experiences of failure. The extreme fast oxidizer is on the outside but never strikes out on the journey and represses his true ability due to a fear of failure, confusion and disorganization.

Before we read another self-help book, perhaps we should have our chemistry analyzed to see why we think we need help.

Copyright © 1987 - The Eck Institute of Applied Nutrition and Bioenergetics, Ltd.