923 thoughts on “How we hurt ourselves with reaction”

1. While knowledge is initially required to reawaken, it is our lived, everyday movements that make the difference. Without living love, having the knowledge to live love is pointless.

2. Always a fantastic read Dianne, very supportive and foundational for life. I agree wholeheartedly with this “But the biggest form of stress is how we ourselves react to the situations and people that we say ’cause us stress’.” It’s very true, it’s not just what happens in life but how we react. This is really demonstrated by different people reacting differently to the same situation.

3. Any form of reaction feels very uncomfortable in our body and this should be enough to put us off reacting to situations but it can often feel like we react faster than we can think. What seems to make sense of this for me is that the way we live, move and express may already be aligned to a reactionary energy, so therefore when situations arise we are more likely to react because we are already living in reaction. So, if we live with an energy that is void of reactions, the fiery energy, then we are less likely to react to situations.

4. “We are our own worst enemies. We make ourselves sick. And we can also be our own greatest friends, and bring ourselves back to true health.” The way we talk to ourselves and care for ourselves is reflected in our body and brings the opportunity to be our own general practitioner of life.

   1. Yes, and sometimes the way we talk to ourselves can be very abusive, cutting and denigrating, yet we often would not speak to others in that way. When we repeat this enough, we can wear ourselves down and cause damage that we may not be aware of.

   2. We really need to be honest about whether we are a loving friend to ourselves or not.

5. The more astute we get about energy the more we realize how much the effects of reaction devastate our body and being and how much and how long it takes to fully recover. Then it is that we may wake up to the fact how much emotions are harming and contributing to illness and disease, not just psychosomatically but physically/medically.

6. I think we actually first and foremost are affected by the energy we choose to be in and then the thoughts come as a result of that, but our body is already in this state first because of the energy we choose to use. That is energy of love or of not-love.

7. It is so liberating to not feel any reaction in the body when finding oneself in situations where there once would have been a strong physical reaction, as a result of living in way that responds to what the body feels.

8. There is a lot that we do know about the workings of our body that we ignore so we can act like we don’t know. Then science has to step in and show us an aspect of how our bodies work. We instinctively know that stress reactions aren’t good for our body but because many of us use it as a way to keep going, we ignore the impacts. We have also lost touch with our natural state of stillness. If we had this as our norm then the stress reaction would stand out very clearly.

   1. We lose the true marker of living a harmonious life enjoying our inner stillness with a sense of ease in our bodies, so we may instead feel we are doing well with low to moderate stress levels instead of high.

9. “But the biggest form of stress is how we ourselves react to the situations and people that we say ’cause us stress’. “ The more connected we are to our inner selves the more solid our foundation becomes, and the less we get affected.

10. How we choose to react or not makes a whole lot more sense than blaming something on the outside of ourselves for our illnesses. And much more empowering too.

11. It’s very cool that science is catching up with what we have innately known or actually do innately know but often turn our back on because it’s true we do have to put some work into changing the old patterns and feedback loops. We can be very lazy in this regard – to our own detriment of course. How awesome we feel when we begin to take up the reins and make new pathways that nurture, nourish and support us, creating a whole new body of love, a love that cannot help but ripple out to others and potentially grace them also.

12. Purpose is the greatest liberator for when you have true purpose you don’t have time and energy to waste by indulging in emotions and irresponsible thoughts.

13. What a brilliant article Dianne. It only makes sense that our mental state impacts the physical state, it’s impossible for them to be spare for they are so deeply connected.

14. I so agree – it is often the reaction to my first reaction that stays and keeps affecting me, and that is often how I get caught in what appears like ‘dealing with my stuff’ but really in truth is just digging my heels in.

    1. So, if we tend to react to situations, does this mean we are actually reacting to ourselves first? I reckon it is because it just makes sense.

15. We can think ourselves sick that is quite interesting isn’t it? Then what makes us think these poisonous thoughts?

16. Through Science we get half the picture. Through Science, Religion and Philosophy we get the full Truth of the matter.

17. What I really appreciate about what you have presented here Dianne, is that you are showing so clearly what goes on ‘behind the scenes’ when we become stressed. It’s not just what’s visibly going on but what is churning away within us and how our physiology is responding. Being presented with the fact we create our own stress is a huge ouch moment, but it then makes sense that being its creator we can also be its healer.

18. Thanks Diane and what a great example of the internal chit chat that is actually destroying us. How remarkable and powerful we are depending on what we are choosing to align to. Taking the time to connect to the essence within and feeling that love and stillness makes complete sense that this will then feed a body of harmony. I have been working on this to be a daily way of living at work, home and all over. It really is a commitment to bring understanding towards ourselves and others and that requires the skill of awareness and willingness to look at what is really going on.

    1. Yes the point is what energy have we aligned to for if we are connected to love we will not be having thoughts like that. So what is harming us is not so much the thoughts but our movements or alignment that led us to have those thoughts in the first place and then of course the cycle starts and each reinforce each other until we step out of it all.

19. ‘the biggest form of stress is how we ourselves react to the situations’ this is so empowering. I know I’ve been so long in victim, justifying my reactions to the world around me as many do and say ‘it’s only natural’ to get super angry, that I realise it’s a transition to notice the more subtler layers of reaction and stress. What’s been eye-opening is realising I’m often the one putting pressures on myself to perform not others. Recognising this and why and where I came to being this way has helped enormously to see it’s no longer relevant – and to be honest about the resistance to letting this go as I try to keep hold of my identity of striving to be perfect!

20. It makes so much sense Dianne – thank you. Our natural and harmonious state of being is being in union with the love we are, where there is an innate homeostasis in which our body and it’s physiology and our being naturally hums. And so, any digression away from this state of harmony, union with love or homeostasis and the body beings to call for correction. If we ignore this call, we digress further away and stress on the body and being is experienced as the dis-ease that it is. Our bodies are an incredible instrument that which we have with us 24/7, always guiding us to know when we are and when we are not being moved by the love that is our natural way of being.

21. I am sitting here today reading this in reaction to something in my life, I don’t want to let it go and blame others. Half way through I put my hand on my heart, sit and connect and feel the warmth in me. The internal blame commentary stops, I feel less stressed and the issue has reduced in size. It hasn’t gone but more connection will support it to move out.

22. I would say most people including my former me, are convinced that stress is something that comes from outside them. This is a convenient awareness, as I am sure we can all think of some people who remain calm no matter what comes and others who get stressed at the drop of a hat. Now that I can see the possibility that stress is my response rather than something I have no say in, this difference between people in the same conditions makes sense and confirms what the author has shared.

23. “One of the worst forms of stress (in my humble opinion) is negative internal talk, about others and about oneself.” I agree Dianne. By talking ourselves and others down we are simply adding to those negative feelings which supports no one. However turning the tables and appreciating ourselves and everyone we meet simply adds to our own sense of self worth and to that of others. Why then would we choose not to do this?

24. This is an amazing article about stress and it really inspires in me a want to not be so hard on myself, to go more gently and with understanding.

25. Comparison and jealousy are always negative, and the more we use self judgment the more we diminish our own self-worth, which only goes to show that we also have the power to change our choices which in turn builds our self-worth.

26. “We are our own worst enemies. We make ourselves sick. And we can also be our own greatest friends, and bring ourselves back to true health.” Most beautifully said and so simple for us all to apply.

27. The more we can observe what is happening the more we understand and the easier it is to hold another in love and allow their reactions to change to responses.

28. This is such an insightful blog into how much stress has an impact on our physical body. So much of the time we associate stress with a mental/emotional imbalance and dont relate it to our physical health. Thankyou Dianne for making this so clear.

29. Negative self-talk is a huge killer for most of us. It is like a virus that destroys us from the inside out. How much stress must that put on the body?

30. “We are our own worst enemies. We make ourselves sick. And we can also be our own greatest friends, and bring ourselves back to true health.” I find this so inspiring, and of course it makes complete sense, that if we can be the ones that can bring on our own illnesses, that we also have the capability of doing the reverse. There is so much avaialble for us to learn about these amazing bodies of ours when we are open to the fact that there is so much more to us that just our physical being.

31. This is such a great reminder that we can either be our own worst enemies or our own best friends – and that our health and wellbeing is entirely in our hands! Also, that negative self-talk is so destructive on a physiological level as well as psychologically. We have the power to build ourselves up, with love, understanding and patience, or to degrade ourselves – and the results are very quickly and clearly felt in our bodies.

    1. I agree Bryony that we can be our best friend and offer ourselves the best medicine possible. For me the loving, patient thoughts cant just be words I recite in my head, like positive affirmations. My body can see through false words from a mile off! I have to actually feel tender, loving and kind with myself, then everything in my life and physical body feels different.

32. ‘to feel my whole body and listen to the wise things it has to say.’ for me this the starting point of true health, when we acknowledge our body carries the wisdom and when we honour what our body is communicating.

33. Now that I have come to understand the power of reactions to harm my body I can see so clearly why my body was low in vitality and suffering from ill-health for such a long time; I was spending so much of my life in reaction. Yes, it definitely hurts to go in to reaction, and it just doesn’t hurt us but all those around us as well. Reaction is not something that is natural to the way our body lives so in response it has a very emphatic way of letting us know.

34. To understand that our reactions are as harmful as anything that can harm us physically was a revelation to me. But once understood how this happens, and the effect that reactions have energetically on our physical body and mental health, it made so much sense. The key is to not get caught out by anything that may trigger a reaction in us by healing the reasons why we are reacting in the first place.

35. We can often feel what happens in our body when someone else has said something to us that is upsetting, and it can feel quite uncomfortable. But I wonder how often we register the reaction in our body when we verbally abuse ourselves?; that inner critic can be incredibly harsh. Coming to understand that there is actually no difference between who is ‘abusing’ can be a life-changer as learning not to react saves our body from so much unnecessary harm.

36. “But the biggest form of stress is how we ourselves react to the situations and people that we say ’cause us stress’. Ultimately it is we who choose to get or stay angry, sad, impatient, frustrated, worried, scared…. and it’s thus we ourselves who can change it.” This has been a revelation for me, and in the last few years I have come to understand how reactive I was in my life to so many different situations. However by being willing to look at why I was reacting and then dealing with my own issues, I am far less reactive than I have ever been. It’s so liberating to not get caught up in my own stuff and opens up so many opportunites for deeper relationships with others.

37. True, we program ourselves to be stressed and stay in it ‘deepening the groove’ by using the same abusive behaviour against ourselves and therefore against others. The moment we start to be honest and admit this fact we can change it by being more appreciative of ourselves in our self talk and in treating our body with care and love as that’s what we deserve and it is the way we learn how to be with ourselves in truth.

38. We obsess over our weight and attack ourselves from our heads for being ‘fat’, ‘ugly’ and ‘unattractive’, but what if these thoughts decided how we depict ourselves in the mirror. Could they can actually precipitate to become our physiology, patterns and behaviours?

39. One of the worse things about reaction is that we direct a force at the other and this force then shapes all subsequent interactions, often making the relationship quite adversarial at that moment and making it harder to understand what is happening.

40. ‘We basically program ourselves to be and remain stressed. So it’s necessary to put some work and commitment into changing the way we react to situations and people and to ourselves.’ Well said Dianne much of the stress we cause ourselves we do through pictures when we create scenarios in our mind, or we keep repeating the same patterns, it is not until we break the pattern that things change and in order to break the pattern we need to work out why we created it in the first place and then address the main cause.

41. It’s quite amazing that stress can chemically alter our body and cause imbalance, exhaustion and so forth. There are many other emotions that also have a huge impact on our body, such as sadness, rage, comparison and so forth, and for some of these we are yet to ‘scientifically’ prove the impact although this impact is very much known to those who experience it.

    1. Yes, quite a lot is known how emotions are affecting the body but there is a lot more. One reason why the knowledge may be limited is because researchers wonder what the benefit of such knowledge is.

42. “One of the worst forms of stress (in my humble opinion) is negative internal talk, about others and about oneself. It usually comes from comparison and/or jealousy.” So true Dianne. In fact if we were to dissect our day and count the number of times we were to have a negative dialogue with ourselves, I imagine it would be a much higher percentage than the positive things that we internally appreciate.

43. That negative internal chatter is absolutely crippling. It can drive us to do all sorts of horrible behaviours and acts. But the root of the crazy is in the body. When I connect and settle thats when I get the chance to feel and address what’s causing upstairs in my mind to go bonkers.

44. “This helps me to feel my whole body and listen to the wise things it has to say.” Listening to the wisdom of the whole body and not to the internal chatter of the mind offers the opportunity to feel what is true.

45. Really interesting to read about the way our reactions create a constant feedback loop, that keep us in that same reaction unless we do something to change this. It highlights the responsiblity we have for ourselves just as starters, to not allow this to continue so that our reactions do not run us or our bodies.

46. It is quite a revelation to realise that stress comes from inside of us and not from external factors even though these may be the triggers for our reaction. Such truth puts us back in the driver’s seat with both hands on the wheel in terms of our levels of health and vitality or illness and disease.

47. ‘if we refuse to listen to the internal chatter, and allow ourselves to feel and express our natural love, understanding, patience and acceptance of others and ourselves, we can send beneficial effects flowing throughout our physiology.’ Sometimes we can make up stories in our minds and believe them when they are absolutely untrue. We can make ourselves wrong, unloved etc and equally we can wake up to the truth and allow ourselves to connect to the love that we are inside. Universal Medicine gives us so many ways that we can do this. The Unimed living website is full of gems and pointers in this regard also.

48. Stresses and reactions play havoc with our finely tuned system, and take us away from our sense of self and connection to our innate wisdom.

49. I read this while my emotional reaction to something that had happened at work from several hours ago still reverberated in my body, and I so agree what makes us ill is not what happens to us, but how we react to it. My mind can wrestle for hours and days with no end, but when my whole body is given attention and I choose to engage with it, I begin to see a different way.

50. This article is spot on, the biggest stresser is how I am with myself, and I find I can react to how I am or how others are, and give myself a hard time with that, but that is not needed, not helpful, and it’s useful to consider how internal chatter feeds this … we really are more powerful than we often allow in that how we talk to ourselves directly impacts our bodies, and so bringing understanding here is key, and something that is supportive for us and all around us.

51. In my experience we can all do a great job in stressing ourselves out, even more so than the outside influences we often blame. It’s the reason why we do this that we need to figure out before we are able to remove this very damaging behaviour from our lives, and once removed life is sure to be a whole lot more easy and enjoyable to live; it definitely has been for me.

52. Reactions and emotions fill the body with hardness and tension – and change our structure on a molecular level.

53. It’s fascinating to see that when I react there is always something for me to address with myself, not the person or situation \i may be reacting to.

54. It has taken some time to break the internal dialogue, and my life and the way I feel about myself has changed enormously. Now I have to be aware of catching the ever so slightly internal thoughts that I would have ignored previously, as they are not as harmless as we would like to think they are.

55. The fact that our bodies react and respond to our emotions gives us a real insight into the way we can harm and heal ourselves.

56. I’ve recently become more aware of how stimulating and buzzy being in my head feels. What I mean is that when focusing on the mental commentary my body tingles like a rubberband held tight then pinged. It feels disturbing. I don’t feel that when focusing on my body. During my day.

57. Getting to know my own triggers and reactions has been fundamental in starting to observe more clearly what’s going on.

58. What we call stress can be very different for different people and so this does say to me that it is something that we initiate ourselves rather than it being totally dependent on what’s happening around us. And in this it’s truly empowering to recognise that how we react or respond to situations is something we can change and develop. And how we can all support one another by reflecting a harmonious way to respond to life, that shows and reminds us that there is another way.

59. It’s interesting that our ailments are first born in our psychology, the way we think, the thoughts we choose to align with and run with, the way we choose to react or respond and how much emotion we engender in our lives and how this then informs our movements.

    1. It’s also true that the way we move informs our thinking! In this way we can change our thinking by the quality we bring to our movements and this is very beautiful and very powerful.

60. How fascinating! Everything is everything in the body, and our feelings and mental health contribute to our physical health in every way.

61. This shares the importance of loving ourselves and understanding that self-degradation is actually taxing on our health. What an amazing wake up call for us to simply stop and appreciate more. And yes – stress comes from within, and it is in our hands to say no to taking this on.

62. I am the master of my own breath and therefore my own body and its emotions and responses and reactions; this has been an absolute life changer for me and I thank Universal Medicine for supporting me to remember this very ancient wisdom which we all know but sometimes choose to forget.

63. It sounds so true to me Dianne, that we can be our worst enemies but at the same time true healers of ourselves too. It is just a matter of choice and from that point on the way we move through life that will bring the stress and discomfort to the body or, in the other case, the healing that will restore our bodies to its natural divine state.

64. ‘we react physiologically to our own thoughts and emotions!’ and we know this, and yet we often ignore this, and in fact that’s stressful for us and our bodies. So we stress ourselves and therefore we can choose not to do this, but finding simple ways to come back to ourselves and our bodies in each and every moment. Be it simply as I type here now feeling my fingers on the keys, observing my breath and how I move – living in this way allows for that connection to ourselves and we cut out the negative talk that may be there.

65. Reading this blog, we really have no excuse do we for our own state of health?! We are so good at giving ourselves a hard time about the things that arent going right in our lives or the things we dont like, whereas if we give the focus to all the things we appreciate about ourselves and others then it is remarkable how life can turn around as we reconnect to who we are.

66. I absolutely love this blog – when we know that reactions make us feel awful anyway this just fills in the gaps to understand just what exactly is going on – always worth re-reading.

    1. Indeed Michael, while the reactions from the mind can be very disturbing there too is the delicate response from our body in what is true or not which at sometimes, because of our patterns of reacting, we react to it but in truth it is a way of our body to tell us something is not true. We then only have to find a way to be more in connection and communication with our body so we can be the observers and will not get absorbed in the situation at hand.

67. You can feel how much stress drains the body and overworks the organs and systems that are designed to keep us in homeostasis. This would indicate to me that stress is not a natural state for our body to be in and we have taken on a way of living as our norm that is far from normal.

68. I have recently noticed just how much my body is negatively impacted after I react emotionally to a given situation. What Dianne shared here really hits home and is confirmation of just how much we are not only responsible for our own health, but we have the true power to change it once we deviate by reaction as opposed to simply observing what is going on for ourselves and others in our relationships. The reactions block this natural ability to read into the dynamics of why and how things happen.

69. Very interesting blog, I love the fact that we are the drivers of our own vehicles, stuff may come at us from all directions including from within, but it is how we choose to respond or react that is the outcome, not what just happens to happen. Once we realise this and take responsibility for all our actions and reactions our stress levels will be just fine.

70. Reactions hurt and put a huge strain on the body. I know that when I find myself reacting I often feel like a bus has run over me afterwards.

71. To understand that stress starts with us is huge and shows how much is truly in our hands. If we take the time and care to feel how we are in each moment and to catch that self talk, that raciness, we equip ourselves to more clearly be in in life and address what needs to be addressed. We are way more powerful than we allow.

72. I have so often been my own worst enemy, I don’t know how many times I must have called myself an idiot, but it is good to know that all that unnecessary internal dialogue has a detrimental effect on our health so it can be treated as harmful like anything else that we know is and we wouldn’t purposefully put in our bodies.

    1. True Kev, I had to laugh when i read your ‘I don’t know how many times I must have called myself an idiot’ as I can relate to this way of talking many many times, no where to go really when we say it like this to ourselves. And it is just as poisoning as sugar, alcohol etcetera.

73. Our fight/flight survival mechanism is an amazing and highly important system of our protection, however, it can also be our worst enemy resulting in us living in state of perpetual anxiousness. Learning ‘re-set’ it to be in harmony with the other body systems rather than dominating them is a true re-establishment of wellbeing.

74. “It began when I learned how to become aware of when I was racy and ahead of myself, then to stop and breathe gently.” What a perfect place to start. Nothing to do or fix, just simply stop for a moment.

75. Acting in the energy of reactions changes our whole body chemistry and take us completely out of observation.

76. When we consider how subtle or ‘small’ a reaction can be, we can see that we must constantly be causing harm in the body, like a background drip. Getting to know myself more intimately means starting to really take note of these ‘silent but deadly’ reactions.

77. I knew that stress has a profound effect on us but the way you describe the actual physiological manifestations of it in our bodies Dianne was so sensible and practical that I can really understand how devastating it is for our bodies to live under that constant pressure.

78. Accepting that reaction is a choice can be quite challenging but also liberating.

79. We are our own worst enemies. We make ourselves sick. And we can also be our own greatest friends, and bring ourselves back to true health. Absolutely Dianne, I can definitely attest to that as I was my own worst enemy for most of my life, but now constantly turning the self talk around to appreciation and love.

80. I have found that that how I speak about myself has a direct impact upon how I feel and then experience the world. Listening to myself, being my own observer of myself of how I speak is I find truly supportive in enabling me to change my communication and thereby how I feel about myself and my quality of health and wellbeing. Definitely beneficial self-medication.

    1. That feels so very caring and supportive Jonathan, lovingly accompanying yourself along your way.

81. I am beginning to realise that there is a correlation between our reactions and stress because as soon as we go into reaction you can feel the body tighten, and as that happens you can also feel the body go into stress, this also happens when we get angry, or go into anxiousness.

82. Great point that we think stress comes from outside. I have found myself stressed and too busy, then when I actually stop and settle I find there’s nothing I can’t handle. It is very empowering to know we can put a stop to stress and get out of the rut we make for ourselves.

    1. Yes it is a great point that when we reduce our internal stress this is then reflected in less external stress. Change ourselves and our world changes.

83. More and more I can feel the importance of observing negative thoughts I have and saying ‘hey – is that truly me?’ – and in doing so – I start to feel where these are coming from, and that these thoughts do not come from love.

84. A fascinating read exposing the harm that we allow through the thoughts and emotions we let into our body… there is no doubt that we can literally wither and wilt like an unloved plant when we mistreat ourselves with the harm of what these initiate in us. I love that we however can stop and change our breath and our movements to not let the thoughts and emotions wreak havoc inside…. We owe it to ourselves and our health and deserve nothing less.

85. I have a friend that would benefit greatly from this article, well in truth, who wouldn’t benefit from this, its a great insight to the importance of what internal dialogue we are allowing and the negative ways that dialogue can impact.
    It may sound unachievable in a high stress busy environment, when you have a job that requires you to do many, many things at the same time but its just about coming back to the quality in which you move and breathe. You can still go super fast and do all the tasks that are required of you but you have to say no to the thoughts that are telling you there is a panic or that if you don’t complete something fast enough you are worthless. We can in fact change those thoughts through the way we move our body with a deep care for ourselves and others.

86. When we react to someone or some situation it really harms the body, as it is like getting an internal bruise every time we do it. Imagine then how that must affect the body over a lifetime.

87. I absolutely love this Dianne, breaking it down into very simple terms is awesome and handing the power back over to ourselves as we are the initiators of our own stress, just makes so much sense, to actually go to the source to clear it.

88. ‘But if we refuse to listen to the internal chatter, and allow ourselves to feel and express our natural love, understanding, patience and acceptance of others and ourselves, we can send beneficial effects flowing throughout our physiology.’ Yes how different we feel when we turn the internal chatter button to mute and allow a connection to our true selves where love is waiting to be felt and expressed.

89. What a god-send it is to develop that ability to notice the subtleties, building awareness gives us the opportunity to change our behaviours and address our reactions, I love your example Diannne: “It began when I learned how to become aware of when I was racy and ahead of myself, then to stop and breathe gently”.

90. “But if we refuse to listen to the internal chatter, and allow ourselves to feel and express our natural love, understanding, patience and acceptance of others and ourselves, we can send beneficial effects flowing throughout our physiology.” Contradicting the negative self-talk and having understanding rather than judgement supports us to evolve rather than implode.

91. “One of the worst things about stress reactions is that the relevant body systems work in a feedback loop that can keep itself going, even when no longer needed.” This is so true. When we replay stressful situations over and over in our minds and then keep talking about it with others this all adds to the stress we feel.

92. I love here Dianne how you have described stress and included even the negative chatter that goes on in our heads because you are right this is stressful in no different way to a life threatening moment but we don’t think of it in the same way. It is more insidious and a constant winding up of our stress responses but just as harmful.

93. This is a great line Dianne, to “allow ourselves to feel and express our natural love, understanding, patience and acceptance of others and ourselves, we can send beneficial effects flowing throughout our physiology.” Expressing love is a great foundation for good health.

94. This blog brings back the responsibility to where it belongs – with the reader – with me. It is my choice how I choose to react to life and I can choose to either harm or heal my body. As you say – “We are our own worst enemies. We make ourselves sick. And we can also be our own greatest friends, and bring ourselves back to true health.” You have inspired me today to be my own greatest friend, and to bring myself back to true health.

95. I’m just starting to feel the degree of hurt that comes with a reaction. The most slightest ones impact at a level that we can often override but over time this is felt by the body and how we live and move. So much here to return to understanding that YES, it is our worst enemy and the powerful sharing of Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine supports us to stay true to this understanding and the chose to make our life about healing.

96. Brilliantly shared Dianne. You have so clearly broken down to reveal how we are the ones that create the stress we feel through our choice to engage in the chatter of our minds, and as such that we also can choose to connect to the ever-present truth of who we really are, through connecting to our bodies. As you so wisely say – ‘It’s an ongoing process – there’s always more to learn and higher levels of awareness possible.’ And yes agreed, committing to this process worth it – all day long, and the next and the next…

97. We certainly are our own worst enemies and it is our responsibility to align to an energy that heals us and brings us back to true health. What you have expressed here is so true and empowering;
    “We are our own worst enemies. We make ourselves sick. And we can also be our own greatest friends, and bring ourselves back to true health.”

98. “One of the worst things about stress reactions is that the relevant body systems work in a feedback loop that can keep itself going, even when no longer needed. So, once we start down the stress and emotional reaction path, we keep feeding it, making it worse, ‘deepening the groove’.” One of the best ways I know to get myself out of a groove that feels awful, is to work with my body and movement, choosing to focus on the quality of my breath, on what I’m doing and how I am moving leaves no room for that cycle to be fed.

99. It’s a hard and consistent form of stress when we have the negative internal talk (that you managed to so easily illustrate in one full paragraph – such is the commonness of it!). Yet through the study of Esoteric medicine I have come to know myself to be naturally loving and the internal negative thoughts about myself have abated, I feel very much more at ease with myself and with that I don’t jump as I may have once upon a time, to automatically criticise or judge.

100. A hugely powerful sharing – I did not realise the science of what happens when we take things on – that is so fascinating and makes sense how poisonous it is to the body. As you say – we can harm or heal the body ourselves.

101. “We are our own worst enemies. We make ourselves sick. And we can also be our own greatest friends, and bring ourselves back to true health.”
     What i find astonishing about all this Dianne is that the internal dialogue that everyone experiences is so rarely acknowledged and talked about, I feel this is a conversation that needs to be opened up in schools; to empower our young to clock the waywardness of our thoughts and build greater connection and appreciation of our bodies.

     1. This is a brilliant point. Through exposing it we can then render it as the nought that it is. But whilst we keep it hidden, then it retains its power over us.

102. We also try to control and manipulate others through our reactions which is the ultimate form of avoiding responsibility but by exposing and calling this lack of responsibility out expressing the fact that it is our own making every time we choose to react and get stressed we offer the essential ingredient – love to ourselves and others, an offering to choose otherwise.

103. This topic was brought up for me today with my Universal Medicine Therapies practitioner, and I understood more deeply what you are sharing here about how we affect ourselves. I have realised that a stressful, suspenseful movie is lived by the body as if it’s actually happening, and today I received a clearer understanding of how I experience the same thing in terms of the thoughts I have. I just so happened to have this blog preselected and waiting to be read this evening, and the exact thing was presented to me in my afternoon session today.

104. I can’t thank you and agree with you enough Dianne with this blog and especially the part of our negative thoughts coming from comparison and/or jealousy. If this part is addressed – calling out the false picture that we should be where another is at and accepting that we have made choices and another may have made different choices to be where they are then the negative chatter can start to be reduced.

105. I love what you say here Dianne how our brains hear all the internal talk and think that it is true what they hear and are obedient so stress reactions are put in place in our systems or they are obedient to the love, understanding and acceptance. So yes ‘We are our own worst enemies. We make ourselves sick. And we can also be our own greatest friends, and bring ourselves back to true health.’

