Depression and Self-Suggestions

Depression is one of the most devastating mental illnesses. Unlike other physical ailments, depression deprives an individual of an identify:  the individual can go on for years without getting anything done, or having any idea what to do with life; drifting from one thing to another, and not knowing what to want from life. Spiraling down into a black bottomless pit of despair, the individual simply loses the capability to live well.

If you are suffering from mental depression, you are not alone. There are millions of people all over the world who have this disorder.  

In depression, you tend to see things with your brain, instead of with your eyes; similarly, you hear with your brain and not with your ears. Perception is all in the mind. But, unfortunately, these deceptive perceptions become so "real" to you that you begin to "believe" in them, especially when they continually talk to you as internal dialogues.

People with mental depression usually more succumb to muddled thinking: there are too many thoughts filtering through their minds. As a result, they have a tendency to analyze or to explain their perceptions so as to make some sense of or to draw some conclusions from what is going through their minds. Unfortunately, analyzing or thinking through what is in the mind will only create more mental blockages or internal dialogues that only perpetuate the inertness and aggravate the sense of loss, which are the characteristics of a depressive mind. Getting rid of your internal dialogues may help your depressive mind. 

Alternatively, you can use your internal dialogues as self-suggestions to your advantage. Self-suggestions are powerful mind power tools that can alter your thoughts to achieve your personal goals in life, to enhance your well-being, to promote your physical wellness—most notably, to change your mind about depression. Self-suggestions are internal dialogues that you deliver to yourself: you are in fact talking to yourself or your subconscious or unconscious mind in the form of self-talk or self-persuasion in order to create a "reality" to bring about some action from the conscious mind. In other words, self-suggestions are ideas or notions that elicit a response in thought or behavior to counteract the depression.

Those suffering from mental depression must have undergone some traumatic life experiences that triggered their depression. Depression does not just happen to any individual without a reason. Letting go is the answer: Instead of explaining or striving to explain any given situation or event, just learn to let go. The ability to let go of what you are desperately holding on to holds the key to recovery from depression.  Unfortunately, letting go is easier said than done. The good news is that you can use self-suggestions to change your subconscious mind, thereby changing your conscious mind to let go of any negative emotions and thoughts you may have. Your conscious mind might have relinquished all depressive thoughts of past experiences, but your subconscious mind may still be clinging on to them like leech. 

The only way to access your subconscious mind is through meditation, which can give not only clarity of mind, but also the perception of priorities in life. Once your mind is clear, and you see the top priorities in your life, you will begin to look at everything in perspective. Knowing what is the most important and the least important may help you let go. Through meditation, you can conduct internal dialogues, which are affirmations, with your subconscious mind, thereby instrumental in changing your conscious mind. Your subconscious mind can influence your conscious mind to let go.

Once the mind becomes uncluttered, depressive thoughts may dissipate. If you wish to heal your depression, you need to heal your mind first. It is always mind over matter.

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

Overcoming Food Addiction

Addiction to food is more than just a problem of overeating: it is a reflection of problems in physical, mental, and emotional health. If you have addiction to unhealthy food or unhealthy food cravings, you may have to overcome yours in order to have wholesome healing of the body and mind.

Overcoming food addiction, like any other addiction, is never easy. Denial and guilt are common characteristics in individuals who have food addiction problems.

First, you need the intention, which is the desire to stop the addiction. Of course, that means you must be aware of the addiction problem in the first place, and then express the intention to change for the better.

Lao Tzu, the ancient Chinese philosopher, once said: “A journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step.” Take your first step: your intention to recover from your food addiction. 

The long process of recovery, often punctuated with relapses, requires determination to overcome all obstacles. Use daily self-affirmations to reinforce your determination and willpower to overcome food addiction. Harness your mind power to control your behavior to heal your body. 

Although it may be mind over matter, the body has to respond appropriately to the mind. Give your body the right environment for recovery and recuperation. 

Regulate your blood sugar level; a balanced blood sugar level prevents impulsive eating and keeps hunger at bay. 

Balance your body chemistry, such as your acid-alkaline level; too much acid in the body breeds toxins that prevent healing. 

Reduce your hormonal swings. Leptin is the appetite-controlling hormone, also known as "thin" hormone. Eat adequate calories to boost leptin production to minimize food craving. Exercise can also enhance your body's responsiveness to leptin. 

Eating enough, ironically, is critical to recovery from food addiction. Eat three regular meals a day; skipping a meal may lead to a reduction of leptin, making your appetite out of control. Don't starve yourself, but neither do you over-stuff yourself. Don't go on any diet, especially fad diets. Just eat right.

Food addiction may also be a result of emotional distress, such as emotional trauma or stress. Learn to let go of all attachments. Meditation is a way to relax yourself as well as to get toxic emotions out of your mind.

