Saturday, May 12, 2012

Mental Ageing - Power of the Mind Over The Body





A Guest Post from Aruna Venkata Raman
Freelance Writer


Within each of us lies the power of our consent to health and sickness; it is we who control these, and not another.

Looking back at the life and transition in someone I love, my mother, I notice the change in the way she starts talking now, as compared to when I was roughing it out in college exams. “If you think you can, you will- it’s not so tough; you’ve done so well each time” of those days becomes “Beta, just finish off with this; it can’t be bad for you, besides you have nothing to lose.”

See the difference in the power of thought behind the above two lines? And why is it so? Well, mom may think that I have become more independent and so I don’t really listen to her anymore. So she may be making an entreaty to me because she realizes I am older and can decide for myself. But look at the other angle- she’s older now and so her thoughts are no longer so powerful.

What happened here and what can we do about it? See your loved ones going through this change and make up your mind that you will not allow this to happen to you- that you will stay young in thought and actions. Mental ageing is a natural process; as you get older, you tend to become less active, move to more routine works, tend to tire out faster and so you don’t seek that one exciting thing to do each day that you should seek. So your inner self confidence ebbs and adds to a weakening power of motivating yourself.

You are what you think. Everyone faces challenges in regular life. So even when you’re down in the dumps with your challenge, think positive, prevail over your despondence and hopelessness by smiling, listening to music and thinking of the multitudes of people who are not as lucky as you are. This may be tough to do at the critical juncture, but take your time to feel bad and move on. Believe me, you are not the only poor person, the only old person, the only suffering bahu, the only person with diabetes…..and every such thing else that you’d want to believe and make yourself mentally older!

As you grow older, work harder on being active. Start all conversations within yourself and with others on a positive, exciting note- it’s not difficult. Instead of “oh there’s nothing new to see in this town….chalo, let's check this place out”, you can easily go “hey, this is the last place on this end of earth we haven’t checked out- lets definitely go this evening”. Interact more with youngsters without patronizing them; keep in touch with happenings like movies and music so you don’t feel left out of their conversation. Keep your mind and body active- anything that works for you- puzzles, scrabble, memory games, Sudoku, learning foreign languages, travelling, volunteering work, that lovely long evening walk, or the occasional dig into that creamy delicious ice cream.

Most importantly, keep upbeat and enthusiastic at all times. That gives the body amazing power to be strong and prevail over health problems. And this is not another ‘feel good’ piece of advice, its actual physiological changes that take place in your body that keeps you healthy. The feel good hormones for one example, are released in your body when you make amends and move towards positivity, which relaxes and de-stresses you, making you feel good, and the body so much more happier, lowering the disease catching index of your body!

Cheers to your health!
Aruna Venkata Raman



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