106. Thanks Dianne, very powerful reminders here that our choices, even at a subtle level of thoughts, create the healthy or ill body we may experience. As you say, patience, love, and understanding are part of the rebuilding and maintenance tool kit for a healthy, vital body.

107. Thank you for bringing science to our everyday behaviours and giving us more reason to look after ourselves and change those deep seated reactions . I know that our own self talk can be very harmful but I now know more in detail which supports and encourages me to change.

108. Such a powerful message you have presented to us in this blog Dianne, that being, harming ourselves, and others, by reactive behaviours. So much to ponder and take responsibility for.

109. I can remember very easily the stress treadmill that I was on for so long; I knew I was stressed but struggled to know how to heal it, such was the impact that it had on my body; I felt way too exhausted to make any changes. Coming to understand that it is not the situation but how I react to it that is most important was one huge ‘aha’ moment and with this knowing finally I was able to begin to get off the treadmill for long periods of time. Nowadays, most of the time, it sits in the corner gathering dust no longer a part of my life.

110. Stress is like a never-ending cycle of ups and downs. But when you are exhausted, engaging in excessive emotion can give you an artificial lift or high that invariably always crashes later only serving to feed your exhaustion all the more.

     1. Suse that is a great point, just like having a bag of sweets and what happens to our blood sugar, emotions can spike us up in an artificial stimulated state too, only to come crashing back down again when it’s over.

111. It would seem that our ill choice to live life predominantly through the nervous system is a way to avoid truly connecting with people (vascular system) and with God (lymphatic system). A contraction in any one of these many systems that make up our human form will lead to an imbalance in all others, such is the order of the Universal harmony we belong to that lets us know the moment we step out of tune to its rhythm.

112. I love this blog and what it presents for our consideration. You are correct in saying Dianne that we are our own worst enemy and that one of the worst things that we can do to ourselves is to have negative self talk. Our internal talk can and often is brutal and certainly not something that we would say to someone else. This toxic way of relating to ourselves has to have an effect both short term and long term. The antidote to this is self acceptance and appreciation yet so few of us are any good at this. I have discovered that self acceptance and appreciation is wonderful medicine and deeply healing on so many levels.

     1. I agree with you Elizabeth the more we allow self acceptance into our lives the more those negative thoughts have little traction in the mind. I have discovered this for my self and now look after myself with more care and attention than I have ever done before, and its so worth it as my self love has grown so much and will forever deepen.

113. How many times do we hear ‘ he/she made me do it’ or ‘he /she started it ‘ from children. It would really support them if we talked about what is really going on and let them realise their own responsibility and let them connect to the truth and power they hold within.

114. The stress of not dealing with things, and the tension held in the body is something I am very familiar with, and the exhaustion that follows, including the inevitable headache the following day. It would seem that we are our own worst enemies, and the body cops it every time.

115. We are indeed our own worst enemies. Just moments ago, I got completely stressed out because I had misunderstood whose fridge shelf was whose, in a sharehouse I am currently staying in. I used up the wrong persons food and the panic in me when they realised went through my entire body. I felt everything tense up and contract, and I started to get a headache from the guilt of what I had done. A perfect example of how stress affects the body physically.

116. I know from experience that living in reaction is super draining and causes complication and ‘issues’. The awareness that is being built thanks to the presentations of The Ageless Wisdom, the workshops by Universal Medicine and the Esoteric Healing Modalities taught by Serge Benhayon, have all supported me to grow out of reaction as I address the hurts and machinations of desire and choice. Consequently life is no longer full of reaction but more loving, vital and joyful.

     1. Yes the harm of these behaviours is far greater on the body and our cells than we care to realise when we are in that moment. This blog is spot on in offering a deeper understanding of the damage that can occur over time when choose to absorb life rather than be ourselves in life.

117. ‘Ultimately it is we who choose to get or stay angry, sad, impatient, frustrated, worried, scared…. and it’s thus we ourselves who can change it.’ Sometimes it seems we cannot step out of the emotional state we have placed ourselves in but I know this is just another form of sabotaging ourselves to stubbornly stay in the stressful situation we have created.This blog is a great reminder (very timely) that we are captain of our own ship and can stop listening to the negative internal talk (as I agree this is the worst form of stress)and sail a steady course with love and care.

     1. At a time when mixed anxiety and depression is the most common mental health condition in the UK, the world is crying out for this medicine – self responsibility is equal to empowerment.

118. Its really easy to be responsible for the quality of our thoughts when we realise we are the main person affected by our thoughts. We can think an unpleasant thought about another person and think we are the only ones who know it, but in reality the impact is there impacting all others around us. Our inner thoughts don’t insulate the rest of the world from how we choose to be.

     1. Very true Felicity but I do not live this level of responsibility yet. It exposes how I can still indulge in self but this is not a critique but something to observe showing and offering me an opportunity to go deeper in the love for myself and life.

119. I find one of the more harmful reactions is when we react to our reactions. Sometimes it is ok to have a brief reaction when the body registers something that is not harmonious, but then if we react to that and bring in emotions and thoughts etc we are certainly not doing ourselves or anyone else any favours and in fact can be doing a lot of harm…. but again not to judge or react but bring in honesty, awareness and understanding – all of which are great medicine.

120. Brilliant and much needed blog to read and share with everyone. We can be okay with talking about being stressed, it’s quite normal for us to put how we are feeling down to stress, but rarely do we talk about what we have reacted to and why… that has caused the body to be under stress and show through digestion issues, lack of sleep, feeling down etc. etc. I know my body is suffering a lot at the moment from reacting. This blog is everything I know but desperately need reminding of.

121. Another great blog Dianne – you bring a deep understanding to the amazing way the body works and choices we can make to change the cause stress reactions or bring harmonious responses in the whole of the body, organs, brain, skin, muscles etc.
     “But the biggest form of stress is how we ourselves react to the situations and people that we say ’cause us stress’. Ultimately it is we who choose to get or stay angry, sad, impatient, frustrated, worried, scared…. and it’s thus we ourselves who can change it”.

122. Reactions are a killer to the body and listening to any negative nonsense about ourselves and others is a sure way to become exhausted, sick and to withdraw from life.

123. This blog is so empowering – we have the answers and can choose at any time to start changing how we treat ourselves and the amount of negative self talk that we allow. The more I clock when my thoughts are not supportive the more I have a choice to make positive changes that enhance my overall well-being.

124. I love the sweetness of simply listening to what our bodies (such wise counsels) have to say and that this is the beginning of a valuable relationship that can change things very significantly.

125. Another great blog Dianne, we have a tendency to listen to our own internal thoughts that eat away at our self confidence, when we react badly to something the chatter has a field day and destroys not only our self-confidence, but also our health too.

126. I’m so appreciating how immediate and obvious my reactions are when i have certain thoughts. It’s fascinating. If I think of all I need to do in my day I will react physically – even to the point of hurried breathing and increased pulse. If I take a moment and say it’s ok, just one thing at a time, no, do not address that incoming email until you have completed what you are doing I calm down when I feel I’ve given myself space. It’s like I turn off my internet on my phone at a certain time, I turn my phone off all day aside from any breaks I maybe taking and now I’m going to look at whether I can stop email alerts on work computer and read them when I am ready so I am not caught up in the anxiety or fear of another.

127. Recently writing down the reactions and pressure and stress that I tolerate in life it was eye opening how exhausting having all of these reactions in my life were. And the reason for tolerating them were based on ‘what would others say/think/do’ but the focus on others doesn’t feel completely true. The ouch behind all of this I feel partly is that I would have to take responsibility and face the fact that I have had the choice to be my best friend all along but instead chose stress and pressure. Oops! – this one word I find supports me to not keep adding stress and guilt when having made an unloving choice, a choice I can go again and re-imprint.

128. I was unaware of how I had programmed myself to be in stress mode almost all of the time. It became my normal, and it wasn’t until someone pointed out that it’s actually not normal that I felt there was something I could do about it. I appreciate the new choices I am making that see me living life in a more observing mode rather than reacting.

     1. Yay to this Debra, I am noticing that the less I react, the clearer and simpler everything is and therefore the next choice is less influenced by old habits.

129. When we react, we don’t realise how much we are getting deeply involved in the emotions allowing something else to get in and unbalance our harmonious flow, our bodies start to contract, the mind goes into over drive an everything starts to feel unease.

130. We seem to have taken stress away from a survival mechanism to an everyday occurrence because we have made it OK to be stressed. But what a huge effect this has on the body! If we were taught this sort of science and wisdom, i wonder if we would all be so arrogant and put ourselves into stressful situations just to get the recognition of being busy and important.

131. This is really helpful to understand the physiological effects of things we don’t always account for, like thoughts. Stress is stress, however, and will take its toll on the body. Personally stress for me regularly goes hand in hand with raciness – and when I clock this it is an opportunity for me to check in with where I’m at and why I’m feeling stressed.

132. Beautifully easy to read and get a good feel of how invasive stress is to our whole well-being, every aspect. To feel, love and accept as you put it Dianne, addresses our self inflicted negative thoughts, voluntary rushing, disregarding diets and much more of the self initiated stress we place ourselves in.

133. A superb read Diane, thank you… Identifying negative self-talk as one main way our body responds by …”obediently initiate the stress reactions through the hormone, nervous and immune systems. Snap! We express fear, hate, loathing, disappointment, self-negation, etc., and our body wilts like a mistreated plant…” is so important to bring awareness to, as this is the starting place where we have the ability to turn around the whole relationship we have with ourselves. Introduce appreciation and self care into our vocabulary would start the change.

134. There are some essential tips in this blog to reducing if not eliminating stress as a way of responding to life. The fact that we create a groove or rut once we start using stress as a way of coping is amazing. Also, the fact that we physiologically react to our thoughts as though they are happening is very important. This blog shows me that stress isn’t something that comes from outside but something we have the ability to choose and have control over.

135. We really are the ones in the drivers seat. How we react means everything. Learning how to deliver information without having a force run through the body trying to push another to do what you want, is absolutely mind blowing. Delivering allows others to honestly respond. Pushing another forces them to push back, the first remains open for understanding and quite likely resolution, the second finds tension and blame.

136. So true Dianne . . . “We are our own worst enemies. We make ourselves sick. And we can also be our own greatest friends, and bring ourselves back to true health.” . . . It is our choice we cannot blame anyone or anything for our reactions. This is solely our responsibility.

137. What an enlightening explanation of the physiological responses to negative internal chatter Dianne and the way we can physically hurt ourselves with thoughts. Developing self-awareness, thanks to the modalities and teachings presented by Serge Benhayon, has been instrumental in exposing and changing those patterns of thought and thus the health and vitality I feel as a result.

138. Awesome to bring awareness to how we can hurt ourselves from our reactions toward others or certain situations. I agree, often my reactions stem from comparison, jealousy and hurts. I have become so much more aware of when I have unloving thoughts and understanding where they come from. It is through appreciating and valuing myself that these harmful thoughts and harmful self-talk disappears. I am also aware that being in reaction feels awful in my body and everything I express from here hurts others too. Learning to not react and learning to not take things personally is very supportive and loving.

139. ‘we react physiologically to our own thoughts and emotions’ we think and our body responds as if we were actually physically in danger, it goes to show how powerful our thoughts are and how much more harmony there would be in our bodies if we stopped thinking! And as for the tension caused by our emotional reactions to situations outside of our control, the harm we can do to ourselves is enormous, so learning not to react is good.

140. “We are our own worst enemies. We make ourselves sick. And we can also be our own greatest friends, and bring ourselves back to true health.” These are so simple and absolutely wise words! What I do to me by thinking and moving against ‘what is good for me’ is unbelievable! To become aware here and bring a change is such a revelation. Thank God (and Serge Benhayon) for Universal Medicine that supports us in understanding, becoming more still and connected again to true source.

141. Reading this again I understand that we react to ourselves when we compare ourselves to others, this makes so much sense. And if we don’t value ourselves then we compare. If we value and care for ourselves we see the value in situations and care for others. Thank you.

142. “Stress also tires out the systems that produce the hormones – like the adrenals – leading to exhaustion.” A beautiful and simple explanation of cause and effect and “blah blah … we all do it” until we realise the harm we are causing ourselves and choose to talk to ourselves gently and with love and appreciation.

143. Indeed Diane, A single thought can change our bodies pH levels so imagine what a continued groove of living can do!

144. More and more I am learning and enjoying every single day is to wait for the response from my body.

     It is amazing what is offered to us on a daily basis to action if we are only attuned to its message.

145. When in reaction we are usually so busy with the person or situation we are reacting to that we don´t recognise how much our reaction is an attack on our own body and essence, an attack caused by us and not anyone from outside; it is internal warfare. That´s what our physiology is dealing with and trying its best to restore harmony or at least some peace.

146. ‘…But the biggest form of stress is how we ourselves react to the situations and people that we say ’cause us stress’. ‘ – WOW this is huge and I love what you are saying here about what stress does to us from the inside, based on our own choices. That really shows me the responsibility I have to not react to things, as it is actually an illness in the body.

147. Absolutely true Dianne, “We are our own worst enemies. We make ourselves sick. And we can also be our own greatest friends.” We accept the worst abuse from ourselves, that we would never tolerate from another, but we also have the potentially to be the greatest light, the greatest friend, the greatest love and support for ourselves that nothing in the world can sway us or take us out. It may just be worth giving it a go and see 🙂

148. I agree Dianne – “One of the worst forms of stress .. is negative internal talk” it is a form of attack against oneself, as abusive as anything another can direct towards us, except it is seemingly more hidden and insidious because we can be so ‘in’ it that we don’t even realise what we are doing. However awakening to the constant daily self talk and destructive behaviours we can without judgement choose to let them go, and the impact on our health and our lives would be enormous..

149. Amazing to consider that even our thoughts can make us sick and that we do have a choice as to whether we respond or react to life which makes all the difference to our health.

150. ‘We are our own worst enemies… and our own best friends’ – its our choice which we give more energy to.

151. Along with the internal negative chatter, I am learning how much my frustration of things that I feel are out of my control, or do not fit the picture of how I want things to be, affect my health and wellbeing. A moment of frustration can alter my state of being and I can feel how my body has a vibration and agitation that wasn’t there before.

152. To get aware of the internal chatter is a huge step in order to say no to it and focus again on the love inside of us. So true Dianne, listening to the chatter is a constant giving power away to an energy and thoughts which are not true. Instead to focus again to the truth in our body is a very healing process.

153. “But the biggest form of stress is how we ourselves react to the situations and people that we say ’cause us stress’.” Yes spot on Dianne. It is a bit of an ‘ouch’ moment yet also very empowering to know we can change the way we are reacting to life and situations once we consider the reaction not to be us or our character but a way we are acting.

     1. Very true Lieke, blaming others for how we feel doesn’t help and goes around in circles. But being open to our part in why we feel stressed is empowering and healing. An ‘ouch’ that is short lived compared to the drawn out suffering we tolerate while believing someone else is to blame for our stress.

154. It is so true that we buy into the idea that stress is something that comes at us from the outside and somehow we are not the ‘main player’ in it all thus do not have any choice except to deal with it when it arises. What you share here is gold Dianne – that it is us who chooses stress in the first place. This feels super empowering, for rather than dealing with the consequences of feeling stressed we can catch it much earlier and see the earlier choice that we have to not feel stressed.

155. ‘We are our own worst enemies. We make ourselves sick. And we can also be our own greatest friends, and bring ourselves back to true health.’ This is so empowering Dianne and thank you so much for your simple explanation of the science behind how we get caught in the feedback loop of self-imposed stress and how simple it can be to get out of it when we choose to. Letting go of the negative internal chatter that has clogged up so many of my waking hours is a work in progress but so worth it and this blog has re-confirmed that it is so worth taking the time to build a positive relationship with myself which then supports me in all my other relationships.

156. We are indeed our own worst enemies by reacting and being governed by our hurts. However, as you so truly point out Dianne, we can also be our greatest friend and healer; bringing ourselves back to true health. Great inspirational blog, thank you.

157. The internal talk and attitude we have towards ourselves certainly seems to have an affect on the human biochemistry.. That why self care and self love are so important as this has such a positive impact on our health and wellbeing.

158. This is simple and important to help with when we go into ‘I’ve got to get this done attitude’, ‘I learned how to become aware of when I was racy and ahead of myself, then to stop and breathe gently. This helps me to feel my whole body and listen to the wise things it has to say.’ Stopping and connecting with our breath, taking a moment to be with ourselves, how gorgeous.

159. Yes, we can get caught in this insidious cycle of being internally stressed, this can be almost hidden but is still creating harm and destruction, ‘we start down the stress and emotional reaction path, we keep feeding it, making it worse, ‘deepening the groove’. Then it’s difficult to get out of that vicious cycle. We basically program ourselves to be and remain stressed.’

160. We definitely are our worst or best friends and the impact on our bodies is profound!

161. Indeed Dianne we have a relationship with everything in life so why not our negative thoughts. It makes sense if we react to our negative thoughts it will create even more stress.

162. The moment we react to anything we abandon ourselves and allow something outside of ourselves to enter and pollute the innate harmony and balance that otherwise is or would be naturally residing within. Or in other words, when we react we get emotional, i.e. we produce disharmonious ‘feelings’ that would not be part of us without the reaction in the first place. In contrast, a feeling that naturally belongs to our inner or essence is present without any reaction and doesn´t create any emotional or physiological disharmony.

163. “But if we refuse to listen to the internal chatter, and allow ourselves to feel and express our natural love, understanding, patience and acceptance of others and ourselves, we can send beneficial effects flowing throughout our physiology.” When I read this paragraph I realised we have a choice. This is huge!

164. We may not be able to instantly escape or change the world we live in but we definitely are the masters of the world that lives within us. Our relationship with life is solely built on our internal processes, attitude, perceptions, etc, it is not dominated by the outer although we may experience it this way but that already is part of us creating the life around us; simply said we only see what we want to see. The change starts within before any true change on the outside can occur.

     1. “We may not be able to instantly escape or change the world we live in but we definitely are the masters of the world that lives within us.” Very true and beautiful words Alex.

     2. Well said Alex, we are indeed masters of our internal world and this definitely affects the relationship we have with the outer world and how we perceive things to be.
        “Our relationship with life is solely built on our internal processes, attitude, perceptions, etc, it is not dominated by the outer although we may experience it this way but that already is part of us creating the life around us; simply said we only see what we want to see”.

165. Another brilliant and very informative article on a subject matter that each and every one of us can relate to and you sum it up perfectly “We are our own worst enemies. We make ourselves sick. And we can also be our own greatest friends, and bring ourselves back to true health.”

166. When we begin to ‘clock’ that internal chatter that sets up the stresses, we can see how much a part of us loves the drama of it all. Yesterday when I awoke I knew my work day was going to be very busy and immediately went into feeling I would not be able to cope. As soon as I observed this I changed my movements and was super gentle and present with myself. This worked, yet I could feel many moments when those thoughts were trying to get in again and how continually present I had to be with myself to avoid dropping into the old pattern of stress. Most definitely a loving work in progress for me, but one that is so worthwhile.

167. Dianne, thank you for this amazing blog. Most of us are continually looking outside ourselves to define who we are and using comparison and jealousy as a tool to this end. We also continually look outside ourselves for solutions to our stresses yet as you share ‘we react physiologically to our own thoughts and emotions’ thus are setting ourselves up for a fall. I love how you bring it all back to changing the way we react by refusing to listen to that internal chatter – so much more empowering than allowing those negative thoughts to run and run.

168. Very informative blog Dianne, how we cause our own stresses, and anxiety and how we can come out of it as quickly as we go into it. We harm our own bodies through the unnecessary thoughts and worries we create in our own heads.

169. I had a busy week at work last week and was seeing a family at home and organising a few things that were needed and relying on another service as well, which was taking some time, longer than expected. As a result, one of the family were ringing me constantly to ask about things. What was interesting was my reaction, and it was a reaction. My mind was going over things, creating ideas about the way things should be and judging how things weren’t and I could feel the tension this was creating in my body. As a result today I am exhausted. I have slept and rested, but boy did it knock me for a six. The other really super interesting thing about this situation, is when I went back to the family yesterday after my reaction, there was no truth in any of the thoughts that I had. So I was creating “what if’s”, winding myself up, just so that I could ‘wind myself up’, with no benefit whatsoever to anyone, especially myself.

     1. A perfect example Jennifer of the depleting and poisonous affects of reacting on our body and mind. I feel like I’ve been in a boxing ring being pummelled and left emotionally black and blue. We can never underestimate or should not ignore what happens to us on every level when we react.

170. I loved reading this again Dianne. It offers such an empowering insight of how we essentially are the masters of our state of being through what we choose. And that our true state of being is always awaiting to be lived and embodied whenever we surrender to the wisdom of our Love within. It is only us that chooses otherwise, by getting caught up in the tricks of our mind, that internal chatter that serves only to keep us from living in the true power of our Love, who we naturally are.

171. What an awesome blog, Dianne – really interesting to learn more about how the body works. And interesting, how we choose to react has a direct impact on whether or not we’ll be stressed out, for example. And that’s a choice. So impactful.

172. We create our own stress – what a bomb to drop Dianne, but a very necessary one! Ultimately we are responsible for whether we respond (with love and understanding) or react (with stress) to life, others and ourselves. Great article in its laying out of the mechanisms and origins of stress and ill-being.

173. This is a brilliant article, you lay it out so simply Dianne in a way that’s inspiring and empowering. I love your writing.

174. “The science of psycho-neuro-immunology has been showing us a lot about ourselves – that we already know from our own bodies and life experience” Yes, awareness allows us to feel what is true, we then have a choice whether we will listen or not.

175. Imagine if we traded the negative talk for loving appreciation of ourselves and others? We would see a massive increase in our general health and wellbeing. Thank you Dianne for another great article.

176. I have heard of psycho-neuro-immunology but do not know much about it. Our bodies our fascinating and so magical. So much happens within constantly and consistently without us even knowing. Years ago when I studied anatomy and physiology this became clear to me and I had a deep love for the lymphatic system and how it works. This whole system and process where cells go around the body clearing debris up. AMAZING!
     This proves that how we live affects our health ‘stress suppresses our immune system’s killer cells – we are therefore more susceptible to cancer and other diseases. Stress also tires out the systems that produce the hormones – like the adrenals – leading to exhaustion’. Universal Medicine and the Sacred Esoteric Healing modalities that Serge Benhayon holds and has brought through are from what I know and have felt the only true way old ingrained patterns, ideals, beliefs and even thoughts can be cleared giving the person and body a chance to re-imprint what is natural to their body which is love, harmony, joy, stillness and truth. Currently the world does not reflect and support us to live this way so it is a blessing that Universal Medicine and the Sacred Esoteric Healing modalities bringing this through for humanity so we can start to come back to our natural way of being and living.

177. I’m much less tolerant of the banter that used to make up a good portion of the chat I had with friends, those friendly put downs that came at one another constantly And reading this piece I can see how harmful they are, because the negative comment, said in jest or not sticks, I know it sticks because I still remember hurtful banter I heard ten years ago, and it knocks you down. So it pays to build relationships where banter isn’t a big part of your relationship, because it’s actually harming our bodies. Sounds extreme, but I would challenge anyone to see how many comments that were negative banter that they can recall from their life experiences and really look at how it has influenced how they feel about themselves.

178. It is easy to use nervous tension and energy to drive oneself in life and get things done, so much so we don’t know how to be in life with our body in harmony and balanced.

179. ‘ I learned how to become aware of when I was racy and ahead of myself, then to stop and breathe gently.’ When there is stress in our lives it is very common for us to act in this way, as if trying to escape the stress but ironically making it more intense. Bringing awareness to how we are moving in this way is super supportive because we can feel how it is taking us away from ourselves and the present moment and our connection with other people and, of course, ourselves. Sometimes it takes another to point this out to us because the habit has become so ingrained. This person is our true friend, because if we are honest enough to recognise the truth we can put ourselves on the road to recovering our stillness and joy again, leaving the stress and raciness behind.

180. Goodness, if there is any chance this is true, which from my experience it is, then we must be so aware of the thoughts that pass through our heads. They have the power to harm us if we indulge them. Building a body that is treated tenderly and with care and attention to detail will feed us a different experience so we indulge those negative and self-abusive thoughts less because we will actually notice them as abusive and negative. This is good medicine.

181. “Three important regions of the brain are affected by stress hormones, and those brain regions are important for memory, learning, dealing with life, thinking, making sense of the world, fear, emotion, fight and flight” This makes so much sense as when I am stressed thinking everything gets a bit blurry including that I forget things, or don’t think of things just in the right moment – something that happens when I am not stressed naturally. Another reason to not go into stress.

182. I definitely agree with you here – “One of the worst forms of stress (in my humble opinion) is negative internal talk, about others and about oneself.”. We can either live in appreciation of others and ourselves and in doing so open ourselves up to life and all it brings, or we can live with judgment and criticism and close ourselves down. The choice is ours, however, it is our bodies that end up living with the end result of our choices.

183. Wise words from a wise woman Dianne, I love how you have described the physiology of how negative thoughts cause stress. Many of us for the most part have this internal dialogue running 24/7 without us even being barely aware of it. It has just become the background chatter to our day but meanwhile it eats away at us and erodes our sense of self worth and indeed, the worth of others. This is why appreciation is so important, for it is the fire that burns away all that is not love so that only love can be lived in its place. We are so vastly much more than we give ourselves credit for and this flame needs to be rekindled from within.

184. A very very pertinent article to read this morning, thank you Dianne. Those pesky little thoughts can be so so subtle and yet play havoc on our entire system with fight or flight becoming our normal, even though it’s very abnormal, way. It becomes an addiction, something we default back on because it’s been a way to get by, and a way we recognise ourselves as well.

185. “One of the worst forms of stress (in my humble opinion) is negative internal talk, about others and about oneself.” I totally agree, Dianne, negative internal talk is so destructive and you have here explained in clear, layman’s terms its disruptive impact upon the functioning of the body.

     1. Definitely! “…and our body wilts like a mistreated plant” – that really hit home for me. All the internal chatter actually does have a huge effect on the body.

186. It makes no sense that we attack our own bodies through living in a way that is purely our own own created reality, rather than living in the understanding and truth of life.

187. I love this blog, there were so many parts I wanted to copy and comment on but I have chosen this one in the end “Ultimately it is we who choose to get or stay angry, sad, impatient, frustrated, worried, scared…. and it’s thus we ourselves who can change it.” We have the power to change our stress response and this has the power to change our physical and our mental health. This is huge.

188. I love this image of the nervous system, the immune system and the hormone system all sitting round a table assessing how well we are treating ourselves and giving some health tips on what works and what does not work. Imagine if we took a moment to listen!

189. Reactions are so habitual that it’s almost difficult to see them for what they are, especially when we are busily looking outside ourselves for the cause of our stress! I am realising how often I am putting my body into a reaction, simply out of habit. The more I catch this happening, break down what it feels like and why I am doing it, the more I am able to stop the reaction. It’s quite an experiment.

190. Reading that stress creates a physiological feedback loop makes sense and highlights the need for us to have moments to stop and break that cycle. If that pattern becomes our norm, we need to introduce a new norm such as how the body feels with the gentle breath. This norm puts the body at ease and with all systems working in union.

191. Diane this is GOLD and a great reminder for me today: “The bit about “changing the way we react” is super important. We tend to think stress comes from outside and the blame lies with someone else or some situation beyond our control. But the biggest form of stress is how we ourselves react to the situations and people that we say ’cause us stress’. Ultimately it is we who choose to get or stay angry, sad, impatient, frustrated, worried, scared…. and it’s thus we ourselves who can change it.”

192. “BUT … we react physiologically to our own thoughts and emotions! Our brains hear all the internal talk, and think it’s true, and obediently initiate the stress reactions through the hormone, nervous and immune systems. Snap! We express fear, hate, loathing, disappointment, self-negation, etc., and our body wilts like a mistreated plant.”
     Wow, this is enormous. We think all that we are thinking and let run through our head is simply that, but what you say here Dianne is, that our body actually obeys to all of that and sets into motion what is needed to face these different scenarios. So we are bringing all these horrible and unnecessary situations upon us and our bodies have to act accordingly. No wonder exhaustion and illness and disease is so prevalent in our world.

