Is it better to expect the worst in life or hope for the best?
Your expectations in life help to form your experience of life and your view of the world. Reality is created in the eye of the beholder and so if you are a glass half full or a glass half empty kind of person, this will determine whether you have a positive or negative reality.
There are many factors that influence the way you see the world - much of your perspective in adulthood is formed in childhood, from your parents and from your experiences and some of your views come from your genetic tendencies.
So you can't really help what happens to you as a child or how you are genetically programmed can you?
Well, actually yes you can! The good news is that your genes are just a blueprint and are constantly being switched on or off depending on your inner and outer environment. Scientists are learning that we can deliberately alter some of our genes through our intentions - our daily thoughts and emotions as well as through diet and other environmental influences. This has massive implication for our health and wellbeing. No longer are we able to blame our genes for how we are but can now take control of our lives and make changes to create the life we choose. We are in the driving seat and have so much more control than previously thought in western science and medicine.
Whilst your genetic code may make you susceptible to certain diseases or traits, whether some of these come out or not depends on your inner and outer environment which switches certain genes on and off. Now this is a hugely complicated area of science which raises more questions than it has answers and I am not saying that certain inherited diseases or traits aren't inherited (you certainly can't change your eye colour or hair colour - unless you get some contacts or go to a salon!). What I am saying is that being aware of this field of science and where it is going can help us to make better choices in our lives that could impact not only ourselves but our future generations.
One interesting finding in epigenetics suggests that what happens to us in the womb has more of an effect on our genes than our genetic code. Evidence suggests that the diet of our mother and her experiences may cause certain genes to switch on and off, which has a huge potential impact for our health and wellbeing.
Whilst this is food for thought, one of the leading areas of research in epigenetics, that brings hope to our future, is in the fight against cancer. Scientists have found in a study of breast cancer that in malignant cells, the cancer fighting gene is switched off. Research suggests that because the switching off of the gene is an epigenteic change, it has the potential to be reversed and the hope is that one day we will be able to actually switch off the cancer gene.
Epigenetics is thought to hold the key to explaining the massive amount of 'miracle cures' or spontaneous healings' that occur in people with cancer, where their tumours disappear completely. It may be that their cancer suppressor genes have become reactivated after initially being switched off by epigenetic marks.
Many people who beat cancer in this way talk of visualising the tumour shrinking which could be one important link in the healing process. However, there are many different routes people take that lead to the disappearance of the cancer. What stands out most in such cases of spontaneous healing is the belief systems held by the person with cancer. It seems to be that in each case, the person holds the expectation that they will heal and that their chosen method for healing is the means to do it (whether using conventional medicine or otherwise).
And once they undertake their chosen method of healing, their belief in its power may act as a trigger to signal the cancer fighting gene to switch on their body.
So epigenetic control seems to have many influencing factors - our physical environment, our diet, what we are exposed to (toxins etc), environmental influences from both parents during their lives, and our own thought process and belief systems. It is a complex puzzle that needs unravelling but the good thing is that it offers us much more hope than the fatalistic view that we are a victim of our genetic code.
And we know that it's true if we consider how genetically identical twins can differ so much from each other. I read about one example (in 'The Genie in your Genes' by Dawson Church) of elderly identical twin sisters; one which had a degenerative eye disorder and dementia with various other health problems and one who was vibrantly fit and healthy. With the same genetic make-up their genes were expressed very differently in their lives. Even with the same parental influences both epigenetic and environmental (their childhood upbringing) and living in the same area all their lives, other factors were in force that were able to create such a different outcome for the two ladies. These factors could be the different choices made by the different experiences in their lives - choices on food, exercise and their outlook on life.
The fact that we have the potential to control our how some of our genes are expressed through our lifestyle, thoughts, feelings, expectations and belief systems makes it worth paying attention to. There are factors in our life beyond our control yet there are also many within our control or at least influence.
If you make positive choices for your health and have a positive attitude in life then your health and wellbeing will be the best it can be. If you need help shifting from mind-sets that are holding you back in life, then there are methods out there that will be able to help you. If there are habits you wish to break, there are ways you can do this. Once you are aware that you can choose how you want to feel and that you can positively influence your health, you shift into a state of responsibility and empowerment. The past then becomes something to learn from and the future becomes something to actively co-create.
Now I realise that there are people who seem to do everything right in their lives - they eat well and have positive outlooks yet they become very ill. And there are others who are miserable and smoke and drink yet they live 'til a ripe old age, free from disease. And I can't answer why this is - as I mentioned above, epigenetics shows that there is a myriad of complex and intertwined factors which affect our health.
But the potential for positively influencing our health and wellbeing is there and it's too good an opportunity to miss.
So my recipe for life would be:
Pay attention to what is good and right for your body, mind and heart - eat well, find ways to reduce stress and make time for regular relaxation.
Focus on the positive, be mindful of your thoughts and feelings, and see the good all around you.
If you would like any advice about how therapies such as Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) or Hypnotherapy may be able to help you, please feel free to get in touch.
If you would like to try out a visualisation technique, check out last week's blog.
If you fancy using a self-help CD (which can be transferred onto any format), check out my website for further information.
