October 3, 2024

"Energy is spent holding back rather than in experiencing our own true creative self."
-- Charlyne Gelt, Ph.D., (PSY22909), M.F.T.

Back to List

Mind/Body/Spiritual Connection

by Charlyne Gelt, Ph.D., (PSY22909), M.F.T.

Today, there is an ever-growing understanding of the relationship between mind and body, and we are witnessing a transformation in medical coverage that validates a strong relationship between physical and emotional well-being. Listening to, assessing and then acting on internal information is vitally important for managing one's personal health. Age-old sayings such as "laughter is the best medicine," and "a happy heart is a healthy heart," have a great deal of merit. Studies show that how we perceive our outer reality is communicated at a cellular level and then, as if by magic, transformed into the language of affect and behavior which is recognized and interpreted by others. What is the message that our body-mind sends out to those in our world? Is it the message intended? Do one's inner and outer realities match?

Since the 16th century, man has viewed the world as a machine, and then extended that view to the body as a well-functioning mechanism separated into two parts, the entities of mind and body. This mechanistic view of life sets up a mental framework about health and illness that it should be controlled by scientific, external cures that emanate from outside the body. This view, however, discounts the authority that each of us has over managing our own health and well-being. It turns it over to someone in a white coat. Somewhere, somehow, we have lost the desire or the responsibility to be our own best authority and along with it we learned to blame others for our own illness and/or suffering.

Cure vs. Healing

Pain and suffering are the body's ways of telling us that something is not okay. One's body-mind is talking and we simply need to learn how to listen. Pain, suffering and depression can also become factors for a creative transformational healing, not cure, that challenges one's present attachments to toxic core beliefs that negatively affect one's health. In other words, if what you are thinking and doing is affecting your health, why not try something different? Sound too simple? Yet people do stay stuck or get locked into old behavior patterns and adhere to dysfunctional belief systems that can affect families over generations. Family myths, unspoken internalized beliefs, can adversely affect one's physical and emotional health. "The women in our family don't get divorced", "smile at all costs", "anger is not allowed", or "I have to control my feelings if I want to be strong" are examples of negative beliefs that can mask our strengths and keep us feeling split. Energy is spent holding back rather than in experiencing our own true creative self.

We live in a world of quantum realities that talks about wholeness, oneness, potentiality, unity and a pulling together of fragmented parts. This holds true for our emotional health, as well. What is stress and anxiety but a sense of fragmentation or falling apart that can bring on more serious, life-threatening illness. It can pull one down until we feel depressed enough to finally look inside ourselves for answers. Illness forces us to suffer from which there are innumerable opportunities for insight about the meaning of one's condition and one's life. One can only sweep so much dirt under the carpet before it comes out the other side. When real symptoms show up in the body, it may signal an inner wisdom that is desperately trying to get heard. Using a holistic approach that combines both medical and therapeutic environments, one can learn tools to listen, to communicate and to navigate into the depths of one's intuitive wisdom.

If fear of change has become your unseen jailer, if you feel stuck, depressed, torn or conflicted, or you are aware of emotional or physical symptoms, perhaps it's time to learn new tools to unlock the meaning of those symptoms. You can discover the beauty of a dormant world within when you begin to release the need to stay anchored to the shore. I offer a therapeutic environment in which to learn new tools and discover your inner resources.