193. ‘We are our own worst enemies. We make ourselves sick. And we can also be our own greatest friends, and bring ourselves back to true health.’ I have been growing a very loving relationship with myself for some years now and can definitely say I am my own best friend however there is still such a long way to go if I want to let go of every thing that gets in the way of my living from soul. This I am now appreciating instead of lamenting or berating myself for. My attitude is in direct relationship with the presentations and workshops I have attended with Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine and with the work I have committed to and choose to make part of my daily life, work that allows me more joy and vitality and harmony in my body.

194. A superb explanation and companion in understanding how our bodies register, process and respond to my reactions Dianne. Our connection with the universe is contained in these words. Amazing and deeply humbling.

195. “we react physiologically to our own thoughts and emotions!” this is so significant, the fact that we can drive our physiology through the pictures in our brain, is truly phenomenal.

196. This is exactly what I have felt to more consciously work on over the last few days … the internal negative chatter in the background. As you say I can feel how over the years through not addressing it, an energetic groove has been made where this has continually on some level been playing. So it’s time to heal and clear this groove. ‘So, once we start down the stress and emotional reaction path, we keep feeding it, making it worse, ‘deepening the groove’. Then it’s difficult to get out of that vicious cycle. We basically program ourselves to be and remain stressed. So it’s necessary to put some work and commitment into changing the way we react to situations and people and to ourselves.’

     A great read that I am sure everyone at some point can relate to, it also highlights how damaging stress is for our bodies and stress these days is huge! Got to do more, push ourselves, strive, stress of work, jobs, bills, making ends meet. So we can change this, it is just consciously making the effort and if needed finding true support to help us do this.

197. “The science of psycho-neuro-immunology has been showing us a lot about ourselves – that we already know from our own bodies and life experience” This is extremely worth keeping at the forefront of our awareness – that in fact our bodies know things that science has yet to find the equipment to measure. We are capable of knowing and experiencing these as real, with out the measurement of them.

198. I know there are still times when I create stress in my life just to get me going and not feel just how exhausted I am really am. Thank you for reminding me just how damaging this pattern is to my body and the awful reflection this is for everyone else.

199. This is absolutely true. It is our reactions that cause the stress in our bodies. For instance, when I moved house, I felt overwhelmed and stressed, I got everything done but it was exhausting and it took ages to recover. When a family member moved, he got stressed and was swamped with work so I offered to arrange it all and I did it easily, without stress and without exhaustion. It was so interesting to me that the only difference was my emotional involvement.

200. While we may know it, your blog really spells out that we are the instigators of our own stress and therefore have the potential to make ourselves ill if we chose to run with it. When I read your blog Dianne it made perfect sense and it was very healing to read it again, as I chose to react and get frustrated yesterday. The first thing I did was blame the situation and other people, and in doing so continued the internal chatter throughout the day, even though I didn’t like it and it felt uncomfortable in my body. The great thing is I am catching the frustration much quicker these days, but I have yet to stop it before it takes hold. I am learning that the frustration does not start at the moment I think it does and to back track it to its source which can be the day before.

201. It is so important for us to realise that it is our perception and reaction to what is going on in the world that is such a trigger for stress reactions in us all. I love Diane how you present that we have a choice to indulge, and even generate more stress for ourselves by our negative self talk.

202. This holds so many great reminders for me. I find the less I react the more aware I am that a reaction is happening and I can do something about it – before it felt like just one big continual series of reactions. It’s very true that taking responsibility for our reactions is the key to managing and eliminating stress.

203. “Ultimately it is we who choose to get or stay angry, sad, impatient, frustrated, worried, scared…. and it’s thus we ourselves who can change it.” I was caught in this loop this weekend, i got angry and struggled to break it until i expressed my truth to my husband. Once I expressed I could feel the anger fading. So holding back was fuelling the reaction of anger I was in.

204. “But if we refuse to listen to the internal chatter, and allow ourselves to feel and express our natural love, understanding, patience and acceptance of others and ourselves, we can send beneficial effects flowing throughout our physiology.” Thank you Dianne – the perfect antidote to the negative self talk.

205. I love the fact that the body’s systems communicate to each other as one giant co-existing organism. It’s just strange that the head seems to often think it is divorced from the rest of the body until something goes wrong and then it realises that we are actually designed to live with and from the body!

206. Such a beautiful read Dianne, and a very important point you raise about stress and tension, as we can all relate to going into it regularly. Recently I have started doing what I call, full stop moments, where I will have a thought, but I just stick with what’s there to be felt and not go with what my eyes might be seeing and into some story or emotion around what was first seen. For example, when I get out of the shower and I look at my body, I can see all of my body but instead of going into the usual judgements, I allow myself to just look at my body with my feelings, and then there’s the full stop. I don’t allow myself to go any further into any sort of judgement and just stay with how I feel in my body. This has started bringing a true appreciation for my body more, for its divine function, and not from what I think it is lacking. The appreciation stops me from going into any negative thoughts and instead, leaves me feeling very lovely in my body.

207. ‘ to stop and breathe gently. This helps me to feel my whole body and listen to the wise things it has to say.’ This is so true, unlimited wisdom comes from our body, as you say Dianne, it is a process of ongoing growing awareness and listening. Definitely worth the effort.

208. I still have stress in my life. I still have internal chatter. But boy-oh-boy is it so much less than it used to be. And this is entirely due to the multiple changes that I have made to my life inspired by Universal Medicine and the steady rhythm that I am building every day. Only yesterday I was talking with my wife about everything that is going on in my and our lives and was marvelling at how “un-buzzed” I was managing to remain. It’s super cool to stop and appreciate this. Definitely not perfect – but wow – pretty cool! I have so much appreciation for all that I have been shown and all that I have seen.

209. Hi Dianne – thank you for this brilliant blog. Is it possible that we actually prefer to feed the stress and keep ourselves in that groove, rather than feel the exhaustion and damage that the stress is causing? I see so many people who are creating something out of nothing just to keep themselves on that hamster wheel of stress.

210. When we feel we have gotten past the point of no return, this proposal of stopping and breathing our own breath can seem utterly impossible. But, in truth it really is only a step away, even if that means practicing over and over again every day for however it long it takes. In my experience, no matter how far I’ve gone down the stress road, I know for a fact that the moment I decide I don’t want to live in that anymore, I open up an extra bit of space that I had chosen not to feel, but has been there waiting for me. Everything is a work in progress.

211. Lately I have been experiencing a sense that my reactions in life are outdated, as if I am panicking and in fear of being harmed, when if I look around me nothing is happening to the extremes on the level that my mind it making the present moment to be. When I hold onto past reactions it prevents me from being aware of what I am feeling in the moment; using the blanket approach of falling back onto old patterns to numb how I feel just isn’t working anymore because through and with the support of Universal Medicine I have learnt, and am still learning, that my feelings can be read and responded to differently, rather than reacting to them with this notion that now will be the same situation as when previously experiencing these feelings, which hurts me and everyone else.

212. Oh my goodness I can feel I will be back to read and re-read this. I find your comment about the internal talk an important one, because if we believe this internal chatter and all the put-downs and lower our self-esteem, then we ‘do’ and ‘do’ some more in order to make up for our perceived lack of being good enough. The stress of constantly trying to prove our worth is exhausting and poison to a soul that already knows it is everything it needs to be by just being itself and feeling its place as part of the whole.

213. Dianne- I loved your simplicity in explaining what happens when we are stressed, and how we have a choice to react or not. In reaction we create dis-ease, such as exhaustion. A great reminder to listen to our body instead.

214. I too have found that following the internal negative chatter is when stress and ill health arises more and more, which in turn buries my awareness of feeling how making such a choice to follow those thoughts actually feels to my body. Reacting to our own choices I would say is the biggest cause of and biggest form of self-harm. But when we listen to the body it is impossible to harm ourselves but be open to understanding what is going on around and within us and others.

215. I totally get that when I react, I make myself sick! It is exhausting for the body and so unnatural. Education needs to be full of these revelations about our bodies and our responsibility for them.

216. When I read about how much of an impact stress has on the body it concerns me that very little is done in our school systems to support children to live in a way that understands how to support yourself with stress. In fact most teachers live in a constant state of stress( this is not a criticism of them) and the current education induces stress in some instances kids are getting Post Traumatic Syndrome from going to school. Something is really out of order with our education system.

217. A beautiful reminder to drop the internal critical self chatter and return to the feeling the body and the truth of who we are.

218. ‘the biggest form of stress is how we ourselves react to the situations and people that we say ’cause us stress’

     Lately I’ve found myself wondering how to cut out areas of my life I’m finding challenging. But I know this to be false because whenever I’ve had no stresses in my day – or none of the usual ones like deadlines, workload, financial troubles etc. I still get stressed. So it must be how I’m living that I’m reacting to life in a certain way, no matter what life is happening around me – whether it’s generally considered to be understandably stressful or considered plain sailing and I’m still feeling a tension. I can see how I’ve lived life not from my essence and this is the stress I can feel. So I’m inspired to commit even more to being me no matter how much I feel the tug to leave my connection with me and God.

219. There were definitely times in my life where negative self talk was constant, I am no where near as bad now, but can very quickly go into self doubt and questioning. I was constantly drained and tired and struggled with my immune system. I have also seen with family members who have diabetes, the impact of stress on the blood sugar levels going crazy.

220. Dianne, I love how you have made it so clear that the negative mental thoughts we can have are ones that majorly contribute to stress levels and make us feel pretty awful! Thoughts like that can be very damaging to us on all levels – as you have said, thoughts like that are actually no different to someone saying such things to us. The body actually registers it in the same way! So putting a stop to such thoughts is paramount.

     Years ago, at one period of time, when I found myself having lots of negative thoughts, I had a reminder Post It note on my fridge that helped me address these negative thoughts. It said: :”that is not Love (as in the thought is not loving and does not come from a point of love) but I am love and I choose love”. It was my way of grabbing a thought that was not supportive, and saying clearly to myself that I have a choice to say NO to that which is not loving and not supporting me, and instead I have a choice to recognise that I am love and I can choose loving thoughts.

     In the beginning I had to do this all the time as the negative thoughts were rife, but over time the more I nailed them and reminded myself that I come from a space that is loving and supportive, then the less I had these thoughts and wow that made a difference. I still can catch myself thinking in a way that is not loving, but as soon as I bring awareness to this, I have found that if I shift my posture or the way I move, in addition to what I have shared above, then those thoughts just go away. Pretty cool!

     1. This is a great technique. I have also come to realise that it’s important to understand our behaviours and call them out, including our thoughts, and let them go no further into our bodies than our minds, for there we can call them out and lay them to rest. Once we’ve allowed them further into our bodies the damage becomes much worse.

221. Dianne, this is GOLD: “We are our own worst enemies. We make ourselves sick. And we can also be our own greatest friends, and bring ourselves back to true health.”

222. Negative internal talk has been a stress point for me for most of my life. Since working with Universal Medicine this has almost totally diminished, and what a blessing it is to live without that stress.

223. I agree Dianne, negative internal talk about others and about oneself is not only stressful but is exhausting and in the process you miss out on life. Living in comparison and/or jealousy is living in a constant reaction and is a rejection of ourselves and others..

224. Reactions are like a big game of domino towers it can go on and on until someone chooses to create a gap and stop the sequence.

225. I have discovered observing the reaction to be truly supportive; if I go to say or think something, simply not saying it is a great start to bring an ending to this cycle of reaction.

226. Great support Dianne of how coming back to how our bodies feel is the true medicine we need to nourish us.

227. “We express fear, hate, loathing, disappointment, self-negation, etc., and our body wilts like a mistreated plant.” I love this, or at least I don’t love it because it is painful to consider the power we have with our thoughts. Yet your last few lines about having the power to be our own worst enemies or our own greatest friends inspires a change of approach and is very empowering.

228. “One of the worst things about stress reactions is that the relevant body systems work in a feedback loop that can keep itself going, even when no longer needed. So, once we start down the stress and emotional reaction path, we keep feeding it, making it worse, deepening the groove”.
     I found what you have written here Dianne very revealing and interesting and I agree we are our own worst enemies in staying in the groove. As you pointed out it is up to us to be self loving and responsible and choose true health.

229. There is always the option to stay in the conflict and waste energy feeding it or to move on and find a harmonious way through.

230. I love this article. It’s medicine to read. I’ve had a few internal negative thoughts along the lines that I can never not make a mistake – the I always stuff up kind and physiological reactions that were way beyond fitting the crime. And then a whole barrage of comparison which was just yuck. So, time to stop and begin with just being there for myself especially as I’m committing more than I’ve ever done and with this comes adjustments and slips. Time to stop and allow my body to come back to itself.

231. Very interesting to read about our own internal thoughts triggering reactions within ourselves and confirms how we are then able to create our own realities around ourselves and others which then create situations that are not even true. So then I wonder what if we are in a disagreement / argument are we even arguing about?? Amazing read, Dianne, thank you.

232. As I lie here with a lung infection I can feel the truth of these words. I reacted and got stressed about a situation and my health went down hill.

233. I know that I hurt myself so much more with the reaction I have to things. It is more harmful than the thing itself that I have reacted to. For example, if I bump into something, yes this hurts, but it is possible to speak to myself lovingly and recover pretty fast. However, if I go into reaction, blaming myself and blaming the door, grumbling about the pain and magnifying the whole episode I cause myself far much more damage than the initial event contained. We are indeed the creators of our own misery.

234. I love your expression “deepening the groove” when it comes to being in a momentum that is seemingly difficult to arrest – but it is possible, as you have shown; it takes awareness and the willingness to not let this raciness and anxiety be our normal.

235. With the knowledge that stress affects three areas of the brain, which are important for memory, learning, dealing with life, thinking, making sense of the world, fear, emotion, fight and flight…. wouldn’t we want to do everything possible to avoid stress?
     As an intelligent species, it seems that perhaps we are missing something major here as everyone seems to be stressed these days.

236. Sometimes we can fall into the idea that illness and disease is primarily about something physical (ie genetics, exposure to germs, chemicals, smoking, alcohol, physical injury etc) – often with the thought that illness and disease is something that happens ‘to’ us but that perhaps we’re not responsible for. However there’s more and more research that clearly shows that stress and lifestyle factors also have a large impact on illness and disease. What I love about this article is that this is not airy fairy but practical sound science.

237. Dianne I love how you break down science into something so simple to understand and you also explain the magic of the human body very well. I used to suffer from chronic anxiety and stress and used to believe it was always something outside of me causing it and that there was not much I could do about it. To understand as you say that we have a choice in every moment how we respond or react to any given situation was a game changer for me and has led to vastly reduced levels of stress and anxiety in my life.

238. What is it about internal chatter that has become such a massive part of our lives? Thank you for bringing this up Dianne, as we tend to not want to go there – but really internal chatter happens all the time and most of the time it is negative or very heavy and is exactly what is needed to stop us being aware and in the moment. I’ve come to the point where I have started to observe the internal chatter rather than absorb it, and if any thought comes in, I can simply say ‘no that isn’t me’ and start to bring myself back. But it takes us all to start saying ‘no’ to these thoughts to change this pattern and essentially support each other to not be anxious or negative.

239. I love what is shared here. I have recently been exploring the hardness I have towards myself and it has been an eye opening experience. Who knew I was so mean to myself! The way I heard myself talk to myself was at times truly awful. Since then I have deepened my appreciation of myself and this is actually cancelling out and healing this hardness, because when I stop and feel my gorgeousness the ‘negative self talk’ has no place, and frankly it sounds really weird and doesn’t fit with who I know myself to be at my very core.

240. Thank you Dianne, I’m going to make a point of re-reading this blog regularly, as I quite often let my mind take me on a trip.

241. Yesterday I absolutely allowed myself to react to a situation and someone. It was awful and my body is paying the price, I can feel the damaging effects. What is worse is that at the time I could feel the tension building, I knew my choices weren’t supportive of staying removed from the circus being played out but I thought I had it under control. The truth is once you’ve even allowed the thought in, you are no longer in control, and this is where our responsibility lies, to stop at the thought process and not let it run any further, what so ever.

242. What stood out to me this morning when I read this blog is the impact stress has on our whole body and we often tend to blame factors from outside of us for our internal stress. I know for me taking responsibility for my reactions by choosing to feel what I am really reacting to rather than reacting and going into anger aggression and sarcasm as my main coping mechanisms has been huge. I now realise I have a choice to feel it and let it go or react. Appropriate communication is new for me too expressing from my inner heart not from reaction supports with resolving conflict before it manifests into an issue.

243. I recently observed a great example of the effect of two people reacting to a certain situation, seeing how this reaction caused them to lose their connection to themselves, resulting in all common sense going out the window, which then rippled on out to the person who they felt was responsible, but wasn’t, in bucket loads of blame. There was not one ounce of reason left in them just the overriding need to be proved right and with the effects so obvious in their bodies, their faces, they way they talked and the way they walked; not at all wonderful to watch but such a valuable lesson in the destructive power of reaction.

244. How true this is Dianne –
     “We are our own worst enemies. We make ourselves sick. And we can also be our own greatest friends, and bring ourselves back to true health”.
     Recently putting myself under stress in an unfamiliar situation, I defaulted to an old way of coping to push through. Not a great choice – it caused my nervous system to be very agitated until I stopped and returned back to connecting with my breath and inner stillness.

245. Absolutely brilliant Dianne. This is golden and so timely for me and probably many of us in the world…now l realise how all those endless lists of affirmations were just a waste of paper and time. What a revelation. Dianne you teach us a new way and you guide our steps.

246. I had never considered negative self talk to be stress, but it’s a wonderful revelation that supports me to choose to give it no further energy, so my body doesn’t then respond to what’s real but isn’t true! One thought loop I no longer think I have to give energy to is the world being bigger and badder than myself, which requires me to be hyper alert 24/7, never make a mistake because mistakes could be my downfall and cost me my job, etc. I’m getting that the world is the world but my responses are up to me: I do not have to be stressed.

247. ‘Stress suppresses our immune system’s killer cells’. That sentence just gave me pause to stop… we absolutely control how much or how little stress we have in our lives, and therefore on a terribly basic logic, we have a huge impact on our health from the choices we make. We certainly do not tend to live like that!

248. “We are our own worst enemies.” This is so true, we make ourselves sick with the way we are with ourselves. The other day during my exams I noticed my biggest stressor was how I was putting so much pressure on myself with critical thoughts. That is really an eye opener as when aware of this the way forward is really clear – to be self loving and self caring and with that also appreciative in my thoughts.

249. I have spent a lifetime reacting to others, but thankfullly I am learning, thanks to the teachings of Serge Benhayon that this does not have to be how it is. I am learning that if something comes towards me that does not feel good, first of all I have to be aware of it and that means living in way that supports me to always know where I am and being present with what I am doing. In that moment, I can consciously stop and not allow what ever it is to potentially hurt me, but instead feel the truth of it and respond in a way that reflects to the other what they are doing or saying to potentially offer them a stop moment too.

250. Dianne a gem of a piece, it is amazing. Your sharing in understanding how stress effects different systems of our body, and then how we behave with the choices we make. How our own comparison, jealousy, leads to stress which causes reactions and we often blame others rather than looking within our selves first.

251. This is gold Dianne, I have experienced this a lot in my life, the negative self talk, the raciness. Feeling what impact that has had on my body has been very exposing and quite devastating. Namely because, I have been the one doing this to myself. I only wish I had greater understanding at a younger age, awareness of the downstream impacts of continually comparing myself to others and not feeling like i was enough. This is all a very different story now, thanks also to the amazing work of the ageless wisdom, Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine therapies. Life now, is 100% different.

252. Very insightful Dianne, loved to read this blog today. I totally and completely agree that we are our own worst enemies and that one of the worst forms of stress is negative internal talk. I have come to realise I was an expert on self-bashing, and was so hard on myself if I felt I got something wrong….and if others wronged me or hurt me, they did not get a second chance, I closed my heart to them, not realizing that closing my heart to one person also meant closing my heart to everyone…. Today, my body is still clearing and releasing this hardness through my commitment and dedication to healing my ‘ old ways’. My new way forward is to be my own best friend and love her dearly…

253. Dianne you wrote: “One of the worst forms of stress (in my humble opinion) is negative internal talk, about others and about oneself.” That is really an interesting point to ponder on as it seems that it is for most people very normal to have this negative internal talk and because it is so normal we don’t think about it in a deeper way. Thank you for exposing this important fact.

254. We think our thoughts have no harm in them because they are ours and as long as we do not act on them, no one knows. But as this blog demonstrates beautifully, we know, and our body responds as if what we think is reality. We can do far more harm to ourselves than anyone else.

     1. I agree Naren, through our choices we harm ourselves, it is ourselves who choose to stay in contraction ( shut down) in protection and hiding from life ( my old life) or to embrace and commit to life and heal our old ways with each choice we make impacting or reinforcing one or the other.

     2. When we stop to truly consider this, it is enormous. Our thoughts come from an energy too, they are not our own, as much as we would like to believe that they are, so we do need to be very discerning of them, otherwise we may well be leading ourselves down a path that we don’t really want to be going down.

255. Hello Dianne before I have read your awesome blog I was not aware of the fact that: “One of the worst things about stress reactions is that the relevant body systems work in a feedback loop that can keep itself going, even when no longer needed.” That is a important information as it gave me a deeper understanding why it is so exhausting to be stressed.

256. I totally am my own worst enemy at times, my internal chatter, if I let my awareness slip, can run amok reducing me to a stress merchant far removed from the present with my mind racing off like a formula one car. Its great to read a bit more about why this happens and as a reminder of how to come back from it or avoid it in the first place.

257. I love coming back to re-read this blog. Such an important reminder of the very real effects of the choices we make when deciding to deal with what happens in our lives.

258. Every re-action we have registers itself in the body. The more I get to know what I feel like not in any re-action, the more I get to feel which parts of my body are affected when I do re-act.

259. I am back at this blog and appreciating the way in which my body works tirelessly to support me. I can honour the part it plays to do so or I can disregard this exquisite offering which I do when I fail to appreciate and respect every aspect of this vehicle that I express my life through.

260. This is such an awesome blog Dianne. Learning that is so practical and supportive and leads us to our true intelligence, our bodies. I love it, thank you!

261. It is very humbling to read how stress affects the different systems of our body. It shows me just how much of an impact I can have on myself, both short and long term, when I choose to not be careful and allow stress to take over.

262. “…we can also be our own greatest friends, and bring ourselves back to true health” These are such wise words. I often forget that bringing myself to health is not about struggling against that which is not working by fighting against it. It is about enjoying me as my own best friend.

263. Indeed we can turn things around very easily and instead of being our worst enemy we can be our greatest friend, just by committing to the best of our ability to connect and honour our bodies. It doesn’t have to be something big, but it is the consistency of taking more care and being more loving with ourselves that will bring more joy to our lives.

264. Dianne, you have presented such a fascinating in depth look at the body’s response to stress, making so much sense of the impact it had on my life and health, ‘deepening the groove’ as I became more and more stuck in the stress/reaction cycle. But to realise that it was my choice as to how to react to the stress that got me seemingly stuck in the groove, and that conversely my next choice can begin to get me out of the groove, is a liberating and definitely life changing revelation.

265. Fascinating information about the intricacy and the magic of how our body operates involuntarily. This makes so much sense of how our normal approach of dealing with stress will never catch up or bring true healing to it, but it requires arresting and changing of the energy.

266. Thank you Dianne, this is a great reflection showing us how our reactions to others, things and life really does make us sick and hurts our bodies so much we don’t want to feel it. We mostly live in a world today based on emotions and nervous energy and this highlights why we are all so sick with stress, illness and disease out of control. We are our own worst enemies. But you also show how we can also be our own greatest friends, and bring ourselves back to true health. Inspiring and beautiful to feel.

267. If we blame someone or something else for making us get stressed then we leave ourselves stuck in it and don’t recognise that really the choice to be stressed or not is down to us.

268. We can choose health and well-being or illness and self-destruction, and our choice impacts everyone around us, ‘if we refuse to listen to the internal chatter, and allow ourselves to feel and express our natural love, understanding, patience and acceptance of others and ourselves, we can send beneficial effects flowing throughout our physiology.’

269. I am realising more and more that what makes the difference is me actually making the necessary changes. I can have have all the knowledge in the world, I can even call out that which is not true but the real changes come about when I put into practice re-imprinting those behaviours that are not supporting me.

270. I totally agree Dianne, “..One of the worst forms of stress (in my humble opinion) is negative internal talk, about others and about oneself.” – this negative chatter, if left unchecked, is totally debilitating – a direct attack on ourselves, not only emotionally and psychologically, but also directly affecting our physiology.

271. Wowsers Dianne, thank you for totally turning the popular notion of stress on its head – stress is not something that is done to us, it is a choice – it is a result of how we choose to react to a situation, and how long we decide to hang onto that reaction. This is huge!

272. Understanding how toxic we can be to ourselves and how much that affects how we view everything else, is a massive step towards accepting responsibility for our own healing.

273. ‘… once we start down the stress and emotional reaction path, we keep feeding it, making it worse, ‘deepening the groove’. Then it’s difficult to get out of that vicious cycle. We basically program ourselves to be and remain stressed. So it’s necessary to put some work and commitment into changing the way we react to situations and people and to ourselves.’ A very important point Dianne. It’s like history that repeats itself.

274. It is very interesting to read here how stress affects our abilities in ‘memory, learning, dealing with life, thinking, making sense of the world, fear, emotion, fight and flight’ because when I look at how stressful for example school can be not only for the students but the teachers as well, no wonder we get so exhausted.

275. Negative internal talk can be very damaging indeed. I can appreciate that you have mentioned this Diane because, in the end, so many of us are not even necessarily aware of this talk going on at all in our heads. And then if we are aware of this talk then we think there is nothing we can do about it. What you have presented is the fact that we actually do have a choice – and though we may have tread that same path over and over again and made such choices rather ingrained (such as negative talk), there is a way out of it if we really want to stop it and really want to make a change. No different to making dietary changes or to try to stop swearing if you have been in the habit of swearing before! It feels a little awkward and strange at fist but then the more you sit with it and allow it to unfold, then you get the opportunity to re-imprint things.

276. Diane, I love how you have said we can be our own worst enemy or our own best friend!

277. Dianne, I love how you bring the scientific knowledge and the energetic qualities together, the perfect balance for true medicine. They can both support each other.

278. I have also noticed this, stress makes the body very uncomfortable and tight and I can often get an acidic feeling, as though there is a corrosive process happening.

279. Dianne – when you write about “negative internal talk” I picture a whole army of parasites and featureless grubs eating away at my insides. It’s like dry rot, or wood worm – both of which are invisible on the outside and often are only detected when the wood has become so rotten that the structure collapses. Super true words – thank you Dianne for your wisdom.

280. Each hurt is a result of us and our choices. Ouch! What a great reminder about our own levels of responsibility that we choose to ignore.

281. How easy it is to blame the world for our problems, yet what I find stunning about this article Dianne is it shows us scientifically what the problem really is. Us and our choices on how we react or how we live, we are the ones that make ourselves sick not anyone else. We choose to react, but why? We are solely responsible for everything that happens to us. How empowering yet how opposite is this to life today.

282. How many of us can relate with negative internal talk, ‘about others and about oneself. It usually comes from comparison and/or jealousy. Things like: I’m no good. I can’t do that. She’s pathetic. They cheated me. I always stuff it up,’ etcetera. This internal ‘chatter’ is a stress that has detrimental effects on the body, so learning to love, appreciate, and accept ourselves is vital for our health, ‘if we refuse to listen to the internal chatter, and allow ourselves to feel and express our natural love, understanding, patience and acceptance of others and ourselves, we can send beneficial effects flowing throughout our physiology.’

283. It is always a choice, we can go into reaction and stress, or choose not to, ten plus years ago I would have almost always have automatically gone into reaction, now I feel empowered by having these new skills and choosing not to go into reaction.
     ‘the biggest form of stress is how we ourselves react to the situations and people that we say ’cause us stress’. Ultimately it is we who choose to get or stay angry, sad, impatient, frustrated, worried, scared…. and it’s thus we ourselves who can change it.’

284. Your blog Dianne makes it very clear that the choice between health and illness rests with us – the life we live is the result of the choices we make. Stress is generated from within and not imposed from outside. This is the opposite to all we have been raised to believe but knowing the truth can be empowering for it means that the choice for change rests within us. Thanks Dianne.

