Body-Mind Solution to Happiness.
How is this different from positive thinking?
Positive thinking is only one part of the solution. Many people have found short term results and long term frustration with 
repeating positive affirmations. They may be diligent students practicing daily but still find they come up short. There are key pieces missing from the positive thinking equation. Scientific discoveries from neuropsychology demonstrate that changing your thoughts is just not enough. Emotional alignment, presence and a sense of control are precursors to making positive thinking effective. What happens for most people is they repeat their affirmations yet at the deeper level of their subconscious they don’t believe it. As well, on a day to day basis they are stressed out. These two factors will not allow any real success with positive thinking.
Body-Mind Solution
How do you effectively access emotional alignment? What we think of as emotion is actually the experience of energy moving throughout your body. The latin derivative ‘emotere’ literally means energy in motion. It serves as the carrier waves for the entire spectrum of feelings. In itself, emotional energy is neutral. It is the feeling sensation and physiological reaction that make a specific emotion positive or negative and it is our thought about it that give it meaning. Feeling is what we label as anger, sadness, joy etc. Emotions are frequencies you tune into.
Your body-mind contains a system for happiness that can be found in the biological processes that sense, store and recall external and internal stimuli. For many people, looking to their body for releasing and transforming emotional experiences is the missing link. This is especially true when you understand that sensory and emotional information are processed and recorded into memory first while cognitive associations are second. This distinction provides clues into happiness as it reveals the necessity of healing through the body. It further points out the obvious limitations of purely thought-based approaches. When you get out of your neocortex’s reasons, rationalizations and detailed story of what happened that you believed caused your upset, you now have some access to finding relief from your emotional world. The process of releasing stress involves unwinding this energy through body sensations that represent these emotions. This has a dramatic impact on reclaiming your life force. Once you have disengaged the stress response and reclaimed your life force you are ready to realize the power of positive thinking to create lasting happiness. In our practice we help our clients with powerful strategies for releasing stress and emotions through the body-mind connection.
The Happiness Advantage
Happiness not only feels good, it also has countless benefits that directly impact your health, productivity, performance and relationships. Here are few advantages of happiness.
- Health: Boost your immunity, sleep and fertility. Decrease the risk of every major degenerative disease.
- Mental and Emotional Well-being: Decrease depression, anxiety, ADD and stress. Increase clarity, focus, vitality and life satisfaction.
- Relationships: Decrease conflicts and separation. Increase longevity and intimacy.
- Performance: Decrease distraction, procrastination and absenteeism. Increase concentration, sales, efficiency and teamwork.
When you focus on the solution and apply long term strategies for optimal well-being you gain access to the happiness advantage. This is a moment to moment journey of building new neural networks that lead to long term happiness and resiliency.
Coaching and Counseling
Kim Ward Ph.D. and Hilary Stokes Ph.D., founders of Authenticity Associates Coaching and Counseling, have worked as a team for over 15 years. Their mission is to empower people to achieve their authentic potential. They specialize in bringing the synergistic power of mind, body and spirit to individuals and couples. They are passionate about combining the best of holistic and traditional approaches to realize whole body wellness. If you are looking for a holistic approach to improving your life please contact Hilary Stokes Ph.D. & Kimberly Ward Ph.D. at Authenticity Associates.