If you are healthy in body, mind, and spirit, you do not have any eating or weight problem. 

Stephen Lau 

Copyright © 2017 by Stephen Lau 

Mind Therapy

"I fear I am not in my perfect mind." Shakespeare, King Lear

Many elderly people may have the same feeling of "imperfection" about their minds as they get older. This is due to the accumulative effects of sorrows, health problems, and recollections of long-standing difficulties from childhood (this is especially true when long-term memories seem to come back, while short-term ones become evasive and elusive). These accumulative effects begin to take their toll on their mental health.

In addition, their digestive power has weakened with age, resulting in poorer absorption of nutrients, and hence less efficient brain cells in processing mental data. Therefore, it is important to optimize your digestive health.

The therapy for an "imperfect mind" begins with the mind itself. One of the therapies is psychotherapy, which involves talking to another person or simply talking to oneself in the form of affirmations. In the process, past experiences are uncovered, especially those which are repressed, leading to different psychological symptoms and problems. Through talking, you may come to terms with yourself and life in general. In this way, you may also change your thinking, thereby changing your attitudes and behaviors towards yourself and others. Psychotherapy enhances your awareness of self and others. Through behavioral therapy--part and parcel of psychotherapy, you unlearn certain behaviors that are detrimental to your mental health.

Your deep limbic system, which is near the center of your brain, may be the culprit in the malfunctioning of your mind. An overactive deep limbic system may make you do the following:

• You look back at the past, and you feel regret—you ruminate over what you should or should not have done.

• You look at the present, and you feel dissatisfaction—now that the prime of your life is over, and what is left is the lack and the inadequacy.

• You look at the future, and you feel anxiety--what lies ahead is pessimism and uncertainty.

The only way to heal your deep limbic system is to change your moment-to-moment thought patterns. To do this, you have to understand that your thoughts are real, not imaginary. But you also have to understand that when you have a thought, it sends electrical signals to your brain, which releases chemicals affecting how your brain thinks and functions. Therefore, it is important that you become more aware of your own thinking. This awareness can help you change your perceptions of your thoughts.  For example, if you become angry, notice how your physiology changes, such as muscle tension and rapid heartbeats; when you are happy, notice how your body responds with a smile. Train yourself to notice the differences in your deep limbic system and your different bodily reactions to these different thoughts under different conditions and circumstances.

Change your thoughts, and do not believe them as "real." Talk back to them! Affirmations and repetitions of affirmations may dissipate all your negative thoughts. Remember, negative thinking is a stumbling block to maintaining a healthy mind, especially as you get older and you are confronted with many new challenges in your life.

Change your thoughts, and do not believe them as "real." Talk back to them! Affirmations and repetitions of affirmations may dissipate all your negative thoughts. Remember, negative thinking is a stumbling block to maintaining a healthy mind, especially as you get older and you are confronted with many new challenges in your life.

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

A Zen Mind

The art of living well means you have a healthy body, mind, and soul, leading to internal balance and harmony. Holistic wellness begins with the mind first, because the mind is the most powerful body organ that controls everything that the body does. A toxic mind often produces a toxic body that leads to a toxic soul. We are living in a toxic environment that may easily contaminate the mind with toxic thoughts, leading to toxic actions, resulting in toxic emotions and memories that become the realities of our lives.

The human mind is most powerful in that it controls everything that the body does, and therefore determines the kind of life we are going to lead. According to Descartes, one of the great philosophers of all time, we become what we think; as evidenced by his famous statement: “I think, therefore I am.” Our thoughts shape us into who we are and transform us into what we have now become. In other words, our thoughts become our “realities.” The pivotal role of our thinking in holistic living cannot be overstated.

The fact of the matter is that our thoughts don’t tell us the whole truth about who and what we we think we are. That is, our minds may weave many self-deceptions that tell us everything but the truths, and they become our “realities.” The result is that we may self-doubt when we try to excel; we may feel confused and distracted when we try to concentrate; we may dwell on the past or the future when we try to focus on the present. In reality, many of us may have developed a compulsive mind that is constantly obsessed with past thoughts, which are often projected into the future as desires and expectations. A compulsive mind will not let us have internal balance and harmony because only a quiet mind will let us see the ultimate truths about everything. A quiet mind is a Zen mind..

What exactly is a Zen mind? A Zen mind focuses on quietude and spontaneity, which are attributes of internal peace and harmony of the body, the mind, and the soul. When the mind is quiet—in absence of the fear of the sound of silence—the mind can experience clarity of thinking, that may enable the understanding of spontaneity. Spontaneity is the wisdom of letting things follow their respective courses or their natural cycles, such as the four seasons, or life is always followed by death. Everything in life has its own natural cycle.