285. Well said Dianne – we can be our own worst enemies – which is how many people live, knowingly indulging in that which brings us down – or we can be our own best friend if we choose to honour and respect the vehicle we live in, our body, and its guidance.

     1. Spot on Annie – we certainly know when we make choices that are supportive or make choices that are not supportive. But what drives us in this? Why make choices we know are not that good for us? Is there just a rebellious side to us all that we just have to accept? Or could it be that there is something underlying that we need to look at or feel and that something else drives us to these behaviours so as to distract us from what we really need to be looking at? What is really happening here?

286. The extent to which we can be the masters of our health is endless. We seem to set ourselves up through overthinking, comparison, jealousy, and low self worth. And in this set up, we’re actually making ourselves sick. We let stress in almost as a distraction from what else is going on. We seem to welcome hurts and hiding so that in a way we do not take responsibility for our health. But the game we play, at the end of the day, is what holds us back, and if we know there is a way to live without this, to be who we are – then why is this not the natural lived way?

287. Your blog offers the pondering, that maybe the greatest hurt experienced is that which we do/choose to do towards ourselves.

288. How many of us have blamed everything and everyone but ourselves for the stress in our lives? When we do this it can leave us immobilised, unable to deal with the stress because we think it comes from solely outside of us and thus we have no control over it. Or, we try to change everybody else, or simply leave the stressful situation. To honour ourselves in seeing the part that we play in ‘changing the way WE react’ is a major step forward in dealing with stress and one great tool of support for this is the Gentle Breath Meditation as shared by Serge Benhayon.

289. Great opportunity for me today to ask the question… “what am I choosing to hold onto, how am I choosing to abuse myself with thoughts that bear little resemblance in fact”

290. Reading your blog this morning it occurs to me that expressing from any source other than our essence is harmful for our body. At essence we are Soulful and those qualities are love, truth, joy, harmony and stillness – all beautifully described at http://www.unimedliving.com/unimedpedia/word-index. If we express from any other source that is disharmonious and stressful for our body – very simple really!

291. We choose to remain stressed! This is such a huge concept for most of us to accept. But it is also awesomely free-ing, in that, by definition, we can therefore choose not to be stressed! But it is an active choice. A choice that requires commitment and consistency because as this blog so beautifully explains to me, we get ourselves in to a groove of stress and thus seek it out to feed ourselves back. I can so recognise this in myself. I go looking for it. I create it. Even in the most subtle and seemingly minor ways I am still looking to feed that cycle. This is a brilliant blog to read and deeply consider. Thank you.

292. Thank you so much Dianne for such an easy understandable blog about our hurts through our reaction. This sentence got me: “One of the worst forms of stress (in my humble opinion) is negative internal talk, about others and about oneself.” I only can agree, as I can definitely feel how my nervous system arises in the same way as if I am in a stress reaction. That helped me to get a deeper understanding of myself and it also gave me the power to choose what I want.

293. ‘But the biggest form of stress is how we ourselves react to the situations and people that we say ’cause us stress’’. This is wisdom that needs to be shared as it will change much for us if we lovingly take responsibility for what’s going on in our life and what choice we have in living in a healthy way.

294. “But if we refuse to listen to the internal chatter, and allow ourselves to feel and express our natural love, understanding, patience and acceptance of others and ourselves, we can send beneficial effects flowing throughout our physiology.” This way of thinking is evolutionary. There is science to back it up and more to come but the truth is we all know how living expressing in this way is healing and even more so it is unifying.

295. When reading this paragraph ‘One of the worst things about stress reactions is that the relevant body systems work in a feedback loop that can keep itself going, even when no longer needed. So, once we start down the stress and emotional reaction path, we keep feeding it, making it worse, ‘deepening the groove’.
     I think of the deepening the groove part and it was explained to me really well not so long ago how the brain has a pathway, and as we do the same reaction over and over, we deepen that groove so much that we see that as the only pathway. Like a dirt road that is so overgrown on the sides with so much bush that we don’t realise and cant see that there are many other ways to get there, many other ways pathways to travel and ways to behave without the stress and emotions but we just stay on the one muddy track and the grove gets deeper and deeper and we don’t ever get out of it because we cant see our way out.

296. There is a lot of focus about ‘stress management’ and stress is seen as something out there to control, or our own responses to the stress is seen as something we need to learn to get on top of. However what is covered here is far greater than that. It is a way of living that encourages harmony within and with life where “we refuse to listen to the internal chatter, and allow ourselves to feel and express our natural love, understanding, patience and acceptance of others and ourselves.”

297. Very confirming to read this today. I recently had a reaction to something someone said to me – I could feel what was being said was something for me to learn from but the way it was delivered left me feeling judged. My body felt awful – intensely frustrated and anxious, and I had negative replaying of the conversation and the imaginary conversation I wanted to have to try to clear what had happened. All these circling thoughts did was push me deeper into the emotions I was feeling into more extreme negative thoughts and physical reactions. Fortunately I was able to stop myself by reminding myself I had a choice here to continue with this self-destructive path, or I could change the negative chatter about the other person (and myself) into appreciation. I chose the latter and instantly – and I mean instantly, the reaction in my body stopped and I was able to let go of all residual resentment over what had been said – reminding myself how much I love and am inspired by this person. The point is that I could feel how the thing that was hurting me most was not what had been said, but my reaction to it which in my mind had turned against my friend and had me thinking of ways to cut them from my life. The contraction in my body to try to protect myself from the perceived hurt was the very thing that became a real hurt that was separating me not only from that one person but from everyone – from Love.

298. I so appreciate now being able to feel a re-action in my body. It hasn’t always been like this. I now understand that because I was regularly re-acting to what I was feeling, the re-actions had become so familiar that to be without a re-action was actually quite rare. It is amazing what presence and observation can allow for in our body.

299. Our choices are hugely powerful as this blog shares and from my own experience. We can choose to react and stay in that reaction which, if prolonged, can have us end up in a meltdown / breakdown in the physiology. It feels like from re-reading this that the power of our choices is never to be underestimated and there is always something to appreciate – this appreciation builds and supports more loving choices to be made. Thank You Dianne.

300. “…Our brains hear all the internal talk, …” and responds by initiating …” the stress reactions through the hormone, nervous and immune systems…” This is significant, as it offers understanding into how we do have the ability to choose the types of thoughts we have, which then has an effect over the body. Choose love and the body will love us back. Choose emotion, and the body will respond with being placed in cellular disturbance.

301. I appreciate the way you have illustrated the two opposing factors, that we can be our own worst enemy or greatest friend, depending on our choices in every moment.

302. Thank you Dianne, abuse happens to us in so many different ways, it is a mine-field, or mind-field would be the more correct term, of ideals and beliefs that keep us from returning to be the Son of God. Thank God for Serge Benhayon and the way he has shared a truck-load of ways to deal with abuse from every angle.

303. Stopping the negative diatribe about this or that changes everything for me. Simply saying no to a train of thought (often repetitive) frees up the space in and around me for more joyful thoughts, actions and conversations.

304. I am learning daily that this is a choice we must make in every moment and more so be open to the deepening of our understanding of how every situation will play out. Allowing, accepting and understanding.

     1. One of the worst things about stress reactions is that the relevant body systems work in a feedback loop that can keep itself going, even when no longer needed. So, once we start down the stress and emotional reaction path, we keep feeding it, making it worse, ‘deepening the groove’. Then it’s difficult to get out of that vicious cycle. We basically program ourselves to be and remain stressed. I can so relate to this Dianne, as I lived most of my life running on nervous energy and then as you say, I basically programmed myself to remain stressed. Thank-fully when I met Serge Benhayon and attended the workshops and retreats I have been able to start breaking those patterns of behaviour and choosing to move in a way that confirms I am love and so naturally supports what I do lovingly.

305. I like your conclusion Dianne, we can be our own worst enemy or we can be our own greatest friend. It all comes back to choice.

306. It’s well worth coming back to re-reading this blog. The exposing of the reactions throughout my day and re-imprinting the responses I usually have to them feels amazing and allows much more awareness of what is actually happening in these situations.

307. Thank you Dianne in sharing your awareness of what we live with every day as we move thru life responding to each situation from either a place of reaction or acceptance in response to what is occurring.
     I have also experienced this to be true within my own body. The choice is mine to choose. One leaves my heart rate temporarily raised, body hardened, teeth clenched and veins energetically allowing a feeling of poison to flow thru my being as I absorb that which does not confirm or reflect the essence of who I am.
     The other is an allowing and observation of what is occurring. Yes it may be far from reflecting a loving quality and could be possibly aggressive.
     However at that moment I can either choose to jump out of my body and react to the fact that the situation does not match my image of what should be occurring, or I simply stay connected to the space and knowing that exists within and allow for that connection to provide the next movement.
     The difference in these two examples is seeing myself as an individual or connected to limitless love and potential……We do not walk alone.

308. It seems a brave path to walk to be ourselves, often in the face of reactions from others, but staying truly open undoubtedly brings confirmation that the true us is much needed in this world.

     1. When we do walk as ourselves it can be exposing for those who know that they are not making that choice and who would rather not be shown this and instead remain distracted, avoidant and numb. All the more reason to bring responsibility to our expression of our true light and to share this unreservedly with humanity.

        1. Letting go of needing to please and get approval is a big belief here, that can get in the way. There is a lot that needs to be exposed and I agree Michael, people don’t say ‘gee, thanks for showing me the lovelessness in my life’.

309. Yes Shirley and in order to change the way we react we need to change the way we are moving, for if we are moving in reaction to life itself we are bound to react to any little thing, but if we are moving with a deep connection to our own body we are more likely to be able to feel where the other person is coming from and have more of an understanding of the situation at hand.

310. “But if we refuse to listen to the internal chatter, and allow ourselves to feel and express our natural love, understanding, patience and acceptance of others and ourselves, we can send beneficial effects flowing throughout our physiology.” Simple and true. If we move towards love, love will take two steps towards us.

311. I feel stressed at the moment. It’s an investment to how I think I should be feeling. We choose stress to be irresponsible with what our feelings are actually telling us. When I choose my feelings and not have a picture of what it might be the stress is gone.

312. I love the way you explain and deepen our understanding of our physical reactions and in turn the energetic consequences that arise; both physically and energetically, from our choices.

313. Yes Zofia, and because we are listening now , we are much more trusting of our own bodies as they are getting the chance to be heard and of course only ever speak the truth. In this way a solid foundation builds which can’t be wavered as it is known deep within. The mind on the other hand, founds itself on shifting sands.

314. “But if we refuse to listen to the internal chatter, and allow ourselves to feel and express our natural love, understanding, patience and acceptance of others and ourselves, we can send beneficial effects flowing throughout our physiology” – i certainly know this to be true Diane, and over the years, thanks to the Ageless Wisdom teachings through Universal Medicine, have enjoyed feeling much more spacious inside my body, a suppleness and lightness from self-acceptance, which means i’m now far more open, trusting and accepting of other people too…Holding others the way i hold myself has been the best form of medicine to be ingesting.

315. Insightful post Diane, your words: “But the biggest form of stress is how we ourselves react” – what revelation as then that puts everything we experience 100% on us, and not the offending situation or person. Our reaction being fuelled by something underneath it that is affecting how we then respond/react. Thus the importance of dealing with ‘those things’ or hurts that create reaction and hence determine the level of stress in our life.. and the healthiness of our body, mind and being.

316. … “deepening the groove” is a great way of explaining what happens when we continually run on stress, are in fight or flight mode from anxiety and raciness. And it makes it clear why it takes a bit of work to “get out of the rut”.

317. Negative self talk is so destructive. We wouldn’t choose to do this to others 24/7, yet we do it to ourselves almost without thinking, and certainly not being aware of the potential consequences.

318. Thank you Dianne, it is indeed true we are own worst enemies if we engage in the constant self-bashing and criticism, dragging ourselves down into ill-conditions, and affecting all around us in the process. We can also be our own Saviour, our own guiding light, inspiration and best friend – if we choose to connect to the inner-most self that is connected to the all.. then nothing more is needed.

319. This is brilliant Dianne, I love the way you explain science with such simplicity and awe of the workings of our bodies, it brings the magic out and the responsibility to know that we are indeed living in instruments that are for divine purpose.

320. Awesome sharing Dianne. Stress is such a huge factor in many people’s lives, to be empowered with the reality of our own responsibility to own all of our choices. The body is amazing, it’s very cool reading your description of its systems.

321. This blog is such a wakeup call to realise that our thoughts create responses in our bodies that either heal or harm us depending on the thoughts we choose. It all comes back to the responsibility of the quality of our livingness and that choice is ours.

322. We have always heard that stress causes so many issues to us and our bodies, but you share here the details on a very practical level which is easy to understand and appreciate.

323. I love listening to you and reading your blogs Dianne. You bring such a true factual side to what many of us are discovering in our bodies by connecting within.

324. Shifting a stress feeding pattern of behaviour is a choice… from focussing on the situation and what ‘should’ change on the outside, we can consider the part we play and what changes we have at our disposal and can be responsible for.

     1. When we do this, the situation or pattern becomes very clear, a simple choice, which highlights further the rut and drama we create ourselves.

325. What I have learnt over time is that the more I let ideas run that way my life should be, the hurts get worse. Choosing to let go of the ideas is a step in the right direction in bringing back the love.

     1. Entertaining the ideas, seeking a solution, surely is a way to bury the hurts deeper in our bodies. Instead addressing how we feel in our bodies and working at staying with ourselves, naturally serves to clear the hurts.

326. The question that this blog raises – is how does one stop the internal chatter that goes on when one is in reaction? It is in effect impossible to think your way out of an issue, or out of a reaction. Perversely, the more you think about it, the worse it seems to get. And so there you can be a week or a month or even a year later thinking about an issue you had with someone all that time ago, and yet it is fresh in your mind, and it now seems even worse. This explains how we can go a whole life having issues with another that we never seem to heal.

     So, that all said, what actually is the answer? The answer, as bizarre as it sounds, is in movement, and more specifically, the quality of movement, and the consistency of that movement. Try it. Cross your arms, frown, and try to think joyous thoughts – not possible. So, that means by contrast that there is a particular type of movement that actually can bring us back to love, and away from the emotional reactions that can so dominate our thoughts. And this is what the esoteric teaches us – that true intelligence actually comes from the body, and it is an intelligence that far surpasses the mind by simple virtue of the fact that we can actually change the quality of our thoughts by the quality of our movements – revelation. Thank you Serge Benhayon.

     1. An amazing revelation. Thank you Adam.

     2. Beautifully said Adam “And this is what the esoteric teaches us – that true intelligence actually comes from the body, and it is an intelligence that far surpasses the mind by simple virtue of the fact that we can actually change the quality of our thoughts by the quality of our movements – revelation. Thank you Serge Benhayon.”

     3. I have found this to be true.

        1. I have wasted literally years in thinking about various issues which were as Adam says “as fresh in your mind” yet still unresolved after several months, and in some cases years. This to me proves that thinking never solves anything, just that the mind loves a conundrum in which it can remain indulgent and stuck in, to the detriment of all of us.
           Serge Benhayon has been an absolute game changer for me in this. Changing the quality of our thoughts by the quality of our movements is so simple yet at the same time a monumental revelation that literally is the key to letting go of emotional issues once and for all.

327. This is a great article Dianne, and I definitely feel many at my place of work will benefit from reading this, and it makes me wonder how the productivity levels would change if we changed the way we react to situations. At the moment out of seven work spaces we have had eleven people come and go in the last year and a half – maybe staff retention would improve, sickness would drop, productivity would pick up and general well being, not forgetting to mention how we are with each other.

     1. Imagine, if high school students were taught, as part of their training and preparation to enter the workplace, how to observe the interactions between people at work without reacting? I bet productivity would increase significantly in the workplaces these students then went on to enter.

328. Understanding the feed back loop of stress, seeing the science written so clearly, inspires me to take responsibility for how I ‘drive’ my body and whether I let cycles such as this stress one, run unchecked.

329. If we are truly in charge of our stress levels and not the situation or people around us, why then almost everybody is stressed? Is it that we learn to create the stress as kids? Is it that our social and political systems are set up in a way for us to easily gain stress? Is stress our secret food we need and are addicted to?
     Well, an honest answer would be to look at society if you take away the stress from everyone at once.

     1. You could add to this Felix that we are addicted to drama, we feed on the drama of one another as it distracts us from feeling the choices we make. From feeling how we are in our bodies, if we are to truly stop, connect and feel our bodies might we actually feel an exhaustion and many emotions that we might have pretended were not there and don’t want to deal with.

330. Love the simplicity of what you share Dianne, empowering us to know that when we stop and listen to our body, supporting it through gentle breathing we can come to a state of being where we can choose to not go into stress. We always have a choice.

331. “We are our own worst enemies. We make ourselves sick. And we can also be our own greatest friends, and bring ourselves back to true health”, Yes we have a choice in how we respond to life which directly affects our health. How empowering.

332. I love the way you write Dianne – big medicine in totally understandable bites – thank you. For today my big learning is about the perpetual feed mechanism of stress and how it is up to us to choose to break the loop, post a stressful episode or, for me, post a set patterning in my body which is a familiarity with stress that needs to be re-programmed!

333. Our body is just one miracle. It is amazing how all body parts and different systems in the body are linked together. Obviously, if one body part is suffering, it affects everything else in the body. What I also find amazing is, as soon as we listen to our body, our body knows what to do to heal itself. We just have to do what our body is telling us.

334. We create our own outcomes, so if we have stress in our life it does us well to see our responsibility for this. How we respond to any situation is a choice we alone make, and it is liberating and empowering to know this is true. If I don’t like an aspect of my life or a pattern of behaviour I see myself repeating this can be frustrating, but also exciting to know that I control the future outcome and can shape what I wish to come next.

     1. Yes, the ultimate in responsibility here Stephen.

335. Learning to express firstly initiated by our movement and from there in everything is our true quality of being and is our health and wellness. Otherwise we are creating stress and disharmony in our bodies and this makes us sick.Thank you Dianne for sharing this with so much simplicity, joy and wisdom.

336. I’ve tended to avoid stress like the plague, but in doing so I have avoided commitment and responsibility, but now that I have read this blog, I not so much have to avoid situations I find stressful, but approach them in an entirely different way so as to not cause the stress myself, in me as a reaction to the situation. For this I thank you Dianne.

     1. I have found that the attempted avoidance of stress can be a stress in itself, so to be inspired and empowered by Dianne’s clear explanations feels very ground breaking. Thank you Dianne and Kevin.

     2. I used to be the same Kevmchardy avoiding situations because I did not like the feelings, but in actual fact it only led onto lack of commitment to life, so that is definitely not the answer – it all comes back down to observing and not absorbing.

        1. Julie I can relate to that, avoiding stress comes down to lack of commitment and responsibility. It is about observing and not absorbing, which is what I come to understand.

     3. How very spot on Kevin… avoiding stress to avoid responsibility and commitment, aka “an easy life” , yes, being laid back when we are naturally forward is going to create a tension and stress. Everything as you say, is in the quality of the approach – to oneself, situations, people, life, work… everything.

337. “I can choose and move in a way that honours my body, moment by moment. It’s an ongoing process – there’s always more to learn and higher levels of awareness possible. Worth the effort!”
     I could not agree with you more Dianne, thank you.

338. I have found it helpful to think of the internal chatter as not me but a part of me, a bit like a naughty child, it can also be taught new ways to support me to be less stressed and more self loving.

339. The extent to how much we actually harm ourselves with reactions is huge. It is asking a great bit of honesty to call it out for ourselves when we are in reaction. This actually requires first and foremost a foundation, a truth about the word reaction. Physiologically and biologically this is beautifully explained by the most amazing scientist I know, Dianne Trussell. But in order to apply this science we are to incorporate this into our own lives. And from a personal experience I can share that it’s asking a solid and felt ‘yes’ to ourselves to go there.

     1. Reactions definitely are so incredibly harming, they keep us from feeling the truth of a situation. They keep us from truly connecting with ourselves and they definitely stop us from evolving. The harm that comes with staying in our reactions is great. Understanding what reactions really do to the body can be very helpful, know what reaction feels like in the body, when that energy is in, it does feel awful. Coming back to your foundation, your connection, breath, all very key.

        1. You bring up the Truth around understanding. For a long time I actually fell for the bastardised definition of understanding, which meant that if I understood why things happened, I actually could let my reaction go and go on with life. But this left me out of the picture, in the sense that it didn’t require a 2nd thought on why I actually reacted in the first place. I’ve become very well in mastering ‘the outside world’ by adjusting my behaviour to what I think / thought was appropiate, but how much was I actually presenting myself. A whole different way of relating and understanding of both myself, others and life.

340. When we stop and look at the world, it is a sea of reactions and there tends to be a lot of tidal waves crashing around. So who wants to be riding in boat that has this chaos going on, and you’re certainly going to feel unsettled and ‘sea sick’. It is a constant swell of reactions against reactions. Imagine if we stopped with the reactions, the sea would be still and we would have space and grace to be who we are. Now this is a boat I wanna ride in and enjoy the ride.

     1. I love the image of the stormy, treacherous seas of reaction alongside the still, spacious sea of choosing to stop with the reactions… and definitely know which version I would like to ‘swim’ in.

     2. Natalie I love the image you have shared, why would we want to ride a boat on a sea full of reactions, I would love to ride a boat on a still sea. It just shows it is about bringing stillness into our lives so we can ride the sea with no reactions. It is about connecting to our body bringing a stop to the raciness and allowing the stillness to come through. We all have this within us, it is just a matter of connection.

341. Stress is such an accepted and seen as normal reaction to life, but when I read what stress causes in our bodies, it should actually be taken a little more seriously, as the damage and reactions in the body are huge.

     1. What have we done to accept stress as a normal way of life, it is no different than hitting our head against a wall because it feels good when we stop. These are choices we choose.

        1. Yes Steve, it is time to see the real effects of stress on the body as clearly as we would see it when we would hit our head to a wall.

     2. Agreed Lieke, and I love this line of Dianne’s talking about how things changed for her, ‘It began when I learned how to become aware of when I was racy and ahead of myself’ – the beginning of building a listening and respectful relationship with our bodies, a stepping stone that I have found incredibly powerful and one which I give attention to regularly.

        1. Yes me too Matilda. When I do not know what to do, I go to that same stepping stone, how it feels in my body as I know the body is the most honest marker I have.

     3. Yes Lieke, and like so many, I used to be the person who said they enjoyed stress, and worked better under stress. I did ‘get results’ sure, but running my body under such tension created a restricted and tightness in the body, criticalness, unsureness about myself and a protected in-flight way about myself that made it difficult for people to reach or get really close to me. Stress kept people away and my take on life and myself in life was not the shiniest. Stress is the destructor of harmony, and today living with harmony, and as best as i can without stress has led to such ease with a supple and vital body attuned for work, and open for people to access warmth and trust.

        1. So true Zofia: “Stress is the destructor of harmony”. When we accept stress as a normal way of life we are lost and do not know we could be living in harmony as well. I for sure have lived the reality of both too, when I was living in the stressed way I never imagined the harmonious, spacious way I am living now would be possible. It all starts with loving ourselves and taking better care as preparing for work on time, making sure to have a supportive lunch, going to bed on time etc. From there life gets more spacious and stress gets less dominance.

        2. Yes… stress blinds us, and the space and grace that’s right there in front of us is no longer in our sight. It’s amazing to consider how when our bodies go into stress our perception of life changes entirely. Everything is sharp, squeezing in, and life is a pressure cooker. That’s because stress is what’s running in our bodies. The moment we choose to connect to our bodies and acknowledge that this stress does not belong, that it isn’t actually us, the stress leaves and we are left with the space of what is true in our bodies — a harmonious flow that we then express in all that we do.

342. People can say things that hurt or aren’t true, but nothing comes close to how it hurts when you are harsh with you. Your words here Dianne make it clear why – because when we see these unloving and horrible thoughts as part of us we are trapped and imprisoned from seeing that our true nature, our natural voice is only, ever pure Love. So like a fly that flew in through the window we can see these thoughts, stop reacting and thinking this buzzing sound is part of you and I.

     1. Beautifully said Joseph, yes hurt we feel from others is nothing compared to being hurtful and harsh with ourselves. This is so incredibly damaging, self critique of judgement is and can feel exactly that, imprisoning. It is like you can’t see or feel a way out when you are allowing those thoughts to dominate. It truly is key to know those thoughts are ‘not’ you, so not to get caught up in them, this can take some time to fully embody this, but it is worth it.

343. I have noticed that too Shirley-Ann. If there is a thought that stays too long in my head and I have been mulling it over for a while, it is amazing how much lighter I can feel when I stop its cycle. Learning to catch the little thoughts that distract does really make a difference.

344. It’s such a wake up call to read this today and realise the subtleties of my thoughts (which I can choose or not) that create responses in my body which harm or support myself. True responsibility.

     1. Our thoughts can be our greatest enemies and lead us down a path we do not need to go down. It is wise to remember that everything is energy, and even our thoughts are streamed. It is our responsibility to discern which pool of energy we are streaming from – divine or otherwise.

        1. Totally Jenny, and the sooner we accept our thoughts are not our own but are coming to us from an energy source of love or not love, that is a game changer.

     2. Yes when we consider our thoughts and their power in this way Melinda you are right, there is true responsibility in how we choose to think, as the effect of our thoughts on our body is huge. It is our thoughts that make a difference between whether we live in true harmony and health or not.

     3. Absolutely Melinda, and when we realise how much our bodies affect other peoples bodies, in the fact we influence each other, our thoughts affect those around us, so we really do have a responsibility to be as loving as we can be in every moment.

345. The science of the body and how it truly functions is one that I find fascinating and Dianne it is wonderful to read this blog and get a better understanding. It all make so much sense when you see it so clearly broken down like that. We are the creators of our own ills. So with out question it is up to us to live a responsible and loving life, which in turn will feed us back.

     1. I too find it fascinating, and the internal dialogue and how we treat ourselves. Dianne breaks it down so it is so simple, it is very empowering.

     2. I too find Science of the body extremely fascinating, as we connect to the understanding of how our body works, it really simplifies how we are the causes of our own illness and diseases through the choices we make. It really is truly up to us to live and make loving choices all the time.

346. ‘…allow ourselves to feel and express our natural love…’ the expression of what we feel is so important. We can all easily feel the natural love that is within us but learning to express this again in every movement we make is a journey well worth making.

     1. So true Michael, and for me I know most of my life my expression was very capped. Having learnt to truly love myself and connect with my body and feel the love that I am, this deep love has supported me to learn to express from the natural love that was hidden deep within me all the while.

     2. Michael absolutely learning to express the natural love is a journey well worth making. Our every moment, not only we feel the more of it, but we also emanate it from our body for others to feel,

347. Superb Dianne, when we realise and totally understand that we are responsible for our own stress, we can then start to make choices to stop giving ourselves a hard time and slipping into all the emotional stuff that causes it.

     1. Yes, Kevin, the clarity of Dianne’s explanation of the physiology of the stress cycle gives us ample reason and inspiration to take responsibility for perpetuating this or not.

     2. I agree Kevin, once revealed it seems rather self-indulgent of us to create stress and emotional reactions for ourselves.

        1. Spot on Michael, it is super indulgent of us to continue such a cycle of abuse and it is as if we actually enjoy the process. It is like another addiction that we don’t even realise we have. The clarity in this blog is super supportive to understand the bodily functions and that it is down to every choice we make that determines the level of functionality of the body. What I have come to feel and appreciate day by day is that the Soul within is an energy source that is beyond the physical and can emanate enormously once connected with. Without reactions in our life, we have the space to connect to our Soul.

        2. I also feel it is key to realise that you have created this and as such it is something you have to actively choose, as your body is then wired up to be stressed and triggered by your internal critical dialogue, so the more you choose healthy loving options like regular walks, meditation etc., the more chance you have of rewiring your body to support you and the innate wisdom that lies within can be heard.

        3. It is a re-wiring Vanessa because the loop needs changing as when you keep a negative loop running over and over again, it is damaging for all.

        4. It really is Michael and it also horrible to be around others when they do this as well. It just pulls everyone down and you can feel how draining it is if you allow it to affect you.

