The Corona virus is potentially deadly to those with a poorly functioning immune system. The obvious thing to do, then, is to maximise the efficiency of our immune system, if only we knew how. We are pummelled with advice on diet and exercise. This is all very well but not nearly as important as understanding the psychology of how we compromise our immune systems and, more importantly, what to do about it.
The main cause of immunodeficiency is stress with all its physical, mental and emotional fallout. Stress has become perversely normalised in our society. In the business world, it’s like a popular refrain that says: Oh, I’m so busy, busy, busy, so stressed with work – the implication being that we must be super-successful to be so super-busy, right?
Wrong! Stress makes us feel out of control and leads to poor decision-making, poor time-management, poor relationships and worst of all, poor health. We need to change our tune and understand stress for what it is, a very abnormal response to life.
There are two psychological attitudes that we can develop that are empirically proven to reduce stress and restore the immune system to full working order. The first is forgiveness and the second is gratefulness. When we concentrate on being grateful for all the things we have instead of all the things we imagine we don’t have, the subtle energy in our body shifts.
One of the main ways we cause ourselves stress is to cut our heads off from our hearts. This means our minds and our hearts are completely out of sync. Mostly, we are too busy in our ego minds fretting about the past or the future to give much attention to our hearts. All this changes when we consciously choose to develop an attitude of gratefulness. This means taking the attention away from the thinking mind and into the feeling body. Feelings of gratitude open the heart, bringing a harmony to mind and heart, and with it a renewed energy for life.
Never forget that energy flows to where your attention goes. When you put all your energy into feeling appreciation and thankfulness, you realise that you have all the resources you need inside you for health and wellbeing. If you’ve been clapping for the NHS every week, have you not felt that emotion of gratefulness bubbling up in you, bringing a hot tear to your eye? Appreciation can also bring a swelling tide of gratitude for the simple joy and happiness of being alive, the palpable wonder that we exist at all. The mystical traditions would say that this joy and happiness arises because attitudes of forgiveness and gratefulness plug us straight into the divine - God, Source, Divine Intelligence or however we conceive of this power. These attitudes lift us out of mind identification to receive the ecstasy, joy and love that only connection to Source delivers.
So, turn your attention for a moment to feeling gratefulness. What are you grateful for? If you can’t think of anything, change your state of mind. You can change your state quickly and easily by practising whatever feels pleasurable to you. It could be listening to music, dancing, engaging your hobby or whatever else brings you joy. You could even try something new, like guided visualisations, moving meditations, sound healing or whatever else pleases your senses. All these things can open your heart, calm your mind and plug you in to those positive and life-affirming emotions like joy, bliss and ecstasy that are so often associated with gratefulness.
The two practises of forgiveness and gratefulness are the most important things you can do to repair and restore your immune system. They are also the most important things you can do for a happy, joyful, stress-free life. And it doesn’t take long to change the habits of a lifetime with a little focus of your energy and attention…
Change your tune in ONE week
At night, just for 5 minutes before you go to bed, write down 3 things that you’re grateful for that have happened during the day.
Do this every night for a week.
That’s it!
Studies show that your happiness quotient will increase from 20 to 30%.
Incredibly this increase in happiness will not diminish for 6 months, even if you only do this gratefulness practice for ONE week!