It must be mentioned that Zen is not a religion, although subsequently it became the source of Zen Buddhism. Zen is just a way of life, with its origin from the wisdom of Tao, which is based on the profound wisdom of the ancient sage Lao Tzu from China, who was the author of the immortal ancient classic “Tao Te Ching.”

A Zen mind is a mental condition in which the mind becomes totally relaxed, without regrets of the past and worries about the future. It is relaxed because it focuses on the present moment. Focusing on the present quiets down your compulsive mind so that you may objectively look at your own thinking mind to see if your thoughts are telling you the absolute truths. With clarity of mind, you may then be able to live as if everything is a miracle, and let go of all attachments to the past and the future that prevents you from focusing your mind on the now.

Holothink Meditation can change your life forever. It is one of the best Zen meditation products in the market. Try it for free and see how and why.meditation may help you in holistic living.

To have better understanding of Tao wisdom, read my book TAO The Way to Biblical wisdom.

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

Mind Power to Cure Cancer

The human mind is powerful. You can use your mind power to do just about anything, if you have the know-how. Use your mind to overcome cancer as if everything is a miracle. 

The Law of Attraction is about energy attraction: positive energies attracting positive energies, and the same for negative energies. This revolutionary concept has been exponentially popularized by the film "The Secret" as well as by the bestseller book and other related publications across the Internet.

Is the Law of Attraction a myth of the mind or a reality in real life? Can the Law of Attraction really help your healing from diseases and disorders?

Say, when an individual is diagnosed with cancer, that individual often becomes obsessed with anxiety about its treatment options as well as the prognosis of the disease. Obsession with cancer may internalize it into self-doubt and even fear. If an individual is preoccupied with the thought that breast cancer runs in the family, that individual may have predominant thoughts of cancer. Even "positive" thoughts, such as "I am not going to get breast cancer like my mother, my grandmother, or my sister" will only attract negative energy into that individual's life, because the mind only sees the word "cancer" and the "cancer fear" and nothing else. Just as a person buying a lottery ticket will not be attracting energy of abundance, because the mind is focusing on the lack rather than on the abundance, and thus attracting negative and not positive energy.

A cancer diagnosis is traumatic. However, it is not a death sentence. A miracle cancer cure is possible with a positive mindset, which enables you to empower your mind with knowledge and information to get the best cancer treatment. 

Congratulations! You've Got Cancer!

This 132-page book is about what to do when one is diagnosed with cancer. The author is neither a doctor nor an oncologist. He is simply showing the power of the mind not only in coping with the traumatic experience of cancer but also in overcoming the disease itself. In addition, he presents detailed information on what an individual must do on the cancer journey of cure and recovery. A cancer diagnosis is not a death sentence. Rather, it is an opportunity for growth and development. Harness mind power to combat cancer.

Stephen Lau
Health and Wisdom Tips

Aging and Good Health

Aging is difficult to define, but you will know it when you see it or experience it yourself. In brief, aging is a steady decline in health, which is instrumental in shortening lifespan; and the aging process is the duration during which such changes occur. The following are some of the signs and symptoms of aging:

• Your heart will pump less blood, and your arteries will become stiffer and less flexible, resulting in high blood pressure—a health problem that often increases with age.
• With less oxygen and nutrients from the heart, your lungs will become less efficient in distributing oxygen to different organs and membranes of your body.
• Your brain size will gradually reduce by approximately 10 percent between the age of 30 and 70. Loss of short-term memory will become more acute.
• Your bone mass will reduce, making it more brittle and fragile. Your body size will shrink as you lose your muscle mass.

Can the aging process be slowed down?

Yes and no. Theoretically, death may have been pre-programmed into your biological organisms as well as your body cells, and thus pre-determining your lifespan. That said, your body organisms and body cells may still have an indefinite lifespan through division, rejuvenation, and regeneration—if they are still healthy and functional. Again, theoretically, your genes mainly may have pre-determined the speed of your biological clock, but you can still slow down the speed of that biological clock—if you still have good health. The bottom line: nothing is set in stone.

So, what is good health? Good health means there is alignment of the wellness of the body, the mind, and the spirit. The United States Public Health Service has rightly said that good health is “preventing premature death, and preventing disability, preserving a physical environment that supports human life, cultivating family and community support, enhancing each individual’s inherent abilities to respond and to act, and assuring that all Americans achieve and maintain a maximum level of functioning.” If you want to stop your aging, take good care of your health. 

Go to my website: Health and Wisdom Tips. To stop aging, you need mind power to get the know-how to have good health to live to 100 and beyond, if you just don't die!

Stephen Lau
Copyright© by Stephen Lau

t