     3. This week I allowed stress to control me, I could feel it in my body and how it was taking control. As soon as I recognised it, by making more loving choices for myself the energy started to change and my body started to relax and let go of the protective control. It would have been easy to be caught in the emotions, but I chose to not go there, but just kept bringing it back to connecting to my body, which helped so much.

348. This is fabulous Dianne, reading the science of what happens to our bodies when we choose to react, or even choose to be consumed with any emotion. Even though it is being studied, it remains very fringe and has been for some time. Those with vested interests do not want to see this become a widespread understanding. For when it does, and we begin to take responsibility for the parts we play in our own health a lot will change.

349. Another brilliant sharing with us Dianne. ‘Negative internal talk’ our brains hearing all that internal talk and think its true – this is self abuse of the biggest variety I feel and definitely leaves you feeling like a ‘mistreated plant’, if there is no sap (love) rising how can we expect growth and expansion and to fully blossom in all our glory.This is what going into reaction does it cuts off all our love supply to grow.

350. This stress feedback loop related to physiological harm is very important Dianne. The stress response has a place but perpetuating it is not biologically hard wired into us – it reminds me of the fact that sheep will jump over a fence and if you take away the fence, the sheep will keep jumping.

351. ‘We express fear, hate, loathing, disappointment, self-negation, etc., and our body wilts like a mistreated plant.’

     What a great metaphor. Negative self-talk – what a crusher. Ridding ourselves of these unnatural, extraneous thoughts can be quite challenging. Thankfully, again through the grace of esoteric medicine as presented by Serge Benhayon, we have been offered a way to, quite literally, move away from them, along with the understanding that ‘we only think we think’.

     1. It’s such a great phrase…”we only think, we think”. Knowing that the thoughts we have are not ours – ever – is a game changer.

352. ‘But the biggest form of stress is how we ourselves react to the situations and people that we say ’cause us stress’.’

     I am trying to apply this understanding to the scenario I’ve outlined above, which I liken to having placed myself in a kind of war zone, from which I now have a kind of PTSD. I feel in this scenario I made myself adapt to the ‘war zone’ (rather than remove myself from it) and you could call this a reaction of sorts. On the other hand I know exactly what is meant by this line, which feels like a slightly different phenomenon. I guess the overarching question in this instance was ‘Why did I continually put myself (in what was for me) a direct line of fire?’.

353. Further to this, changing the way I react to daily life, where internally potentially everything I do is laced with stress, has been very difficult. Tracing it back I can see underpinning my normalisation of the stress I lived was a desire for recognition. I wanted to be rewarded for what I did rather than find all I needed in who I am. I also completely moved away from the essence of me, from the woman I am to a woman living in male energy. Re-training myself is an every moment of every day undertaking.

354. ‘We basically program ourselves to be and remain stressed. So it’s necessary to put some work and commitment into changing the way we react to situations and people and to ourselves.’

     This is so true. In my early 20s I started working as a chef and set up patterns of stress I am still dealing with today. Rather than acknowledge early on that working in the restaurant scene wasn’t for me, I pushed on and made myself adapt. Stress became my new norm. Eventually I burnt out and left, but had bad kitchen dreams for years thereafter – and bad work habits. I perpetuated this way of working whatever I did, so normal had it become. Eventually I developed an exhaustion-related auto-immune condition that I now have to live with. I am still working with ‘detoxing’ from my ingrained stress responses, from push and drive, everyday. I am a living proof of all Dianne has shared in this blog.

355. Dianne, another beautifully written and presented blog. You make science so simple, so digestible! And what you have shared here is gold. It is amazing how much negative self-talk has been a part of my life – and still is, to some degree. Retraining, as you say, is required to lift ourselves out of this damaging routine. Like you, I have benefitted enormously in this regard by studying esoteric medicine – the medicine of the innermost – with Serge Benhayon, to whom another big thank you is due.

356. Thank you, thank you, thank you, in fact I can’t thank you enough Dianne for your wonderful writings and this one is no exception. Even after many years a student of the ancient wisdom, I am still my own worst enemy with many a negative thought, but I never realised the amount of stress I was causing myself with these thoughts. This blog is another timely wake up call which I must act on.

357. “We basically program ourselves to be and remain stressed.” If we remain stressed and tense then we can avoid feeling our choice/s to be stressed and react in the first place, while all the time there is the space for us to respond rather than react. Bringing more understanding to myself and being open to questioning my choices has supported the letting go of the tension I have lived with most of my life, understanding that holding tight and stressed is not the only way to relate to what I am feeling and relating to life. We always have a choice to respond to what we feel.

     1. ‘If we remain stressed and tense then we can avoid feeling our choice/s to be stressed and react in the first place…’ Great observation Leigh. In this light, we can see stress can become an addiction, something we cling on to to avoid feeling what lead us there in the first place.

358. …’the biggest form of stress is how we ourselves react to the situations and people that we say ’cause us stress’. So true Dianne. I am now learning to not pay attention to the negative chatter in my head. Instead, I now choose to stop, feel my body, breathe gently and then make my next move.

359. This is brilliant! I so agree I can be my own worst enemy but what’s awesome is I am learning to be my greatest friend and bring myself back to truth.

     1. Awesome Karin – it’s so empowering to realise that through our choices we can determine the quality of our own well-being.

360. Dianne I have learnt so much from your sharing! Stress is definitely a huge part of most of our lives and I sometimes wonder why we allow it to be so when we all know it has such a detrimental effect on us all. What I am so grateful for is the Presentations of Serge Benhayon And the wonderful sharing and livingness he offers us, so we also learn and grow and bring that wisdom into our lives too.

361. I find it quite incredible that other than Serge Benhayon, no-one has ever asked where are our thoughts coming from and are they really ours? When our brains are venerated for being the source of our intelligence, rather than our connection to soul through our body we will never question the origins of the thoughts that enter.

     1. Good point Jennifer. In this light, how toxic is the statement ‘I think therefore I am’? As a truth accepted by many, it is extremely damaging. A world where the mind is exalted above and beyond the soul and its trusty companion, the body, is a world off-course.

        1. And super-interesting that no one has questioned where thoughts come from. We think WE are thinking them, but are we really? What if they are being fed to us and we are simply receiving them, much like a radio tuned into certain frequencies? The question then needs to be asked – who or what is doing the broadcasting? Serge Benhayon is the first person I’ve come across who asks these kinds of questions; who challenges our received (quite literally received!) ideas.

        2. Very true Victoria. So we could also then say “Because I think, I am” – doesn’t bring up a whole lot. Where is the knowing and understanding of our bodies in this? We are already seeing the catastrophic implications of this on our bodies through our health. We are so much more than a head on legs…or is that just a head?

     2. As you say Jennifer it is so important to question where our thoughts are coming from. Are they really our thoughts ? It is so crazy how I was used to think all the time and I thought all my thoughts define who I am. I’m so glad, that I know now, that I’m not my thoughts, they don’t belong to me.

362. Dianne I have to agree with you that we can embody our ‘internal chatter’ and often do. Most people I have spoken to regarding this do have some idea of this too. If we know that the thoughts that we have are unruly then why is it that we often believe the content of such thoughts? Perhaps we have yet linked these thoughts to then what we attract all day every day?

363. Having recently been through a particularly stressful time at work I can relate to the effects of this over time. I had to assess my approach to the work and environment I was in, as I did not like the way my body felt at the end of each day. Now I am far more productive and am able to be responsible in reflecting another way to be at work for the team I work in, which enables them to handle pressure differently, without becoming unduly stressed.

     1. This is amazing Michael and something I am working on as I know how I can be stressed and easily step into overwhelm when really it’s trusting to stay with what I’m doing, letting go of stress and finding things are completing without having to be stressed!

        1. Yes Karin, at first I thought that I was just becoming frustrated by things at work, but when I was more honest with myself I knew that I was reacting to many situations and things which were happening. This has been exposing for me and a revelation as work has begun to flow and I can feel how my day pans out is a direct reflection of how I am choosing to be and therefore what I am bringing to work and reflecting outward. Ultimately this is what is reflected back. The interesting part is that on those days when everything goes very well, is easy and no effort and I feel amazing, I have a tendency to sabotage this as I can feel a little freaked out by what I feel and yet this is our natural way of being.

364. ‘The bit about “changing the way we react” is super important.’ being open to the fact that my reactions happen in many different ways really shows just how much of life I have been in reaction to.

365. ‘Stress releases hormones that affect our brain and immune system. Stress alters how many of what kind of immune cells are made, and imbalances lead to illness. Stress suppresses our immune system’s killer cells – we are therefore more susceptible to cancer and other diseases. Stress also tires out the systems that produce the hormones – like the adrenals – leading to exhaustion.’ Amazing that we know all this about stress and yet we can still allow it to run rampant in our lives.

     1. A great question to ask ourselves is what would it be like without going into the stress? Stress in the end just becomes another way to delay and avoid the responsibility we all have. I am learning that getting stressed is the complete opposite of what is needed. It takes me away from the focus, commitment and steadiness that is being asked of me.

        1. I agree Vicki. For when we are focused, committed and are the steadiness that is who we are, we can deal with and work with everything that comes our way.

366. The energy we use when we re-act has no regard for us and is abusive. However our true light, our true energy, will never abuse and will instead nourish and nurture every part of our being.

367. “We are our own worst enemies. We make ourselves sick.” I can absolutely see how this has played out in my life with my self-loathing and negative self-talk I once allowed to run my life. I can really relate to the feeling of the pathways in the brain like little streams with water eroding deeper and deeper as I relied on my familiar learnt coping reactions. These pathways for me are like streams running in our brain and become more entrenched leading to us automatically dropping into the familiar turbulence of the stream, making our reactions our automatic default which for me were anger, aggression, rage, victim, negativity, blame. The energy running through these little streams over years of the same patterns felt like they become rivers with so much pressure flowing through them they would break their banks and create new little streams that erode into deeper more entrenched rivers and the cycle goes on. This cycle goes on regardless of my reactions.

     I have now chosen to take responsibility for my choices, and some years ago chose to re-imprint the pathways in my brain by focusing on my triggers and reactions. I have chosen to feel the re-action come up in my body and sitting with it and feeling the core hurt associated with the discomfort of it, along with the harm my reaction inflicts on not only those in the direct vicinity to me, but in truth the ricochet effect my reactions energetically have on all of humanity.

     Rather than as before just dive head first into the old familiar turbulent stream of reaction, relying on my old accustomed explosive coping mechanism, I am staying present with myself and connecting on a deeper level with my authentic self and feel the lie I have created to make sense of the world as a child, and how I have been living a picture created from the lie that shaped my ideals and beliefs I formed together with the lies.

     Through this connection and my deep presence with my true self, my hurts dissolve and I feel the love as I re-connect with the truth of who I am. This process supports me to create and re-imprint new loving gentle pathways in my brain and over time they are becoming my primary pathways as the turbulent streams subside, dry up and lose their motion.

368. This is all so true Dianne. We use reaction to stop us going deeper in our understanding of ourselves and each other. By making it ‘everyone else’s fault’ we concoct a convenient device behind which to hide and further delay returning to live the love that we are. Deep down we all know that it is through understanding another that we truly allow ourselves to evolve back to our former glory and so, we are very clever with the games we play to inhibit our natural evolution back towards this. When presented in this way, it seems crazy that we would engage in such a futile adventure and surely we all want to evolve so what is the point of such ill foray? In order to answer this, we need to be very honest with ourselves that we have become addicted to a way of living that heralds us as individuals and in this quest to be ‘different’ and ‘seen’ we thirst for the spoils of recognition at the great expense of what we are innately designed to do, which is to live as equal parts of the one Divine and unified whole that we are.

     1. Thank you Liane for the beautiful clarity you’ve offered here. It certainly is convenient to give our power away to others and in so doing avoid taking responsibility for it ourselves! Emotions may give us an identity but the emptiness that comes with that way of being is a sore exchange for the true unity we are innately designed to live.

     2. Liane the game of making things “everyone else’s fault” is one that I’ve played for what feels like lifetimes. Yet living life through these reactions is something that really holds us back. The drive we have to stay as “individuals” and “be seen” certainly must play a big part in us not letting go of our hurts.

369. I am only just beginning to become aware of how damaging internal negative chatter is. Far worse than the evil we see, is the evil we refuse to see. Evil here being the absence of love.

     1. Yes Liane – more and more I don’t feel like thinking at all. I realize when I start to think that I want to create something and this doesn’t feel good any more. I’m so sick of creating something at the moment, I just want to enjoy myself by just being me.

370. Dianne this is a great and simple explanation of the way we get caught in unloving momentums that make it seem like we are locked into patterns of negative behaviour that we feel we are unable to change. We tell ourselves that these habitual movements are simply ‘how we are’ rather than take responsibility for the way we have chosen to move that is out of rhythm to the divine universal rhythm we are held in. It is these ill movements that create the disharmony that makes us so sick. And so it stands that our best form of medicine is to move in and with the love we are so that true order can be reinstated within our bodies and accordingly to the world in which we live.

371. Your statement of “A relationship that is not based on love is toxic for the body.” is so true. Although it is not visible from the outside, the eyes can’t see it, energetically it is the truth. We can feel it. That is the reason why feeling is so important – then we know if love is around us or not.

372. Wow Dianne, what a great sharing about stress. You describe beautifully, how stress affects our body and all the different systems in our body like immune system, hormone system and nervous system. You are giving so many insights, what is happening, when we go into the stress mode. And I like the message – you are responsible for your own stress and you are the one, who can heal everything – by taking responsibility for all our choices.

373. Dianne on reading your article again, the line ‘ we are our own worse enemy’ is a line I’ve heard many times but never really considered that it is actually very true. If we took the part of us out that constantly sabotages our connection to God then we would be home within a trice.

374. I love the truth in this Dianne, I love how our internal dialogue is what determines our reality and relationship with others, so simple .. Loving ourselves supports loving relationships..

375. I love this line . . . and we can also be our own greatest friends, and bring ourselves back to true health. It confirms that the power is in our own hands and hearts always.

     1. I loved this line as well Vicky Geary.

     2. Me too Vicky – what I like so much is, that we can empower ourselves. We are not victims of anything. We decide everything regarding our wellbeing, e.g. by exposing beliefs and ideas.

376. I really get what you are saying about ‘deepening the groove’ I used to live my life in this cycle constantly and although I do not do it so much now still there is negative talk. You are right it is super important to not only be aware of this but how to truly change it … cue Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine.

377. The body knows no difference of how to respond to a thought or an actual sensory stimulous, the same physical functions are initiated. Thank you Dianne for so clearly showing how this happens and what occurs in the body.

378. ‘We are our own worst enemies. We make ourselves sick. And we can also be our own greatest friends, and bring ourselves back to true health.’ So true and ultimately empowering.

379. It’s a huge step when we start to recognise the difference between the ‘chatter’ of thoughts that question what we are doing or doubt, compared to the quality and love felt from the body. And this starts to happen after deepening love and care with the body. After a while, it becomes clearer to see that the body appears to have an intelligence that communicates quicker than the ‘tsunami’ of thoughts that can be questioning and negative.

380. If we are at a place where we have intense ‘internal thoughts’ we will find we have already long disconnected from our body and have moved in a way that has not been expansive or gentle. Emotions and reactions are bigger than our physical body, they are not just chemicals in the brain, hence why someone who feels depressed may find it difficult to shift their emotions.

381. The more I stop and actually listen to my internal talk the more harming I can feel it is. Some of the things I say are not actually true and I can feel they are just purely there to keep me small and not want to grow. It is amazing how much internal negative small talk we can consume in a day and how draining it is.

382. I love how you say Dianne that no amount of ‘head knowledge’ does it – developing more awareness and understanding of our body is needed too.

     1. I agree Fiona – this is an important point raised by Dianne that I have resisted myself previously. Being happy to understand through thoughts and ‘knowledge’ but not to connect to the feeling of it in my body and in practice. Recently feeling the effects of reacting to situations around me and the stress it caused in my body was monumental. My body felt like it had been taken over and I could not wait to leave the situation I was in. The crazy thing is, as Dianne also points out, is that I chose that for myself, the amazing flip side of this is that I could also choose to not have this and to change my choices and not to be in reaction to the environment is was in.

     2. I love that one too Fiona as I was always surrounded with people who had a lot of “head knowledge” so they could talk a long time without connecting. For me this was boring – one simple question helped me to change it – how are you feeling in your body? That stopped the head knowledge and we started a joyful conversation.

     3. And I find that hearing about the science behind the stress is a great confirmation of what my body tells me, which builds my confidence to listen to this ‘partner’ and wise sage.

     4. I agree Fiona. Our head can be very convincing sometimes and make us believe that we are listening. The only true way is connecting to our bodies within and feeling our bodies from the innate stillness that we are.

383. Refusing to listen to the internal chatter doesn’t make it go away. Connecting to my inner heart and moving with that connection works though. The internal chatter then doesn’t go away, it is simply not there.

     1. Similarly in reverse, I wondered when young if the birds stop singing when a loud jet plane passes over. They don’t.

        1. Oh, I love this Simon. I have never thought of this, but love what this is sharing.

     2. This is a great point to raise here Christoph . Refusing to listen to the internal chatter is just another way of using the mind, not the heart.

384. ‘Snap’ moments are a great way to describe how negative thoughts send shock waves through the body. This is how it feels for me. It occurred just a few days ago and physically a lot of pain and tension was occurring. When I allowed a few minutes to ponder what had set up this snap moment and could see the thoughts and open them up, an airing of simple no-judgment honesty, just like a miracle the pain and tension in my body started to clear very rapidly. True healing comes with being honest with ourselves.

385. ‘Stress releases hormones that affect our brain and immune system. Stress alters how many of what kind of immune cells are made, and imbalances lead to illness. Stress suppresses our immune system’s killer cells – we are therefore more susceptible to cancer and other diseases. Stress also tires out the systems that produce the hormones – like the adrenals – leading to exhaustion.’ – Thank you for these facts Dianne. So why as a society do we resist joining these very basic dots – lots to learn here!

     1. Yes there is a lot of talk about stress being bad for your health. However the care that Dianne has taken to describe the various areas of our body affected by it really brings it home the extent of it and shows without doubt that how we live and relate to life profoundly affects our health.

386. Wow Dianne, its great to have the science behind stress, I did not realise how harmful it is to the body, thank you for writing this.

     1. Rebecca understanding the science of stress now makes complete sense why so many people are off sick at work, at home and generally in society. Yet what is often missed is our part in choosing to allow that stress or not. We can’t control what may come towards us but we can choose the care and quality we are. Obvious but something that needs to become a very basic part of all our everyday lives.

     2. It is great to deepen our awareness of just how devastating to the body stress is AND the fact that we have a big part to play in it ourselves, whether we respond by reacting to the situation or not.

        1. The stress is indeed devastating and effects all our relationships, and cripples our physiciological make up within our body and cells.

387. It’s a powerful process Dianne describes, if our brain believes what we say to it then it really shows us how much we can influence our own outcomes. It would also explain how perseverance is such a powerful part of success and I am sure that not being negative about oneself must be a great way to live more healthily.

     1. I agree, Stephen, the process which Dianne describes shows us that we have it in our hands how we feel, that’ s to say it is our responsibility. My observation is that I only get aware of any negative or critical and judging thoughts when I already think them, so there I can stop myself, but would it not be easier not to think them at all and to choose differently beforehand.

388. Identifying my internal chatter has been imperative for me too Dianne, in becoming more aware of where the choices I make are coming from. This, along with connecting to stillness has seen my life begin to change from one of making the same mistakes over and over, to taking responsibility for how it is I choose to live.

     1. Our choices, the many different ones we make, need to be looked at closely, as it is these choices that truly harm or heal us, truly support our bodies or make us do things out of stress and reaction.

        1. Natasha you are so right in what you say about needing to examine our choices. It has taken quite a while for me to truly understand that I am actually the one making choices as opposed to choices being opposed upon me.

389. Thank you Dianne, another superb article that supports us to truly embrace what we do already know, that every thought we have produces a chemical, hormonal and nervous reaction in the body, which is either loving, supportive and healing or stressful and harming. It is quite black and white really, but learning to cut the negative internal chatter is a huge task and one that overwhelmed me too until I began studying Universal Medicine and Sacred Esoteric Healing. Today I have a better handle on cutting the negative and allowing my body to resume its normal internal dialogues, so that if and when I do need to respond promptly to something, then I have a full store of stress hormones to back me up!

390. I love reading your blogs Dianne they make so much sense. My negative self talk over the years has definitely caused me undue stress and tension. When we do not have negative self talk our body is harmonious and our cells sing with joy.

     1. Here here, so spot on Mary Louise, they so sing with joy and appreciate they glory that is able to be connected to andappriciate our incredible selves.

     2. Negative self talk really is a poison!

391. We only react because we personalise what we see robbing ourselves of the opportunity to understand that which is crying out to be understood.

     1. perfectly said Adam, even the spider in our room, is a message and something to be understood.

        1. So true Adam and harryjwhite, our reaction masks the rage we have with ourselves for having chosen to shut down our awareness and walk away from deeply understanding what’s at play in front of us — as a result of what we’ve chosen in the first place.

392. “But the biggest form of stress is how we ourselves react to the situations and people that we say ’cause us stress’.” I know not to look at emails at night, I know to be very still as ~i open an e:mail that could be tricky, I know the more I care for myself the more care I bring to my responses to a situation. I know that however intentional harm is that comes my way I do not have to take it on.

     1. This is true Elaine, and so what you are sharing is that we have a choice and responsibility.

        1. Yes Heidi, simply put, this is exactly what I am saying.

393. Wow Dianne this is a really eye opening article, thank you for sharing. I do a lot of negative internal talking – criticising myself when I make mistakes, comparing my body and behaviours to others and so forth, and hadn’t drawn the link between this and feeling stressed a lot of the time. I have definitely experience the exhaustion that you’ve talked about, from remaining in tension and stress for much too long and thus it taking affect on my body. You’ve certainly given me something to think about and ponder on!

     1. Yes Susie making the connection between negative internal voices and how we feel in our body expands our understanding of the body and ourselves. It is a simple truth we all need to be aware of. We really do create our world and experience of it,. and our thoughts are a large part of this. Remembering to place ourselves in the driver’s seat and not the passenger’s makes us more of aware of that when by taking responsibility to clear toxic internal talk as soon as they appear, opens the way to deeply appreciate who we are,

        1. Well said Kehinde. We often blame the outside world for our problems, issues and hurts, but I love what you’ve shared about putting ourselves in the drivers seat and realising that we are in absolute control of our own internal environment, and further how our lives can develop and pan out.

        2. Great reading what you’ve shared here Susie and Kehinde12, I’ve lately been really noticing how when we speak about ourselves (or others) in a degrading way, how this feels in our bodies as well. Anything less than expressing the glory of who we are, feels like a toxic reaction in the body. It’s a big thing to consider but once we feel how our body feels in the glory of who we are, anything less than that is our body becoming lesser, more contracted, stressed and everything else that comes with that.

     2. I so agree here Susie, the link to stress makes me really stop and think about what I am truly seeing, feeling, thinking, doing with myself in those moments ~ I had a clear typical example last night within my home when cooking dinner when I was feeling stressed and had a massive reaction, and it’s not until reading this here I am able to know I was just feeling stressed ..
        Such clarity offered and support here Dianne, thank you.

        1. Even simple tasks like cooking dinner can be extremely different when we do them in stress and are thinking about other things. I find that these activities; walking, talking, cooking, working etc. are very clearly carried out in either tension, or with care and grace, and I can always tell by the quality of these motions what state I am in.

        2. Your example Natasha clearly shows us how we have accepted stress as a normal part of our lives, often not identifying it as such until it explodes out of us. To be able to clock the stress before it begins to build is an absolute life saving level of awareness.

        3. True Natasha, and Susie W, if we are in stress, the stress goes from the body and into the food we are preparing.. to be eaten and digested by ourselves and also others too. So vital and responsible to be aware of the quality we are in. I had an example of thinking negatively about something, and instantaneously felt nauseas in my stomach.. when i made the connection […those thoughts are making me sick], the nausea left – instantly.

     3. Your honesty is inspiring and refreshing. And I notice that it is only through a willingness to be honest with myself that I open up the opportunities for change.

394. ‘Our brains hear all the internal talk, and think it’s true, and obediently initiate the stress reactions through the hormone, nervous and immune systems’ – wow. Another pearl from you Diane… I’ve never heard it laid out so simply.. just how powerful our thoughts are, both on our own internal physiology and consequently on our interaction with the outside world.

     1. I agree Simon, reading this really brings it home how harmful our internal dialogue can be to ourselves and others. It just shows that it is not healthy for us to let the mind run riot with negative chit chat and it also makes me wonder what is the true state of health when the majority of people in the world do not know this.

395. It’s so scary to think that from a youngster negative thoughts had become the norm, so it is no surprise that lack of self worth was present, but the realisation that it is not others outside of ourselves that make us feel this way but us, is sobering.

396. ‘But if we refuse to listen to the internal chatter, and allow ourselves to feel and express our natural love, understanding, patience and acceptance of others and ourselves, we can send beneficial effects flowing throughout our physiology.’ Allowance and acceptance are true medicine which in turn allow us to express the love that we are without reaction.

397. A great point here, Dianne, that we create the most stress for ourselves in the ways we react to the world. The external things known as ‘stressors’ which have the potential to cause stress are all around us all the time, but the stress we experience is down to our own choice of how we process those potentials. Stopping and feeling my breath, and reconnecting with my body has been the way that I have been able start making a different choice and has greatly reduced my stress levels.

398. So good to read Dianne. We often spend so much time and effort blaming outside things that make us stressed, but never think about changing our inside reactions to it. Great point about our own internal dialogue that goes on as well, this gets overlooked too much as well.

399. A wake up call for all of us who blame life for our reactions! Brilliant.

400. Great article Dianne, ‘Ultimately it is we who choose to get or stay angry, sad, impatient, frustrated, worried, scared…. and it’s thus we ourselves who can change it.’ We have the choice to treat ourselves with the love, care and appreciation that we deserve. It is easy to blame the outside world for the way we feel, but how we move and are affects the way we see the world. Just like 2 people can walk into the same office or room and have 2 completely different experiences, so can we depending on what we are wanting to see. We can live a life reacting to everything or we can live observing life, allowing space to understand what is going on and so not reacting to it, but responding to what is needed. It is a completely different way to live, a lot less exhausting and well worth trying. Huge thanks to Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine for showing me, well reminding me, that we can indeed live and are designed to live in this way.

401. The clarity in your understanding of this subject Dianne really helped me explain this cycle of patterns with reactions to someone yesterday, for her to see how her reactions are affecting her negatively. This understanding of how we change physiologically with the negative internal dialogue shows how crucial it is to know that we are also able to change it if we choose to.

402. We blindly follow an image all at the expense of the body forced to try and live it.

403. I do agree that we ourselves are the greatest creators of the stress in our bodies Dianne. it is about how we respond to people and conduct ourselves through life. If we would be more aware of this fact and stop blaming the outside that it is the cause of it, would be a great start to reduce the stress we collectively subject ourselves to. It is in fact all a creation of the human mind, as in truth stress does not belong to our natural state of being.

404. “BUT … we react physiologically to our own thoughts and emotions!” So true. I can make myself feel so tensed and stressed just by my thoughts.

     1. And to add to that Lieke, in a way we know we are abusing our bodies with our thoughts, but ignore being consciously aware of this. Because if we would choose so, we are in the position to stop this abusive behaviour to ourselves immediately.

     2. And it is moving in stress and tension that feeds the thoughts to begin with.

        1. Yes very much so. And knowing this has given me a great tool to change my thoughts by changing the way I move my body.

     3. Agreed Lieke, actually so often, this is what makes me more stressed, instead of what’s actually going on outside of me.

405. What a great point, the fact that our body reacts with stress to negative self talk, jealousy and comparison, in short to all our emotions. What a health hazard are they then?

406. I learn so much when I read your blogs Dianne. I agree with you we are our own worst enemies when we make harming, reactionary, self destructing choices.

407. This is definitely so true “We basically program ourselves to be and remain stressed. So it’s necessary to put some work and commitment into changing the way we react to situations and people and to ourselves.” We can re-write the program – we hold the power within and all we have to do is choose to do it and commit.

     1. So true Tamara, it is factually very simple. Like the effort we have put in the programming ourselves to live a life in stress, so too do we have to put effort in the de-programming of it, and become aware in detail of the mechanics we have used to bring us into that stressed state of being.

408. Yet another brilliant blog Dianne – I love how you present the inextricable way that science is interwoven throughout our world/universe, in such a simple, natural and practical way – it all makes sense!

409. “Ultimately it is we who choose to get or stay angry, sad, impatient, frustrated, worried, scared…. and it’s thus we ourselves who can change it.” – It does boil down to being that simple!

     1. Too simple for some.

     2. so simple, it just might work !

     3. Super simple – we can’t escape our responsibility for how we are feeling at any given time. We always have a choice, expressed through how we are living moment by moment.

     4. Hence why we need to complicate it in order to resist it!

        1. And that is the simple truth of it all Liane.

410. Such an important lesson in knowing that it is our own reactions to that which happens around us which introduce the emotions and feeling afterwards, not the things around us in the first place.

411. I agree no amount of head knowledge has matched the what my body can feel. Learning to trust this has come from turning my back on it time and time again and realise ultimately that it was spot on.

412. So clear and relevant Dianne, and something we can all read and remind ourselves of every day. I love the support you give to everyone in opening up science in an every day talk way, and the way you describe the way the body functions. We then feel it in our bodies rather than just take in the knowledge, which is the whole point of your blog!

     1. Well said Joan – I totally agree and so appreciate Dianne’s natural and easy way of making sense of science to all.

413. This is a key to long term health and well-being, “the biggest form of stress is how we ourselves react to the situations and people that we say ’cause us stress’ ” It is so simple and virtually cost free, it is a dose of responsibility that would work wonders.

414. To know that we can be our own worst enemies or our own best friends totally cancels out the illusion of victimhood and raises the bar on self-responsibility. It is very empowering.

     1. Absolutely Jeanette, it is beautiful to feel how loving self-responsibility actual is!

        1. I know Giselle! Responsibility has the connotation of a burdensome thing, when in fact it is the exact opposite. It is in truth a joy.

        2. Is it that until we choose love for ourselves, responsibility cannot but fall into the burden basket, something we know we should do but would really rather not.

        3. I think so Giselle. Lack of self love reduces our sense of responsibility and increases apathy and laziness.

415. Dianne, you lay it out clearly and simply – I’d not truly considered that my negative thoughts stressed me but I’ve known it’s true deep down, and reading your blog gave me pause as I can feel how I can support myself by not buying into those thoughts and having an understanding a little more now if the science is really helpful thank you

416. What a wonderful reflection your commitment and willingness to heal must be to family, friends and others around you Doug. Each time you deeply appreciate just how far you have come you send even more wonderful healing endorphins flowing throughout you body. Way to go!!

     1. Yes Doug, one can never underestimate the healing power of appreciation, not only of ourselves but also of others…. this along with the magic and grandness of God that continually surrounds and supports us in our growth and understanding, certainly affords much for us to deeply appreciate.

417. Thank you again Diane, I love your writing, so clear and full of wisdom, leaving one with much to ponder on.

418. Dianne, today when I read the title to your article again ‘we hurt ourselves with reaction’, the magnitude of what you are saying really dawned on me. Most people are in reaction a lot of the time, we are like balls in pinball machines, flicking this way, firing that way, getting stuck in a rut and then getting ejected violently out, laying dormant for a moment before ricocheting off again only to rebound off another edge, and all of this reaction is so arduous for our poor old bodies, that eventually have no choice other than to get sick.

     1. You paint a pretty accurate picture with your analogy Alexis – it would be funny if it wasn’t so true!

419. You speak a truth that innately we all feel and know Dianne and that is that we make ourselves sick. Negative self-talk is a poison in the body and the more we drink the poison the sicker we become. It is no wonder that the body gets tired trying to eliminate all the poison we allow in.

420. I completely agree Dianne that one of the worst forms of stress is the negative internal talk, about others and about oneself. I didn’t need to read the list you wrote, I know it all from past experiences. As Chris James says, it’s like the chihuahua ( little dog yapping) that chatters in the head the whole time. Knowing that we can stop it gives us a choice to let it continue and react physiologically to it as you describe, or simply decide to stop it. The difference when it’s stopped is life changing.

     1. Agreed Gill, it is life changing. One thing I noticed though is that the internal talk doesn’t even have to be ‘negative’ for it to have a negative effect on my body. Just even thinking about how a situation might play out in the future is taxing.

        1. That’s such a great point Emily – both internal talk and circling thoughts whether they are ‘positive’ or ‘negative’ have the same outcome – they both equally drain our energy and leave us exhausted.

421. Thank you Dianne for the clear way you present the results of stress on our entire body. It makes it simple and very relatable to know how stress is not just a word bandied around to cover many attitudes, but has dire consequences upon us over time if not dealt with.
     “Stress releases hormones that affect our brain and immune system. Stress alters how many of what kind of immune cells are made, and imbalances lead to illness. Stress suppresses our immune system’s killer cells – we are therefore more susceptible to cancer and other diseases. Stress also tires out the systems that produce the hormones – like the adrenals – leading to exhaustion”.

422. Another great blog, Dianne, demystifying the intricacies of how our body works. It is a hugely significant point you make when you say, “the biggest form of stress is how we ourselves react to the situations and people that we say ’cause us stress’. Ultimately it is we who choose to get or stay angry, sad, impatient, frustrated, worried, scared…. and it’s thus we ourselves who can change it.”

423. Another great blog Dianne on a topic known by all – reactions! Understanding our reactions supports the return to true health through bringing self responsibility for all our choices. “We are our own worst enemies. We make ourselves sick. And we can also be our own greatest friends, and bring ourselves back to true health”.

424. I love this Dianne – “Our brains hear all the internal talk, and think it’s true,” It’s like a comedy! It just shows us how ridiculous it all is. And we do have the power to change our health and the way we feel simply by changing the quality of our thoughts. How empowering.

     1. It reminds me of that saying “in thought, word and deed”. The thoughts are the first layer, and the most powerful in then defining our expression and actions. If we connect our thoughts to how we are feeling in our body then it always stays grounded, connected to something real and personal, and less about the outside world, comparison, jealousy etc.

425. This is a perfectly timed article Dianne and I find that the detail you have expressed here to be really supportive on many levels, it is great to feel how far I have come and also how much further there is in feeling truly vital and ready for each day ahead.

426. Awesome blog Dianne once again. I love how you bring in the scientific facts about life and how we operate in it and make it so easy to understand and for it to make so much sense. There was so many points that jumped out but one I really loved was – “and our body wilts like a mistreated plant.” – all those thoughts and emotions going on internally have such a huge impact on how the body feels and what state of being we are left with after such abuse. When we turn that internal dialog into a bodily experience, bringing a dedicated awareness to each moment then yes I agree I have found my body response differently. Like you it is a consistent process and the depth to where this goes feels endless. Absolutely worth the effort.

427. “We basically program ourselves to be and remain stressed.” Wow Dianne that was an information I had to swallow . . . it is the way how I react and be with myself what made me ill – I never learned something so important at school.

428. Dianne thank you for scientifically explaining in simple terms how our body responds to negative internal talk and stress. It’s great to know we can alter this by becoming aware of how our body is moment to moment- can we feel our legs? Are our shoulders tight and curved in? Do we feel tension in our body? I know to now stop, feel me and breath my own gentle breath.

     1. ..and with such awareness of how our body is in any given moment we close the gap for any intruder to enter, as the space has not been given for such ill thought.

429. Dianne, I would have seriously loved to learn from you at school, whatever you present makes so much sense and it makes learning about science easy.

     1. I agree Fiona, when science is brought to life, and all about life, as Dianne brings it, we cannot but love it.

     2. and fun and interesting too ! I love it also.

     3. Yes, Dianne could write books about science that pertain to life and school curriculums that could change lives. The world at large might not be ready to integrate this way with science but when it is, there will be a body of work on stand-by.

     4. Here Here Fiona. Dianne brings a natural wonder of learning about science and shows that we can have a relationship with it too. It doesn’t matter to me now that I never did learn this at school. But through the wonder and wisdom of Dianne I now have a much greater appreciation for the whole world that is around me.

430. Another timely read as I remind myself how important it is to have loving thoughts because these actually make a difference not only to my own well being but the well being of others.

     1. For me that is a great reminder as well regarding loving thoughts. So often I still catch myself by having negative thoughts and it is my choice, which energy I allow and which not.

431. Reading your words Dianne I see us like a whole group of atoms, bouncing into each other, like drunks on a dodgem ride. And these reactions are by no means restricted to others, as you so accurately say, but can come down to simply the dialogue we have inside. No wonder the atoms are shaky. It is powerful then to see that these voices aren’t you and aren’t me. When we become more familiar with energy and our true thoughts, our molecules and cells can settle and chill as at last they no longer have to fight these intruders whose attitude just isn’t right.

432. Awesome Dianne – thank you for sharing your insight into science yet again. We always know these things from our own experience yet sometimes we don’t want to see it until there is ‘scientific evidence’, over time having that which we know innately confirmed can truly support us to trust ourselves further.

     1. I’d mirror that comment Michael. Diane’s writing is so powerful for me because it puts into words things that I have clearly felt before. It confirms my feelings, and encourages me to act on them by supporting them with some added technical information.

     2. True science is our ability to live the love that we are and use our bodies as the microscopes in which we peer into all that lies beneath the surface of our skin. Our bodies record in meticulous detail all that it lived and whether that has been lived with love or in absence to it. Thus it is our bodies that are the ‘high tech’ instruments that tell us what our clever human technology later confirms – that we are love and to live anything less than this light will have an impact on our physical forms, as these form are divinely designed to pulse in and with the All that is – love.

433. There is a clarity in the detail of your writing that makes everything so relatable. I used to think I couldn’t stop my reactions because they happened faster than I was aware of them and in the hurt I felt justified to feel the way I did. This is what I have found too Dianne “It began when I learned how to become aware of when I was racy and ahead of myself, then to stop and breathe gently. ” This made a huge difference to me because I could no longer allow myself to carry on in this racy way, it gave me the space to stop and feel what was really going on. It is still a work in progress but I rarely have the reactions that I used to have where I would be stuck in them for day or weeks or sometimes months.

434. Thank you Dianne this brings a true responsibility and scientific understanding of the effects of stress and reactions in our bodies that we know inside and is very empowering and supportive for our health and well being.

     1. Yes Tricia, it is very empowering to choose differently. In fact, there is scientific evidence that emotions / reactions are not it. My whole life I’ve actually been running on emotions when I look back. This has left me deeply exhausted and in order to have energy for life I used an enormous amount of sugar, dairy, mental stimulation along with intensive playing sports. For years and years this has been my normal – as it is for so many people. But fact is, not one moment of those I actually was Truly connected to my body which left – as I said – depleted. Stopping so many reactions and returning to a non-emotional way of life (without perfection) has braught me a completely different feel in life. A life that fullfils itself, rather than life having to fill up the emptiness(es) inside.

     2. Yes Tricia , and the point that we do already know, and yet tend to carry on with an unsustainable lifestyle is worth reflecting on.

435. The way you have further explained what happens with our thoughts Susan drives the point home even more, the fact that every thought is felt with every cell in our body…and from that we make choices, it’s a vicious cycle.

436. Well said Sally. That is very true. I don’t feel we talk about the implications of stress enough in society. Well, we hear about it a lot, but it is rarely suggested that we create it and are solely responsible for our choices to react.

437. Last line sums it all up ‘We are our own worst enemies. We make ourselves sick. And we can also be our own greatest friends, and bring ourselves back to true health.’
     We are entirely responsible for every choice we make.

     1. So true Elodie- “We are our own worst enemies. We make ourselves sick. And we can also be our own greatest friends, and bring ourselves back to true health.”
        When we know we have a choice and can bring ourselves back to true health, this is very empowering, and it is taking responsibility for our own health and not relying on others to fix it or stay a victim in it.

     2. Yes Elodie, the lesson is learn to love, not be at war with ourselves

     3. Elodie I love how you’ve highlighted this, everything is in our hands or more precisely the quality of our choices.

     4. Through honesty we can see the choices that we have made to lead to the quality of thoughts that we are having. Indeed Elodie we are responsible for how we feel and our state of health. There are no victims in this world, everything is result of the choices that we make.

     5. Sometimes I cringe at this ‘We are entirely responsible for every choice we make’ when I look at some of the choices I have made, but in another sense this is very empowering as it reminds us that we ARE in the driver’s seat of our lives and that even how we respond to situations is in our hands.

     6. And if the whole world stopped reacting, instantly we would resolve 99% of the issues that plague us and wipe out a multitude of illnesses and disease.

        1. Such a simple solution – a no-brainer! – yet most of us seem to think there is no easy solution and continue to remain stuck in our old ways. And so the cycle just keeps repeating.

        2. That would be great Kylie – in this case everybody would be totally responsible for all his or her actions. That would be wonderful, nobody to blame any more.

     7. In the end it is that simple, we are the sum of our choices.

     8. So true Elodie – there is no coincidence. We are the creator of everything and it is in our hands, what we choose – our light or the energy, which makes us sick.

     9. It’s a great line Elodie. To be a true friend of ourselves means that we need to acknowledge the huge part that we have played in our own poor health. Boy would that change things around in health (illness) care.

438. Dianne, this is so interesting and makes complete sense, ‘We tend to think stress comes from outside and the blame lies with someone else or some situation beyond our control. But the biggest form of stress is how we ourselves react to the situations and people’, what you have written is exactly what I observe, I used to get very stressed and used to blame the situation or a certain person, I find more and more that I stay calm in situations that could be considered ‘stressful’ and realise that its how I react that is key not the situation itself.

     1. Rebecca, it’s true what you say. It is possible for people to experience anxiety attacks and stress disorders, and contrary to what we believe, the source of the stress has nothing to do with anyone else, it is self induced.. Without self reflection and awareness, it is easy to be trapped in this vicious cycle.

     2. I agree Rebeccawingrave, stress always appeared to be from outside of myself that would bring more ways of trying to control what was uncontrollable! Exposing the blame-game in this has changed my understanding of stress and how much my reactions were the root cause of it! Oh- the games we play to keep us away from living with true responsibility and integrity!

439. Dianne as always, clear wisdom, shared clearly.

440. I do wonder if I would have really appreciated what it was to be racy before I became a student of Universal Medicine and the Way of the Livingness. And yet being in a state of raciness where my head is completely in control of every action I do is something I now appreciate to be quite destructive and not at all something I wish to allow. So to understand what actions make me racy is a completely crucial part of caring for my health and bringing myself greater wellbeing.

     1. I like this addition. Sometimes it is not special thoughts that harm myself, sometimes it can be a state like raciness.

        1. I find my body becomes racy when I am not present and I’m distracted by negative thoughts.

        2. And it is the raciness that then feeds the quality of thoughts we are having. Change the quality in which we move, we then change the quality of our thoughts.

        3. I agree Stephen and Felix, and knowing which of our choices causes us to go into raciness provides us with the foundation for making different choices that don’t stress us out.

        4. Raciness is insidious, it only takes a moment and you are off on the roller coaster in your mind and you can miss your turn when driving or some important step in something you are doing or something just told you. Something you would rather not do when sky diving.

     2. Dear Stephen I know raciness inside out and also to be ahead of myself. This was really harmful for my body and also exhausting. I appreciate that I have changed this way of being with myself step by step – this is an ongoing process. And I have to admit that I do love the stillness I have re-connected to instead. And so I am looking forward to deepening this connection in every movement I do and yes, that brought me a greater wellbeing.

     3. Great point Stephen… there are times when I welcome that raciness as it helps me drive through an overfull in tray or overwhelming to do list. While its very effective, I can also feel the impact it has on my body – setting the flywheel onto maximum speed, pushing myself… it all takes its toll. And then of course when I have finished, that raciness carries on, looking for something else to attach itself to until my body goes ‘hold on’ and suffers a mini crash. Very exposing pattern of behaviour!

        1. Nearly everybody is prone to driving themselves on the back of the nervous system or has at least experienced this and as you astutely note Simon ‘…welcome that raciness….’ The ‘mini crash’ though when I am honest is not so ‘mini’ as the crash can lead to more unsupportive choices, so the impact hits my body from the drive but it can also interfere with my sleep, what I choose to eat and ripple through my life in many more detrimental ways as it puts my body into ‘catch-up’ mode.

     4. I especially like your last sentence – it is really crucial to identify the actions, which make me racy. The better I can observe myself, the faster I know which action is causing what – more raciness or more stillness.

441. Dianne, a really great point that we don’t often consider how much reacting to situations hurts us. I know from my own sensitivity that I often react to what I witness or what goes on, my body feel like it’s been to war when this happens, so I can completely relate to what you share.

442. Dianne this is a timely and insightful post. It brings us back to basics: always remembering the intricate science of the body and how everything is connected. That when we allow ourselves to wallow in self doubt or play out different scenarios in our heads, our bodies feel this and there’s a consequence, physiologically. It’s good to be reminded that most stress comes from within, and it’s how we react to situations, and not the situation itself, that is the key determinant of how we experience life. A simple act of accepting a responsibility then beating ourselves up about whether or not we’re good enough, is self destructive both psychologically and physically. We can instead choose to release negative self-talk and replace it with deep self appreciation.Thank you for supporting us to be more self aware and discern the difference between having the knowledge and living it!

443. It does take over one’s life Susan, I agree, and I feel it is important to understand the level of commitment it takes to break this pattern and choose a different way. For me, this meant a complete change in how I was living, thinking, eating and sleeping just for starters – but as you say, definitely worth it, as not only does it support our health and wellbeing, it can open us up to a loving and joy-full way of being.

444. It seems that many people feel that they are simply victims of stress and are powerless to do anything about it. I was one of those people and my stress levels were particularly high when I was a young man. It has taken commitment and humility to learn that I am not a victim and that I play a full role in the creation of stress – but then, that I have the power to choose differently. This has become a key revelation in my life and an opening to the choice to live life in a truly self-loving way.

445. I wonder how many people pretty much live in that state of ‘fight or flight’ these days. The pace of life and of communication has grown exponentially in the last 30-40 years with our technological revolution and this means we must be more aware to choose time out, to have a ‘stop’ moment in our days and create a rhythm to our lives that allows our bodies to recover. I have to agree Dianne Trussell – that reaction is one of, if not the main cause of stress. It is a great thing to be aware of and to work on. Choosing not to react to life is truly empowering.

446. If we would really take into account that our thoughts have a reality for our body, would we then allow those thoughts? Would we allow ourselves to constantly drink poison once we know it is poison?

     1. Good point Felix. And what is stopping society from accepting that there are consequences for every single action we take no matter how big or small, our body is impacted regardless.

447. I can so relate to wilting like a mistreated plant. ‘ We express fear, hate, loathing, disappointment, self-negation, etc., and our body wilts like a mistreated plant.’ It is when I have allowed myself to be affected by something someone has said in an e:mail or conversation and it is like they have blown the wind out of my sails. I am more aware now of when this happens and can remind myself and support myself to stay full of myself and to come back to that fullness from within if I lose it. It is my awareness that allows for these changes and also a commitment to myself, knowing I am worth the effort and loving how `I feel through these choices and how then that affects my relationships and how I am able to be so much more in the world.

448. “The bit about “changing the way we react” is super important.” – I couldn’t agree more! Developing awareness, understanding and acceptance of myself and others with the support of Serge Benhayon and Esoteric Medicine has been a huge support and helps me daily to refine the way I respond to life, bringing more of the real me (love) to every situation and relationship.

449. This is such a great and important article Dianne, thank you. The fact of knowing that: “We are our own worst enemies. We make ourselves sick. And we can also be our own greatest friends, and bring ourselves back to true health.” is super important to taking responsibility and making changes for our selves and our lives.The seriousness of our thoughts and reactions and how they really affect our health is enormous, as stress is a major life health disorder and the cause of so much, and the beauty you bring to us by sharing how we can make changes to live differently is amazing, as it offers us the key to our health and well being in our own hands.

450. “We are our own worst enemies. We make ourselves sick. And we can also be our own greatest friends, and bring ourselves back to true health.”. This line sums it all up beautifully. What I get from your words Dianne is the fact that I’m the one who’s choosing stress (to react) rather than the outside world ‘doing’ something to me. It’s not new to me, but I can also feel that I’m asked to deepen my awareness and honesty when I’m in stress and when not. When I’m loving people and when not. Your example of the chatter inside our heads is a good one. I can relate to that. The chatter is very different when connected to Love or when not. Thank you Dianne.

451. Beautiful Dianne, there is much to be said for taking responsibility for our own reactions. Something we do not do enough of the time, for if we did the world would be a different place right now.

452. Great point Doug, using stress to become successful. It is like a drug we use that eventually burns us down.

     1. I guess we all do Doug….and how lovely to learn from it and to appreciate that it is already so much less!

453. A great article Dianne and a reminder of the harm negative thoughts can have on our wellbeing.

454. I love how knowing something and doing something are so very different. You have made this difference crystal clear in its science.

455. That was an awesome article Dianne and one I will make future reference to.

456. “We are our own worst enemies. We make ourselves sick. And we can also be our own greatest friends, and bring ourselves back to true health.” The sooner we can come to this, there can be no blame, as we accept how we are feeling in ourselves is all to do with how we are towards ourselves and not because of anything or any one else. Swallowing this can be challenging, but coming to this truth sure benefits us in the long run. Thank you Dianne for another practical blog and the links with our choices on our physicality.

     1. It does take a bit of work to truly accept the responsibility of all our thoughts and actions, but once done, the journey back begins.

457. You bring fantastic clarity to your blogs Dianne as always, they are so inspiring. The understanding of the feedback loop of stress of the body’s systems that keeps fuelling itself all the time, even when no longer needed, is crucial to understanding what is going on and how we sabotage ourselves and then feed the emotional reaction path. You show us how we can control ourselves by simply being aware of this process and stop the loop.

458. Dianne, I have recently observed how deceptive our thoughts patterns can be – for example I have chosen suicidal thoughts in the past, since taking greater responsibility for how I live, working on my self care and self appreciation and hence my feelings of self worth, I have laid these thoughts to rest, however what I am discovering is that when I do engage with negative thoughts today there is a familiar energy about them, a desire to find a way out. For me this confirms reincarnation, for I see how this is an engrained thread that I have been carrying for longer that just this life, a thought pattern that has moved with me through lifetimes. Lived, actioned responsibility is the key that will break with this destructive momentum.

     1. Powerful disclosure Lucindag, your honesty will help others reflect on the darker aspects of the mind and how it works. What you describe confirms that we can release self destructive thoughts, but always with an awareness of situations and events (both past and present) that can trigger them again. And when this happens, be assured that the love of the Divine is with us and offers another opportunity to clear out the old and take full responsibility for how we respond in the here and now.

459. There are actually courses which claim to help you harness your stress and make it work for you!
     Whilst knowing that I have a choice as to how I respond in any situation brings great personal responsibility, it also brings the potential for great freedom.

     1. Your reply started me pondering on how much the ‘stress-related’ industry must be worth, products and services to so-called prevent and relieve stress, It’s almost as though ‘stress’ has become an acceptable part of being an adult, a badge of office.
        That got me imagining a society where there was a large commercial sector built up to support people who jumped into a very large, deep pit filled with thick, foul smelling mud, helping them to get the stains from their clothes, protect their eyes and ears, use scent to override the stench….and then a child comes along and simply asks the adults why they are all following each other and jumping into the mud which clearly produces so many problems

460. It’s astonishing the chatter that goes on in one’s head and the unquestioning acceptance with which I allow them. This is a timely reminder for me Dianne of how important it is to clock the source of our responses and reactions, for by discerning these we can break this pattern of self abuse which magnifies through our every movement and plays havoc with the hormone, nervous and immune systems.

     1. This is a good point made here that yes, knowing there is this chatter in our head is one thing, but accepting it with no questions asked is another. If this were coming from an another person’s mouth it is unlikely we would pay any attention or certainly question its validity. it is great that the thoughts are now being outed for us to see them for the tricksters they really are.

461. It is so important and especially life-changing to gain a mastery over your thoughts. Just by saying ‘no’ to certain thoughts can have a huge effect on the day, but I never equated that to the stress levels in our bodies. However, this makes perfect sense and confirms even more the importance of self-love.

462. Thank you for your clear and concise sharing for those of us who don’t know scientific jargon, Dianne.

     1. Yes Roslyn that is what is so beautiful about Diane’s writing, she makes the scientific world accessible to all of us. With her natural ability to put things into everyday language she brings many subjects alive, making them clearly understandable, and often with great lightness and humour, her blogs are always a joy to read.

463. Running our bodies on stress has the same result as nitrous oxide in a racecar that makes it go real fast, but can destroy the engine from the excessive heat and pressure it causes in a very short time. When do we ever need to move that fast when life is a circle?

464. Wow Dianne what a powerful and also revealing blog. You wrote: “Our brains hear all the internal talk, and think it’s true, and obediently initiate the stress reactions through the hormone, nervous and immune systems.” That is a very helpful insight, as now I have a picture of my brain listening to my thoughts/talk. This picture stopped my negative and self bashing internal talk more easily.

465. ” the biggest form of stress is how we ourselves react”… This is an important statement as it shows we have the choice in the way we react or respond to a situation, which in turn affects our physiology. So we do have a hand at commanding our health and wellbeing, and much less so in blaming anything ‘out there’ for dis-ease or illness.

466. I love how you have brought to light a whole new aspect of what causes us to be ill. We can easily connect to ill health as being caused by food and lack of exercise and easily recognise the effects of stress. But to take it one step further and expose the internal dialogue as a big a killer as say sugar is revelatory. Facilitating in this blog for people to become even aware of their inner dialogue and then support them to go deeper and deeper in this connection with themselves is life changing for the world. Thank you Dianne.

467. ‘We are our own worst enemies. We make ourselves sick. And we can also be our own greatest friends, and bring ourselves back to true health.’ – taking our own health and wellbeing straight back to being our full responsibility – I love it Dianne.

468. Indeed our reactions can be our own worst enemy, and yet we are the only person that can be responsible for them. It is by taking responsibility for our reactions that we have the opportunity to change these ingrained behaviours. Awareness, honesty, self-acceptance and the willingness to change is the key.

469. Another great blog Dianne highlighting that we are responsible for our own bodies and for our stress responses. Through The Way of the Livingness, I have developed a relationship with my body that is loving and in which I am more aware of my ongoing thought patterns and responses in my body, which enable me to make choices that support me towards good health.

470. With the reference to ‘negative self talk’, I’m reminded that many years ago someone said: “‘I minds’ can’t take a joke”. I feel you are proving this in spades Dianne, I know for sure when ever I hear a disparaging comment said to someone in the ‘guise of humor’ how much it actually stings, and there are so many times I’ve wanted to say “ouch” out loud. Just standing by watching feels like I’m also adding to the sting.

     1. I agree Sandra, there are so many so called comedians and comedy shows that I just don’t want to watch or listen to now, for me they are one long ‘ouch’. The difference between laughing with people, not at them, becomes ever more clear.

471. That is awesome Doug, well done for such commitment and willingness to heal. This also shows the importance of accepting support, as it always assists us to heal much faster and on a deeper level.

     1. I agree Chan. Taking responsibility and seeking support is the only way forward for healing.

472. Great blog Dianne on the responsibility we all hold for our own health. Becoming aware that we are the ones that choose how we react in every situation, and knowing that these reaction determine our state of health, puts the responsibility back in our own hands.

473. Brilliant blog Dianne. Our reactions are what feeds the cycles of stress, anxiety, self-loathing, abuse etc. It is then our choice to not react but choose to reconnect to our natural state of harmony and stillness in our body. So, ultimately all the suffering and complaints we have are self-created because if we don’t react, things simply do not affect us. This highlight the power of our choices.

474. Awesome Dianne. Yes we are our own worst enemies and potentially our own best friends. It is just a matter of choice.

     1. Well said Kathryn, we have the ability to harm or heal with every choice.

     2. I have indulged and identified with a life of being my own worst enemy, Serge Benhayon has inspired me to rebind with my own best friend, there is another way.

475. “We react physiologically to our own thoughts and emotions!” We are so programmed in the blame game that to consciously accept that it is our reaction to life and to our thoughts that make our body respond in stress is a complete game changer. This is a revelation. Children in the classroom and on the playground exhibit this behaviour perfectly…their first response is that the argument was always somebody else’s fault. Ask them, or indeed adults, what was your contribution to the problem they/we find this a challenge to admit! I know that I am still personally challenged when in reaction about something…bringing it back to me and owning my reaction is a work in progress, but so worth taking the time for and very freeing in terms of getting rid of the stress and resentment held in my body.

     1. Beautiful and honest response Rachel. The lack of responsibility in our own contribution to situations is a sticking point for so many. This is an evolutionary piece of writing because it brings awareness and a realisation to another aspect of ourselves where we create illness and disease.

476. Thank you, Dianne, for reminding us how even our internal dialogue can cause stress and a constant level of anxiousness that affects our bodies daily and is a form of abuse. Clocking those thoughts and giving them no room to grow leaves us with the space to fully appreciate ourselves and honour our bodies.

     1. Absolutely Carmel. After reading this, I am now keen to further deepen my relationship with my body and connect to how it really feels – if it is not flowing and feeling spacious – then how I am behaving, what internal thoughts am I having to take it away from true health and vitality? My commitment to true health and wellbeing has gone to a deeper responsibility and awareness.

477. I can so easily relate to these words Dianne: “One of the worst forms of stress (in my humble opinion) is negative internal talk, about others and about oneself”. I was a master at negative self talk and it became such an ingrained behaviour that is has been one that has been challenging to remove from my life. It amazes me that we can be so hard on ourselves, running ourselves down constantly, but we would never speak to or treat another person in the same way. These days if the internal critic fires up, I simply ask myself – would you treat another person like this – and it stops me in my critical tracks.

     1. “…we would never speak to or treat another person in the same way.” Ingrid this is spot on and a dead giveaway this behaviour is not loving towards ourself as we are naturally loving and are very unlikely to say these words out loud. Great question to ask yourself!

     2. This is something so many people can relate to Ingrid and simply asking ourselves if we would treat another the same way is powerful. If we are all equal than that equality should be expressed lovingly to one and all including ourselves.

478. Yes, Sally, simplicity is the way forward on all different levels. It is not only healing for our bodies, it also allows us to come to brotherhood. Complexity hurts our bodies and keeps us individual and separated from others.

479. Dianne mentions at the end of the article how not entertaining the mental chatter is so important and how choosing love and acceptance is key to this, which can occur through body awareness. So much to elaborate on here I feel. When there is a consistency of awareness grounded in my body, the thoughts that want to come in and affect my body, simply cannot get in and disturb. Is it possible that the love and acceptance comes from that consistency, naturally arising from it, when the disturbing interfering energy is rendered naught? This feels important because it offers that there is nothing we need to do to become loving and accepting and that they are intrinsically there within us when we are choosing to be there within us in stillness and movement.

480. This is another awesome blog Dianne that really should be in every popular and prominent medical journal. There is also another blog, a part b, related to what is actually the physiological effect of bringing awareness and connection to our bodies, in terms of psycho-neuro-immunology, on stress hormones. Or if the science of this is not yet developed, surely this is where it needs to go as what you have clearly shown is how harming those hormones are for so many aspects of our mental and physical wellbeing.

481. Great point Sally, if we could feel the impact of a body in reaction it most certainly will encourage us to look at how and why we react as the damage it does affects much more than just our very precious bodies.

482. So true Dianne, we are our own worst enemies – choosing to annihilate ourselves, but we can also choose to be our own best friend, by making the choice to be self-loving, and this is the way to be the greatest friend to all others.

     1. I like what you said here Annie. Choosing to introduce and live with self-love and self-care is the greatest gift we can ever give ourselves.

483. This is an incredible piece on the science behind illness and disease, and the degree of self responsibility that is possible. The fact is, we can make ourselves sick and we know exactly how to do so. Crazy isn’t it, but what we are not willing to see is that we do it on a daily basis; stress, anxiousness, lack of self care, exercise, overeating, disregard, putting others first – there is a whole list of habits we are great at to actually put pressure on our bodies. But at what expense? To make ourselves sick and then to show the next person it is normal to get into this state? We always have a choice. And at any moment we can choose to be aware of how we treat ourselves and take responsibility for each movement – be it loving or harming.

     1. Yes hvmorden, you have highlighted the irresponsibility that we choose in reflecting to others the craziness of binge drinking, passing out smashed, high on drugs, or just plain bad eating, disregarding behaviours and treating ourselves poorly – we are not only killing ourselves, but making it ‘normal’ to do so, and weird if we don’t – how crazy is that.

        1. Absolutely Annie – However – I have in my own experience seen that with the way I live (no more partying/drinking/ poor diet) that I have had work colleagues around me start to take notice and even make their own choices, simply because they see that I am not as exhausted, hung over, moody ect. No one can tell anyone what to do, but we are always being watched and watching each other, and it only takes one person to live in a different way to make the next person consider their choices too. It is amazing the ripple effect we have on each other – and the opportunity to use that to support one another.

        2. The amount of energy we expend to numb ourselves from feeling to the point of self induced illness to stop us from living the true amazing person we all are is crazy.

     2. Yes hvmorden, it is very crazy and very hard to comprehend that we know how to “make ourselves sick”, and even with this awareness we continue to do so. Taking responsibility for the choices that we make and no longer blaming someone else, has the power to begin to change even the most deeply entrenched behaviours, and with this the quality of our lives.

        1. Choice is a powerful thing Ingrid, and when we do anything that is abusive to our bodies, we are making the choice to not be responsible. We say we ‘don’t know better’ – the fact is we do – our bodies speak to us all the time, and from that how we live is a response to that constant communication.

     3. “The fact is, we can make ourselves sick and we know exactly how to do so.” You’re so right hvmorden, responsibility is the medicine that will change the face of illness and disease.

     4. “The fact is, we can make ourselves sick and we know exactly how to do so.” This is shocking to read but it is true. And then as you say, to make this way of living ‘normal’ is even more irresponsible. I am glad I have met Universal Medicine and attend the presentations to support myself and many others to a true way of living, so a new normal can be established (and already is being).

484. Learning to feel love rather than being caught up in mind chatter is so important and in my experience it does have a very calming effect on the body. This makes sense now that Dianne has described the science behind it.

485. I’ve found that in being present with myself, I am very aware of the thoughts that enter. Sometimes there is a thought that just stands out, either being negative or a thought that is holding me back or disempowering myself.
     It has been great to write these down straight away then attempt to feel why this thought was there and where it came from because these thoughts are just not who I am. Often I am amazed at how ridiculous they are.
     If we are not care-full, we can get caught believing that the random negative thought is who we are and then identify with it.

486. The negative internal talk comes in many disguises. Attention is required to become aware of these different subtle ways we talk ourselves down.

     1. Yes Matthew this is true and I am now finding that as I have become more aware of the chatter it is now not so obvious to spot, but yet I can still feel it is there talking to me through the day ‘quietly’. This can at times lead me to take on more than my body feels to, as I pay more attention to my mind than my body. There is lots to consider in this article.

487. It comes down to responsibility and how much one is willing to take, when we allow ourselves to be less than the magnificent and powerful beings we are and the responsibility to reflect this to humanity, not only through words, but our lived way of being.

     1. Yes Thomas responsibility is not actually constricting and heavy like one would imagine. True responsibility is inspirational, empowering and our ticket to freedom.

        1. Responsibility as it is generally known and expressed carries a heaviness to it and is felt as a burden, whereas true responsibility is a joy, as you say Kathryn, “is inspirational, empowering and our ticket to freedom.”

488. We seem to be so disconnected from inner harmony and feeling good in the body that stress is actually the norm – it’s even celebrated to push our body beyond its capabilities to prove something. There are so many great reminders here for me Dianne about the realities of stress and what this means for my body, and that the choice is mine to turn this around. Putting the spotlight on the effects of negative thoughts was also very powerful.

489. Those negative thing we say to ourselves we think are important actually affect us physiologically as well as being mentally destructive. This blog makes a whole lot of sense and explains what I have experienced.

490. In my experience nothing escalates stress more than mental chatter. It makes any task much more complicated and exhausting and also more fearful than it ever truly is. I’ve experienced this many times and these days I can see the game for what it is. Observing this process going on makes is simpler to choose the next step, which is supportive to complete the task, rather than use nervous energy to avoid it or try and push through with anxiousness. A work in progress but definitely worth the awareness and my body feels so much lighter for this choice.

491. Beautiful Doug – thank you for sharing. That is very empowering and I realise the responsibility I have.

492. Over the years I have changed my internal chatter and it is no longer so negative. But on reading this blog and reflecting on my thoughts I can see that they still cause me stress. My thoughts are constantly about what I should do next and this causes tension as I am ahead of myself and not with what is present. My body is still in reaction and stress.

     1. Yes Nikki my internal chatter is a devil of a thing. I used to be hooked on it, caught in its infernal loop, unable to step out of it. I haven’t completely banned it from my life but now I have a marker. I know what it feels like to live without it, so when it shows its ugly head I make a conscious effort to ignore it and appreciate how far I have come.

     2. I can relate to this too Nikki. But by being more aware that this is what I am still choosing, I then have an opportunity to make a different choice.

     3. I have also experienced a reduction, or shall I say the intensity of my negative thoughts has lessened, and now I am becoming more aware of the slightest hint of self criticism and it is a choice not to go there – catching it sneaking in under the radar is the tricky bit. I also have to watch out for the thoughts Nikki which want to focus on all of the tasks I have to do during my working day, which like you have pointed out, can cause stress in our bodies. This is definitely a work in progress.

493. Ultimately we have the choice of how we respond and react to anything and it cannot be blamed on anything external. Reaction and stress are choices we make. I now have a deeper understanding that once that path has been chosen it takes commitment to get out of it because the path is well worn and is the easiest route. But at the end of the day I still have a choice.

     1. It is great Nikki, to realise not only that it is us who choose to react and get stressed with situations, but also that if we have resorted to this way for a long time, it may take a while for us to wean ourself out of the habit. And thus with this understanding and the care it calls for, avoid reacting to the fact that we are reacting!

        1. Yes, it pays to be gentle with ourselves and have understanding. Beating ourselves up because we have reacted makes it so much worse. When I have a commitment to being consistent I am much more gentle and kind with myself when I go back into those well used habits.

494. ‘We tend to think stress comes from outside and the blame lies with someone else or some situation beyond our control. But the biggest form of stress is how we ourselves react to the situations and people that we say ’cause us stress’. Spot on with what you have shared here and something I am feeling and learning more and more. Everything is us, our choices, nothing is another and instead of judging others what we first need to do is look at everything to do with us first. For example are we loving enough, are we communicating enough. …..

     1. Indeed Vicky, being responsible for your thoughts brings a greater understanding of where they come from and how they play with you and most interestingly how we only hear the parts we want to hear.

     2. Could it be that we become our own mini black hole and attract and or seek out those people that ‘cause us stress’? This just supports our ill choices and traps us in a vicious circle. When we step back and accept our responsibility in the process, it is the first step to break the cycle.

     3. This is so true Vicky and I am realising that part of that internal chatter is how we choose to blame others rather than look at why we are reacting to situations.

495. “But the biggest form of stress is how we ourselves react to the situations and people that we say ’cause us stress’. Ultimately it is we who choose to get or stay angry, sad, impatient, frustrated, worried, scared…. and it’s thus we ourselves who can change it.” This is so true Dianne. As the saying goes “it’s not what happens to you but how you handle it”. And as you say – it’s a choice we make.

     1. Beautifully put Deborah, I agree it’s how we respond to a situation that makes all the difference, we either harm with our reaction, or heal with our love.

        1. I agree Thomas. The choices even though at times it might be challenging is there to help or harm.

        2. Yes Thomas, the responsibility is always ours – Reaction or Response is the choice offered in every moment.
           “we either harm with our reaction, or heal with our love”.

     2. Yes, that is so true. We ultimately make the choice to react or not.

        1. Yes reactions are ugly and I saw first hand today that when I reacted I gave my power away and I wasn’t open at all to what was being offered. It made me acutely aware of the harm that we do when we behave like this as I could feel the discomfort in my body straight away and for hours afterwards. I also saw how it was a choice and how reaction was a familiar choice in that moment, whereas I could make a much more harmonious choice. Something to apply next time.

        2. I have experienced this many times too Shevon. What I have found is that when I am more connected to myself, I am less likely to react, I seem to be more able to make loving choices, but when I am already feeling out of balance, I tend to react to little things which then feels horrible for hours afterwards. It is our choice to react or not, but also what assist us to make more loving choices really boils down to how we choose to live, move and express.

     3. So true Deborah, the way we handle each and every situation through out our day is choice….a choice in the end to poison our selves or to allow our bodies to be filled with love/health.

496. This is such a great article Dianne! Highlighting the importance to not get caught up in our heads and actively work on staying present with the body. As you emphasise here, it is our minds that bring us all the inner devastation we at times go through and that greatly affects the body – so to celebrate the mind over the body does not work out. However I too fall for that again and again – it is such an ingrained pattern that I have learned growing up, and it takes patience and dedication to come out of it.

     1. Excellent point Judith, “it take patience and dedication to come out of it”, I get very frustrated with myself as I keep reacting to my family again and again, even though I want to stop and know it’s harmful. The patience part is what I have been missing, as this pattern of reacting is very old and ingrained, sometimes I don’t react, and those are the times one needs to deeply appreciate oneself, so when one falls back into reacting we can simply say ‘whoops’ and re-turn to a more loving way.

     2. Exactly Judith, it is an ingrained pattern for sure and something that starts when we are very young, so really important to bring this up with children when we notice the ways they talk themselves down.

        1. I agree Matthew, we need to be pointing it out every time we hear our children using negative talk toward themselves and others. Of course the way they see us behave will either show we are practicing what we preach or not, because our young people are observing us all of the time.

        2. Good point Matthew, especially as when we are children we sense and hear the negative tones our parents have with regards to themselves and others. This needs to be discussed openly.

     3. What I like about your sharing, Judith, is it shows how we are driven by the mind, but that what counts is the quality of dedication, patience and commitment to step by step get less taken by the mind and more and more guided by the body. I agree dedication to being present is the key and is a quality which when we choose it, supports us hugely. I relize, that I have to relearn dedication again versus giving up.

     4. So true Judith – the mind chatter (negative or in constant ‘doing mode’) is incessant and a very well worn groove we can stay deeply stuck in until there is an awareness of this and we are able to re-build an inner foundation within the body through conscious presence. Yes, it takes much work to re-imprint this, but so worth the joy it brings.

497. “We react physiologically to our own thoughts and emotions! Our brains hear all the internal talk, and think it’s true, and obediently initiate the stress reactions through the hormone, nervous and immune systems” – this makes so much sense of how we end up identifying ourselves with those thoughts and emotions, even though so often we do not even know where they came from in the first place.

498. Holding onto hurts guarantees reaction having a snowball effect that becomes big enough for me to say ‘You see, I am not a Son of God’. It is my indulgence, and I am ready to let it go.

499. “We are our own worst enemies. We make ourselves sick. And we can also be our own greatest friends, and bring ourselves back to true health.”

     The word that springs to mind here is choice, we always have a choice, by choosing to take little steps towards connecting, appreciating and loving our selves and our bodies, the effects and difference in the quality of our lives is huge – our bodies clearly reward us, so imagine what would happen when we dedicate ourselves to our bodies?

500. What has helped me the most in greatly reducing anxiety, stress and reaction is deeply accepting myself, appreciating and confirming the tender, sensitive and powerful man I am.

501. Through the work of Universal Medicine and their dedicated practitioners, for the first time in my life, I realise that I have a choice, a choice to choose love, being connected to my body and others. Before, I didn’t know I had a choice or option to not live in a constant state of anxiety, stress and reaction.

502. “One of the worst things about stress reactions is that the relevant body systems work in a feedback loop that can keep itself going, even when no longer needed. So, once we start down the stress and emotional reaction path, we keep feeding it, making it worse, ‘deepening the groove’. Then it’s difficult to get out of that vicious cycle. We basically program ourselves to be and remain stressed. So it’s necessary to put some work and commitment into changing the way we react to situations and people and to ourselves.”
     My understanding is that the pathways that carry and convey information become the well trod paths, so to speak and that when one has led a whole life time functioning and living in stress, anxiety and reaction to others and life, it becomes habitual and take some discipline and commitment to not living in that way. This is certainly my experience and every moment I have a choice, to choose to stay connected to my body and feel all my feelings and not leave my body and go into anxiety, stress and reaction.

503. “We are our own worst enemies. We make ourselves sick. And we can also be our own greatest friends, and bring ourselves back to true health.” This is so true and a great blog sharing what really goes on in our bodies from the reactions to life we allow and create as a way of living and how we have the power from our choices to change this lovingly when we understand what we are really doing to ourselves and the hurt stress causes our bodies and our lives .

504. The fact that we cause ourselves the stress we suffer is something most of us loath to admit, especially if most of it is coming from our own internal reactions to something outside of us. It is interesting to observe that something outside triggers us into stress but is is our way of living that perpectuates it to make it far worse than it actually is

505. I agree with your end: “We are our own worst enemies. We make ourselves sick. And we can also be our own greatest friends, and bring ourselves back to true health.” In fighting ourselves we lose our connection to ourselves and to God. Choosing the quality we move in can change this in the complete opposite.

506. I can only say: spot on! “We tend to think stress comes from outside and the blame lies with someone else or some situation beyond our control. But the biggest form of stress is how we ourselves react to the situations and people that we say ’cause us stress’. Ultimately it is we who choose to get or stay angry, sad, impatient, frustrated, worried, scared…. and it’s thus we ourselves who can change it.”

507. Love how You all put that into words and makes sense. Its so important to know about this and be more aware about it to be able to be our greatest, loving friends again.

508. Returning to your blog Dianne is great to refresh my memory of the damage I do to myself if I continue to depress my immune system and nervous system. I like your words “We are our own worst enemies. We make ourselves sick. And we can also be our own greatest friend and bring ourselves back to true health”. This is such a great reminder of this fact, and the need to let go of these bad habits as we become aware of them.

     1. Yes Roslyn, this certainly places our health back into our own hands.

509. I used to think that my thoughts were just my thoughts, but through studying Esoteric Medicine, as taught by Serge Benhayon, I became curious and started to ask, ‘where do my thoughts come from?’ That was the beginning of me seeing that my thoughts are things I can choose to believe or not, that have been fed to me over the years. Now I have more trust in my body and how it feels over the random negative thoughts that can still pop into my head.

     1. It is a great exercise to observe what happens to our bodies when we entertain certain thoughts and indulge in them. When we are sad, angry, reactive, frustrated and so on there is a definite hardening, emptiness or raciness that impacts. One of the key questions to ask then, if our thoughts are not ours, is where do the thoughts come from and why do we allow them to cause us ill health?

510. This is a really awesome blog Dianne.. you have explained so clearly the relationship between our thoughts and how they affect our physiology and how we are the ones responsible for them. When we invite in stress, negative thoughts and so on, our bodies do not remain immune. It is important that we realise when we are not choosing to express the love that we are, all the time, what it is we are in fact choosing!

     1. Yes, as you say Michelle, Dianne has outlined very clearly that if we are not expressing anything other than the love we are we are actually harming ourselves.

511. Internal chatter is something almost everyone experiences and yet there’s this overlooming perception that having voices in one’s head is crazy and something that shouldn’t be there. But it’s there and this fact needs to be talked about, because if we continue to ignore it and pretend it doesn’t exist, then we remain under the control of the energy that is feeding those unloving thoughts.

     Thank you Dianne for opening up this conversation, talking about the quality of our thoughts is needed, as then we can start to question – if I am still attracting negative thoughts then how is my body responding/reacting? It’s like a food intolerance test for our thoughts. I have found that the body reacts and moves a certain way, so if I clock that way of moving and change how I stand, sit or do a task, the thoughts and chatter have no ground to stand on.

     1. I love your very pragmatic and practical approach Leigh Matson! We can learn so much from honestly observing our bodies and behaviours. And once we clocked it we of course have the power to change it by making a different choice – simple really, but we all know it takes dedication to come out of a pattern, as they are usually quite ingrained.

     2. Great point Leigh, when we are allowing negative thoughts or reactions, our bodies take on a certain posture and movement, for example slouched, contracted, protected etc.
        By changing our posture, standing tall and or moving in a tender, gentle connected way, changes the negative thoughts. By treating our physiology as a whole and seeing that everything is connected and that our physical body and brain and thoughts are not separate, we can re-turn to becoming masters of our own health.

        1. I find it amazing how simple a thought can be evaporated simply by changing how we move. This completely explodes mental health treatment as we currently know it because if we addressed how the body is moving then how much mental illness could be avoided?

512. Great point Doug, every thought is a choice and it clearly is. I have been learning to not “believe” my thoughts, to be very clear that they are not mine and that I can choose to go with them or not, and that I can choose movements that move me into certain thoughts. It’s very empowering to live more and more the fact that movement determines our thoughts and that we do have a choice.

513. Heck yeah I can vouch for this, reacting to life, people, situations, even ourselves, and what we are feeling most definitely hurts us, it absolutely drains and exhausts the body, and also can lead to low moods or negative thoughts – purely from the fact you move (rushing, stressed) or sit in a way (collapsed, slouched ) that is not supportive to the body which invited all those thoughts in. An amazing support I have found with is the choice in how I move my body, a work in progress, but, when I choose to move for example gently, or sit with my chest open rather than collapsed, the thoughts change and I feel much more light, clear, delicate and joyful – I feel me. I also can observe life much more from this place.

514. Another powerfull, super informative and outstanding blog Dianne Trussell. I am always interested in what you write as I always learn more.
     I am currently at the end of studying Stress Consultant – Corporate and Professional and what is interesting is that there is no mention of changing the way we react. The other thing that I feel is super important but not addressed is the fact that negative self talk sends a message to our brain and the body changes its physiology as you say. This is huge and needs expanding on and I hope one day people like you Dianne will be quoted in courses instead of what there currently is.
     The main focus of stress management seems to be in my opinion, a band aid approach to fix the problem but not look at any underlying reason why the person has these stressors. Your blog has given me plenty and I plan to quote this in my assignment or exam as it is very appropriate. Thank You.

     1. I agree Bina Pattel, what Dianne Trussell has given to the world with this blog is gold.

     2. I agree Bina, what Dianne has brought to light in her blog should be taught on courses such as the one you are studying. We also need to remember that we are all teachers all of the time, and by living and moving in a way that is loving and connected and free from reaction, we are teaching and demonstrating to all others another way of being, people observe our movements and quality of them then what we say, and our movements have a far bigger impact of impression on another.

515. “We are our own worst enemies. We make ourselves sick. And we can also be our own greatest friends, and bring ourselves back to true health.” Thank you Dianne for bringing this great wisdom to all of us. Because what you present resonates with me as being true, this means to me that I can connect to this same source of wisdom and with that return to a body and being in true health, in which I will return to work together as one for the bigger plan which I am part of, but have ignored for so long.

516. I have always felt that stress is one of the worst things we can live with in our bodies, but for a long time I had no idea how to really tackle the stress that gets in and hangs on. To realise that I can change this by examining my self talk and to bring this back to the tiniest thing I say and accept within, is brilliant. Of course there are things I can do in big physical ways, breathing calmly and taking myself away from stressful situations, but it is enormously empowering to know that the true key rests with me and how I talk within.

517. “The nervous system (which includes the brain), the immune system and the hormone system all talk to each other, and take their cues from each other about how to ‘behave’, how to respond.” My first thought when I read this was: how arrogant and ignorant am I? I really have very little knowledge of the inner working of the human body.
     Then this sentence came to mind: “One of the worst forms of stress (in my humble opinion) is negative internal talk, about others and about oneself. It usually comes from comparison and/or jealousy.” I realise I have used negative self-talk for a long time to beat myself up. I am gradually learning to retrain my brain and to love, appreciate and accept myself and my life.

518. There is a lot that is now coming forward in the science field that is confirming that we are much more than just the physical body made up of cells etc. This newer area of psycho-neuro-immunology brings with it the understanding that we have a huge responsibility for our own health. I know many people are not ready to hear this message but as health budgets blow out around the world, it is something that can’t continually be shelved and I see anything that helps along the way eg research in this area, the better the outcome for all of humanity.

519. Stress breeds stress and is something I have come to learn myself. Blaming our external environment might lead us to seek a different situation, but ultimately if we don’t change our internal environment nothing changes. I have found that after working in a very stressful environment for 3 years, being tense, anxious, angry, frustrated….. had become a way of life – they were normal for me, so when I changed my job to get rid of the stress, I felt some initial relief but then still found myself reacting to tiny things as though they were hugely stressful. It takes a conscious effort to change that – to say no to the reactions and stay connected to our bodies in the here and now.

520. On the subject of the environment, society sees pollution as the variety of wastes like plastic bags, bottles and the general waste that we find in oceans, rivers or from the household, but the reactions of humans is also pollution to the environment. We fill the space around ourselves, at home or work, in fact anywhere with an energetic waste that leaves an imprint that we can feel, like walking into a room and you know you have been talked about by others, it’s literally in the air. We talk about being responsible to not leave physical waste around, but what if energetic waste was the cause of changing weather patters, rainfall and heat, would we start to be a little more considerate with how we live.

     1. To live with the level of awareness and responsibility you are speaking about here Matthew, to see how we pollute our homes, families, places of work and the environment with our negative thoughts about ourselves and others, is a big step, and shouldn’t be taken without a healthy foundation of self appreciation, love and acceptance.

521. Great blog Dianne, very easy to understand and makes so much sense. It’s shocking to think how many hours are spent with negative thoughts either about ourselves or others, and that this is contributing towards stress and ill health.

522. I find this subject really interesting Diane. How we respond to different or the same situations is based upon the ‘programs’ we have within our brain and body. A group of people can have a variety of responses to the same event, highlighting that a response is based upon life experiences and education. We are then confined to respond only from these parameters, but are these responses just reactions and are these reactions the very things that cause a negative impact on our body. Our body can then be viewed as a punching bag, suffering all the impact of a reaction. What if we simply observed an event and didn’t go into any reaction at all, leaving the body to remain neutral and rather reading life instead. There would be a lot less unnecessary waste of energy and less false reactions to pollute the environment.

     1. Giving ourselves a moment to process what is happening and respond instead of reacting, is an amazing tool to keep us in touch with our bodies and not ‘fly off the handle’ putting our body into a state of nervous tension.

     2. Great points Matthew, in order to observe and not react to a person or situation I need to be deeply connected to my body and hold an awareness of how I’m feeling, from that known and held quality there is a spaciousness inside of me that is known and from that I can simply observe life and respond from that. Without this connection I’m at the mercy of what ever is going on around me, and can only re-act to it.

523. Stress and exhaustion has become the new ‘norn’ this can be felt in society everywhere we go. It is the accepted norm to get out of bed every morning and need a coffee to get the going for the day even many children walk to school with a coffee or an energy drink in the hands. Re-connecting with our bodies and truly listening to the messages it offers us is the only way to change this. I know for me when I first felt my exhaustion and didn’t just push through I felt like I was a failure and weak as a person and that I should just eat a bag of lollies and keep on going as that was my pattern to eat sugar and get things done with no consideration to my body and what this life style was doing to my health. Through learning to love myself I have learnt to respect my body and now have respect for the amazing job my body does and for the most part I honour the messages it gives me. Messages of needing to sleep, rest, foods that support it or not and my thoughts and the impact they have on my body is huge one for me and as I retrain my thought pattern with the support of self-love my self-respect and self-nurturing deepens I am far more loving with my body and how I choose to live and express in the world.

524. Great article, It brings again more awareness to the effect on my body of all that I think, it isn’t just thinking but it is indeed a stress I put onto my body that isn’t needed.. there is a great thing to learn from this and that is to notice it and in those moments of stress in our bodies, reconnect and feel who we truly are.

525. Great blog Dianne,’ the biggest form of stress is how we react to situations and people, this is very true, I have found with this awareness I can feel the effect on my body much more clearly and with this comes empowerment and the opportunity to change.

     1. It is indeed very empowering to learn that it is not ‘the people’ or ‘the situation’ that is doing it to me, but it is ‘how I am choosing to respond to what is happening’ that determines my experience. It brings the responsibility home where it can be truly addressed.

     2. Very true ruthketnor, the biggest form of stress on the body is how we react to situations and people. Our reactions are either learnt behaviours or reactions we have developed as coping mechanisms as a result of our hurts that we are holding on to. My experience has been when I take responsibility for my feelings and choose to feel these hurts and release the pain of them, I feel freer to hold a deeper connection with myself, and from this connection I bring understanding and acceptance of myself and others.

526. It is through our minds that we drive our bodies to a state of dis-ease and exhaustion, from the loveless emotional chatter that comes from ‘our’ reaction to ‘our’ separation to Love. As in truth our bodies are designed to transmit Love and it is through our hearts that the qualities of Love flow effortlessly through our bodies. The activity that follows is then simply an emanation of Love.

     1. “It is through our minds that we drive our bodies to a state of dis-ease and exhaustion, from the loveless emotional chatter that comes from ‘our’ reaction to ‘our’ separation to Love. ”
        Thankyou for the simple explanation Carola.

527. “One of the worst forms of stress (in my humble opinion) is negative internal talk, about others and about oneself. It usually comes from comparison and/or jealousy.”

     The relentless and constant ‘self-battering’, and internal criticism and chatter we allow against ourselves and others in the form of our thoughts, must have an negative impact on our physiology, and therefore our health, as everything is energy.
     One then has to question where these thoughts come from as surly they cannot come from us as they have a serious impact on our health, and therefore if they are not from us we can choose to not listen to them.

528. “The nervous system (which includes the brain), the immune system and the hormone system all talk to each other, and take their cues from each other about how to ‘behave’, how to respond.”

     Reading this Dianne, was a moment of realization for me, that I cannot separate different parts of my life, I have been living in a way that I think its OK to allow myself to react to others and life situations, become anxious, and stressed. As long as I get my work done, am a good father and partner, exercise and do my bit Etc. its OK to react, get stressed and live in anxiety, right? This is so wrong and my body and immune system clearly shows me this, it is not responsible for me to allow myself to live in such a way, as it impacts on my body and those people I love and care about, and all that I come in contact with. The way I have described of living has become our normal way for the majority in society, and we have accepted this.

529. Dianne, love this article through which you clearly present the facts and truth of how it is we who make ourselves sick. As you have pointed out it is only us that gets angry, frustrated, worried, hurt, sad etc. as no-one truly make us behave this way. Yet when we do we find that our bodies do not feel relaxed, at ease, open, light and free. Through the presentations of Universal Medicine I have discovered how bringing awareness to feeling the qualities of Love within my body in contrast to how it is feeling when I react to situations and people is a powerful guide as to whether I am reacting with an emotion or responding in truth. I also have found, that ‘From there I can choose and move in a way that honours my body, moment by moment.’ I agree that this is an ongoing process that is well worth the effort as the quality we hold in our bodies is what we express and share with the world.

530. “But if we refuse to listen to the internal chatter, and allow ourselves to feel and express our natural love, understanding, patience and acceptance of others and ourselves, we can send beneficial effects flowing throughout our physiology.”

     We have a choice to listen and entertain our thoughts, which if we allow them, will keep us in a constant motion and state of anxiety being pulled from one thing to the next.
     We cannot directly stop our thoughts, but we can choose to not listen to them, and the images and pictures that come with them, dominate our lives. We can instead choose to connect to our bodies and the stillness that lies within, and listen to the deep and always honest wisdom that our bodies are always showing us.

     1. I feel we can stop our thoughts – not completely, granted, but it is entirely possible to say ‘no’ to negative thoughts, which stops them in their tracks and exposes them for what they are – utter drivel. We might need to say ‘no’ hundreds of times a day, but after a short while, this dedication to ourselves has an effect, the thoughts lessen in intensity but will never go away completely. This is something to accept – not the thoughts, but that we can never stop them completely – but knowing and accepting this means we can then let go of the need for them to stop, and use the awareness we have to support ourselves to constantly evolve so this tension doesn’t rule us anymore.

     2. The thoughts may come but it is what we do with them. I can either engage with thoughts of self doubt for example when it comes, or I can let it go and say “no, thanks”. I’m not sure how much choice we have in what thoughts may come, but we definitely have a choice in what we do with them when they do come.

531. “Three important regions of the brain are affected by stress hormones, and those brain regions are important for memory, learning, dealing with life, thinking, making sense of the world, fear, emotion, fight and flight…. so it’s definitely not a good thing for them to be continually stressed!”

     This revelation is amazing Dianne, when I’m feeling stressed about a task at work it becomes more difficult and challenging to do, or at times when the stress and anxiety is at its highest impossible to complete the task. In this state I cannot concentrate (think straight) or make sense of things, my brain does not function in its usual manner. This then creates frustration as I cannot complete the task, and with that more stress, anxiety and reaction and so this pattern loops around and around in ‘the stress cycle’.
     The way out is to stop the task, connect back to my body and surrender and deeply accept myself, without the self-criticism.

532. I absolutely loved your article Dianne, as you explained in simple terms the effect that reaction and stress has upon our bodies. It makes so much sense to how that has to affect our bodies and immune system, as its having a huge impact on it, your blog is exactly what I needed to read this morning, as another important step to letting go of the anxiety, stress and reacting to situations and people that I have been choosing my whole life, thank you.

     1. It’s quite incredible Thomas, that how we react can have an effect on our immunity. So dealing with the way we react and lessening the impact on our body could be seen like an injection or vaccination against the viruses that make us sick.

533. I love your blogs Dianne and the simplicity and lightness you present ‘serious’ subjects. Awesome reminder about the damages of the negative internal talk and its consequences to our bodies. As a wise friend keeps saying, ‘we are the gatekeepers’ to our own environment. And as you also brilliantly concluded, if this is so, we also have the key and the power to change it.

534. What a great article Dianne, it make so much sense when put like that – the way our internal world works… and that it is therefore US who initiate and perpetuate the things in our lives that are all too easy to complain about.

535. Internal chatter is a big one for me and for many of us I am sure. Internal chatter is part of the created images we have about a situation, what could happen, what we would like to happen etc. Internal chatter is like an annoying weed which can infiltrate everything if we are not careful and this is what takes us out of our conscious presence. When I am indulging in internal chatter I am not present with me. I love what you have shared here, Dianne.

     1. I agree Anne the internal chatter is certainly a force that is void of Love, one that drives us to think and behave in senseless ways that are not in line with the truth of who we are.

     2. What you say about ‘indulging in internal chatter’ is key here. It happens and will always be there to a certain extent, but if we say no to it rather than indulge in it, it cannot run rampant in our bodies, firing up our nervous system left, right and centre. Loving discipline to say no is definitely worth committing to.

     3. This was something that really used to plague me! I would always be putting myself down in the thoughts I allowed, constantly confirming my belief that I wasn’t good enough. Realising that thoughts, like everything else, is simply energy which doesn’t actually come from me but through me, was an incredibly liberating moment. This empowered me to start saying no to them. On the rare occasion I do have such thoughts I find it easier to dismiss them rather than indulge in them, ensuring that any effect on my body is minimised and then cleared.

     4. Well said Anne “internal chatter is like an annoying weed which can infiltrate everything if we are not careful”. And the fertile ground for this weed are the images we subscribe to that keep us in constant comparison of what we have to be instead of surrendering to who we are.

536. It is common to see stress as imposed from outside by circumstances but the fact that we have a choice about whether we react or not is so empowering. Thank you Dianne for articulating the negative self talk that plagues us all and demonstrating the positive impact of choosing to turn this around.

     1. Yes this is HUGE! I feel we negative self talk as a humanity far more than not. To shine a light on this and reveal that we don’t have to live this way, and to understand the health benefits when we do not talk ourselves down is a revelation.

537. That is a shocker: “Our brains hear all the internal talk, and think it’s true” – no wonder that my body is hurting! My thoughts ‘talked’ me into a stressed body. I found myself very much calming down and becoming still inside by focusing on my body and keeping my mind busy with the current movement, instead of thinking ahead or back. Needs some training and is so worth to do.

     1. This is a powerful point Sandra thank you for highlighting this. I have come to have realise that our minds do not govern us by having us think that it is it, it is everything, that what we think is who we are as I was led me to believe for many years. But rather that the mind is an equally important part of the body that allows us to action what is felt through the heart. This is a work in progress but I agree so worth it as even now my quality of living is far more loving and honoring of who I truly am.

     2. I love this Sandra – keeping our minds busy focusing on what we are doing, instead of indulging in the internal negative talk, is life-changing in its effects on our body.

     3. I agree Sandra, it does take a concerted effort to change the internal dialogue we have running in the background, but I too have found bringing focus to my movements does help calm the negative chatter, and thus reduces the stress to my body.

        1. Yeah. We have the tendency to try to control our mind and body, but by focusing on the body and letting the mind follow, it is more like a surrendering to a flow.

     4. Yes – learning that we can change our thoughts by changing our movements is a revelation. Learning that it is all about the body rather than the mind is another one!

     5. “Our brains hear all the internal talk, and think it’s true…” Yes Sandra, that is indeed a shocker. We have to be very discerning with the internal talk, rarely is it true and hardly is it helpful. If it’s lies, or abusive we must nominate that and treat it as such. I like to correct it by saying something to myself that is true and loving.

        1. When catching myself up by thinking I say internally: Stop! And if that is not enough, I say: Sit! (like to a dog). To bring back my attention to where I am right now and feel my body again can be fun 😉 .

538. Once we become stressed it takes a conscious effort to lift ourselves out of stress. I know that for me in the past that would be countered through extreme exercise or drinking alcohol. So many people reach for the wine bottle on a Friday evening, but does that really lift us out of stress or just load more stress on the body, thus heightening the stress response the next time?

     1. Yes Stephen, I’ve been pondering on the same thing. It’s often deemed as a celebration to open up a bottle of wine at the end of the week, or at the end of the day even, but really it’s a momentary alleviation of the stress that dominates throughout the day which will be there so so strongly if we are not taking responsibility for our reactions.

        1. Yes Katerina, I look back on my response to stress and use of alcohol to counter it and see how this was like a pressure valve that just built and built, I was adding more and more pressure by not addressing the stress, but blocking it through a stimulating substance that altered my body and took me further away from my homeostasis.

     2. I agree Stephen. Yesterday marked the beginning of our Easter break and many from work were going to the pub. Lots of people were talking about how tired they were, me included. I decided not to go to the pub, (I don’t drink alcohol anyway), and come home and get an early night. Today I feel great having had a good night’s rest. When I used to drink alcohol, it would just exacerbate the tiredness and give my body something else to deal with – a hang over and a restless night.

        1. I do find it interesting that people can acknowledge they are tired and stressed and that their way of dealing with this is by going to the pub. If they were to be honest could they really say that that is a way to help deal with their stress and exhaustion? When given the choice of a quiet night at home, perhaps a bath and early to bed, can you argue which one is more likely to help you with your stress? Perhaps the later option means you don’t escape yourself and you have to really feel what is going on – that may be too much, so the escape option takes preference.

     3. Great observation Stephen. When we try to bury the stress it doesn’t actually resolve it.. When we finally realise that we actually choose stress because it serves in some way and are not victims to it, then it supports in how we deal with it.

        1. It’s quite an observation Michelle and one that for many would be hard to accept. Yet I agree completely, it is almost like when things are good we can be looking for the self destruct button, some way to bring us back down. And perhaps also we look for too much stimulation from life, and the actual reward is in appreciating the everyday occurrences, that is where the magic of life actually lies.

        2. I love your statement here “the actual reward is in appreciating the everyday occurrences. That is where the magic of life actually lies. For me there is such joy in simplicity and in the small things.

539. Our brain listens to all our negative self-talk and as you say Dianne it thinks it is true and this is one of the worst forms of stress. If we introduce self love and appreciation, the brain listens to that too. It seems a no-brainer as to which one to choose… We are indeed our own worst enemy and can be our greatest friend. I know which I would prefer……

     1. It is so true Sue and this highlights that our bodies are our greatest friends, through which our greatest intelligence is known not from our minds but through our hearts.

     2. It does seem like a no brainer when we know the truth through a science, I now know it’s a no brainer because I know it through my body and a living way.

540. “But the biggest form of stress is how we ourselves react to the situations and people that we say ’cause us stress’. Ultimately it is we who choose to get or stay angry”. So true Dianne. Making a different choice is ultimately my responsibility.

     1. It’s such a freeing and empowering way to live — to know that ultimately we are the creators of our reactions and that blame won’t get us anywhere, apart from in deeper and deeper reaction. What shifts our paradigm entirely and our quality of life at every level is that taking of responsibility for everything we react to, everything we think and feel, and for everything that takes place around us.

541. I really enjoyed reading your blog Dianne. I love how you write “We tend to think stress comes from outside and the blame lies with someone else or some situation beyond our control. But the biggest form of stress is how we ourselves react to the situations and people that we say ’cause us stress’. Ultimately it is we who choose to get or stay angry, sad, impatient, frustrated, worried, scared…. and it’s thus we ourselves who can change it.”

     I can clearly see how I have taken this route a lot in the past, blaming this or that and all basically because I didn’t want to be responsible for my choices and thought that blaming was an easier way out. How wrong was I. In reading this blog, it makes me see and understand what an insult it is to my own body to cause this stress reaction and there is no one else to blame than me.

     1. I can raise my hand also Rosie for in the past not taking responsibility for my choices and going a step further by creating situations that would cause stress to keep the internal conflict engine running when I would run out of external things to blame. Other diseases affect different parts of our bodies depending on our choices like smoking, drinking or over eating… stress just cooks everything at the same time.

542. “We react physiologically to our own thoughts and emotions!” This is such an important line which shows that thoughts are not something intangible that don’t matter, but that thoughts are energy like everything else and impact our daily choices and with this our environment tremendously. It does matter what we think of ourselves and others, as energy manifests in our bodies and is expressed through the movement that it causes.

     1. I agree Rachel – it also predicts the interaction and outcome that will manifest in the future. Reaction is not a ‘truth’ and awareness of this supports us in not choosing to have it in our lives.

     2. Beautiful comment Rachel that offers a great expansion. It is so true – ‘thoughts are energy like everything else and impact our daily choices’. In realising this truth we can understand the importance of being responsible for what it is that we surrender to. As everything we choose, even if we think we are not choosing – we are choosing, has an effect on the way we are and as such the way we are with others.

     3. I love what you emphasize here with your comment Rachel! It is so easy to think that our thoughts are private and cannot affect anyone else and therefore we are “free” to think what ever we want. But this could not be further from the truth. We are responsible for everything – even our thoughts and this blog confirms that.

     4. Yes, our thought are not something secret we can hide when we think them, they have an impact on our own bodies, our movements and on others. Every move I make in my house behind closed doors, unseen by others, influences others around the world. This raises the level of responsibility we have.

543. Since listening to presentations by Serge Benhayon I am much more aware of how and when I react or respond to stress. I have a choice and do not have to be a victim of my own stress. Many situations or events call for a response, but I do not have to hang on to it and chew it over in my mind, which is exhausting.

     1. Universal Medicine has offered me the same awareness Mary, it’s opened up the path to true responsibility, and for me, how incredible it is to live with responsibility, at one stage it felt like a burden to think of being responsible, now I feel and see how expanding it is of my body and health and what it brings to all around me.

544. I love your article Dianne, it is a crucial subject we humans need to understand to rise from the misery we create for ourselves.

545. Yes, Dianne, stress is used often to project that it has been caused by an outside force, but this is totally incorrect because whatever we have in our body we are responsible for, by the choices of how we live our life. Isn’t it interesting that children can say ‘I have thoughts in my head that are telling me something that I know is not what I should be doing’. So why do we as adults believe those thoughts, especially those that tell us a negative perspective? Maybe those thoughts are leading us astray from living how we are meant to – simply and without any suffering?

546. Yet another brilliant blog Dianne – combining science with down to earth practical sense that always comes back to the simplicity of the body’s own innate wisdom.

547. I enjoyed reading the simplicity in which changing the process and inbuilt patterns for yourself began ..through getting to know your gentleness or opposite raciness and listening to what your body has to say. Our bodies are full of wisdom and we abuse them majorly when we fill them with reactive thoughts when they are otherwise made to flow accordingly with the quality of purity and flow that we naturally are.

548. Wow that was me.” “One of the worst forms of stress (in my humble opinion) is negative internal talk, about others and about oneself. It usually comes from comparison and/or jealousy.” Pretty much up until I read this blog, but so much more so in my early years, up until ten years ago when I first started working on my negativity and comparison. My self-loathing was acted out in a physical way, abusing my body from the outside, and self-put downs were huge and after reading this blog it stands out to me just how destructive my negative internal self-talk was on the inner workings of my body. Not to mention my negative outer expression.

     Having learnt to reconnect with my innermost and feel my essence has been an amazing experience, it was at first like floating in the clouds I felt so light and free, yet strong and powerful as I felt what was not me drift away. Connecting with the core of who I truly am has exposed who I am not – the cold harsh person my negative thoughts lead me to think I was.This has supported me to let go of old patterns and behaviors stemming from my buried hurts and gradually as I deepen my love for myself, I am able to feel when I am drifting back into old negative patterns and reconnect with the love that I am.

549. What an awesome blog Dianne, so simply and beautifully expressed about what we do to ourselves. A great reminder — thank you so much.

550. What a cool blog. It just makes so much sense, Negative thoughts do create havoc in our body…..which simply comes back to our choices……… which in turn, will affect our health and wellbeing.

     1. The destructive nature of negative thoughts is well known and probably everyone has experienced that. What if one day we even discover that positive thoughts may have a destructive effect on us?
        What if the whole process of thinking as such as we know it, positive or negative, keeps us from living our true nature that in its very essence is not thinking? Would then not every kind of thinking be destructive by deviating us away from being who we are? Of course this notion is difficult to grasp for a mind that only knows to think; actually it cannot figure out such possibility due to its mode of operation. But there is more to us than thinking, other ways of perception and knowing we can come back to and explore. There is already scientific evidence that we make choices before any brain activity has occurred, that our body responds to circumstances before the nervous system has processed the receiving information – definitely an interesting line of “thought” to explore further our true nature.

        1. Yes Alex I remember hearing about a scientific experiment over 20 years ago where they wired the brain up of different people to trigger a response to stand up and start walking at the switch of a button and when the person responded to the impulse they would ask them why they had stood up and where they were going and every person made up a different story after the fact.

        2. I loved what you said above. I definitely have recognized this for myself…..my body always responds to everything before my brain. Its like when you hear a door shut the body feels it way before the brain registers what happened.

     2. Agreed Jody, this is one super cool blog:)

551. The intensity of reacting is horrible to feel in your body, and it usually very obvious to see. But some like me, have become adept at layering niceness, calmness and hardness on top to ‘black out’ these reactive feelings. It can seem everything is fine on the surface but perhaps we could say these people are the most wounded, as reaction has become so intertwined, so everyday, so typical, so normal, they would not be aware that there is another way. Thank you Dianne for illuminating this subject with your loving microscope, in such a practical way.

     1. Layers to cover the reaction, for sure a strategy I know very well, not only to appear okay on the outside but to the point of fooling myself into believing that I am not reacting but observing – basically a reaction to a reaction.

        1. Haha . . . Yes Alex, I think we can all relate to this. I certainly can!

552. A beautiful thing about what you talk about Diane is that a single thought can turn around a life of stress and difficulty.

553. We can either choose a reaction from the past and repeat it again or stop and feel what we have been ignoring and address that. That indeed is an empowering moment, to complete that which has been over-ridden and ignored or that we have not wanted to take responsibility for in the past.

554. “One of the worst forms of stress (in my humble opinion) is negative internal talk, about others and about oneself”, so true Dianne. It is our responsibility and choice to feel, love, understand and accept ourselves and others so that we live the love and joy that
     is our natural essence. Difficult as it may be at times, the choice is always ours, always!

555. “We are our own worst enemies. We make ourselves sick. And we can also be our own greatest friends, and bring ourselves back to true health” This is so so true, thank you Dianne.

556. Love what you are sharing with us Dianne Trussell, makes heaps of sense and has made me look a little closer at how much negative chatter I actual allow in, as it can be the little things that can be just as dangerous as the big things.

     1. True Sarah, if we don’t cut the negative chatter, before we know it we are swamped in a landslide of negativity, overwhelm and stress.

        1. Yes ain’t that the truth Hanna! If we don’t cut the self criticism from the beginning we could be buried under an avalanche of negativity.

557. It is incredible how a single thought can set off a massive chain reaction internally, from the smallest of physiological changes like releasing chemicals or hormones to the movement of our physical structure and the thought that initiated so much to happen was never needed or was a false thought in the first place. What a waste, no wonder we get tired and exhausted.

558. So simple. Thank you, Dianne, for making so much sense of how the way we are with ourselves (not just what we do) is a medicine in itself.

559. Yesterday my son asked me: “Dad, what’s the point of going into space?” My reply was that there is no point and well done for asking a great question. What does this have to do with your blog Dianne? Well, we spend so much time and money looking outwards when it is so much needed to look inwards at ourselves. Stress, anxiety and not coping are huge worldwide issues. Stress is seen as ‘normal’ in society and that is just how life is, when it doesn’t need to be this way. Our bodies are being smashed daily with the way we live and react, as you have stated Dianne, which is the genesis of many of our health problems globally.

560. The choice is ours – how empowering is that. We can choose to react or not react. What we sense is true. Keeping it simple is a choice we can make and our body will be lighter as a result – absolutely worth the effort. Thanks Dianne.

     1. The reaction already comes after a choice to flow in an energy that is not at all natural to who we are and thus our reactions indulge us further into the depths of feeling lost or hurt. Knowing we have and make this choice is super empowering indeed, as we are then provided the space to observe more fully of ourselves and others and make the choices to be in the energy that we truly want to be in.

     2. Making our body lighter by choosing not to react will support us greatly to find our way out of the current seemingly unstoppable rise of illness and disease.

     3. “Keeping it simple is a choice…” – what a revelation and reminder ! Just that is life changing.

561. ‘We express fear, hate, loathing, disappointment, self-negation, etc., and our body wilts like a mistreated plant.’ Dianne you beautifully describe what I have witnessed in others and myself countless times. On the other hand, if the ‘plant’ is watered with care, love, appreciation and understanding, the positive effect is immediate. It really is up to us to observe our reactions and self-talk and to switch channels when the negative emerges, and seek help if stuck in a rut.

     1. This is so true ‘We express fear, hate, loathing, disappointment, self-negation, etc., and our body wilts like a mistreated plant.’ To me any negative expression feels like poison in my body as I feel it contract. It is absolutely my responsibility to choose Love consistently to retrain my brain every time I feel a negative thought come in. With tender love, understanding and appreciation of learning to open my heart to love again, my hurts and negativity are fading away.

562. We certainly can be our own greatest friends, bringing ourselves back to true health and harmony. I feel this more and more, as I commit to a deepening relationship with myself, feeling the depth of understanding and perception that I have should I only choose to engage with it and make it my way.

563. It is also true that if not caught, the emotional reaction can easily perpetuate into more and more reactions. Being super honest and coming back to the gentleness in the body is the most supportive way to shift the energy and come back to equilibrium.

     1. So true emmadanchin my experience has been if I don’t catch myself as soon as I go into negativity or any other reaction, it can easily perpetuate in more reactions, particularly when it is a result of me holding back my true expression, then I find it difficult to reconnect and feel back to the original reaction to nominate it and let it go. Choosing to be honest and expressing to others what I feel from my essence is something I am still working on.

564. It’s a great point Dianne, we damage ourselves by allowing an emotional reaction to take hold (as well as others around us). Just last night, I allowed disappointment to take hold and it ended up with me feeling frustration and impatience with my daughter. I took myself by the shoulders, metaphorically speaking, and calmed down, acknowledging how I felt and worked with myself to let it go, apologise to her for my reaction and claim myself back again. The fact that I verbalized this to her, she was able to receive it immediately and we were able to embrace, but the remnants of the reaction were still operating in my body throughout the night and there to feel this morning as I woke.

     1. You obviously have developed a very clear marker to know yourself by hence when applying honesty you can identify the elements that are not in line with your natural quality. Without such a marker or a clear knowing of oneself the arbitrariness of reactions, emotions or thoughts can be considered as normal just like weather changes we don´t expect to influence. From knowing ourselves we have direction, capability and responsibility to return to the harmony we innately are.

        1. This is a brilliant point Alex; I know myself, steadily now, as the wholeness and harmony that I am. And so, a deviation from this will quickly point me back to my natural quality.

565. So next time when we feel reaction and stress is coming our way. Stop. Go for a walk. Move in a way which supports our awesomeness and joy to be felt again. Thinking makes it even more complicated while moving brings it back to simplicity, and the body would thank us for that.

     1. Adele I agree. For me moving is a simple and supportive way to allow me to reconnect to my body and as a result the internal dialogue changes.

        1. Yes and we gift ourselves with the space to feel our bodies and our innate quality once more and hence not need to think ourselves out of anything but instead move again from the acceptance and beauty that is natural to us. This feels super simple in fact and possible for anyone to choose.

        2. Great point Adele thinking stresses and magnifies our reactions deepening them. Walking releases the stress and disarms the reaction freeing us to reconnect with our essence.

        3. What you have shared here hartanne60 is incredibly profound despite its simplicity – if we simply move with awareness, we can change the way we think…that is both amazing and so very liberating.

566. Our thoughts can attack or heal the body. What produces the quality of thoughts then? Thoughts are a part of the whole of our physicality, how we feel determines what thoughts run through us. The way we move in life, whether it is by walking, speaking, eating, sleeping, writing and more affect the quality of thoughts that govern our day. When the way we move affirms life for all, negative self talk will not even exist, and if these thoughts do happen to pass through us, they are so out of place from the amazingness that is our foundation, we simply would not indulge.

567. Another brilliant blog Dianne, thank you. Your explanation and understanding of stress is so simple to understand and makes it super clear to me just how important it is to deal with stress due to the impact it has on the body and its contribution to illness and disease.

568. Stress and exhaustion have become such a ‘normal’ part of modern life that we seldom stop to consider our contribution to it. Many people either push through or cop out. What you share is so simple, yet so profound – when we allow our thoughts (internal chatter) free reign in our head and our emotions an open door to our body, we stress and exhaust ourselves. We are able to stop this and choose a different way.

     1. Correct Carmin, stress, tiredness, exhaustion, not liking your job and many other societal norms are seen as normal. If everyone you meet is saying the same, why look for something different? It is only when our body gives up do we ask the question, when we could have asked it months, years or decades earlier. We have the power to change what happens to us.

     2. Yes we are so keen in finding outside stress situations and this article shares in a simple way that first of all we just have to turn the inner radio off and build a quality in our body that does not allow this chatter to determine our choices. As always, why focus on the outside if we have it all on the inside.

569. “One of the worst forms of stress… is negative internal talk about others and about oneself. …..But if we refuse to listen to the internal chatter, and allow ourselves to feel and express our natural love…” So there it is, it’s all about choice, about breaking those negative reactive thought patterns and coming back to our true natural state of being. And I love your summing up Dianne, “We are our own worst enemies. We make ourselves sick. And we can also be our own greatest friends and bring ourselves back to true health” – that’s true responsibility.

     1. You really have highlighted some of the many golden parts of this blog, thank you for getting them all in one place for me.

     2. Yes Deidre just to think the choice is ours to indulge in misery or not. If everyone was willing to see the truth in this . . . what a game changer that would be!

570. Science is a great thing, however it is showing us what already ‘is’ thereby science never creates anything but rather openly shares what already exists. Thereby a discovery is nothing new.

     Everyone knows that reactions feel awful in the body, yet how many of us actually take measures to minimise them from our lives. Many of us accept that it is a normal part of life and there isn’t much we can do to reduce the frequency that it occurs, because we are subjects of life. Science has shown us that having any sort of stress causes hormonal imbalances in the body which can cause illness and disease. Thereby I wouldn’t say this is a natural state the body should be in. Thereby excessive stress that causes illness and disease isn’t a normal occurrence for a human being. Making efforts to reduce reactions whenever possible and look at the reasons why we are reacting is self development at its best :).

571. Great article, particularly your point about the power of our self-talk to catalyse physiological responses and reactions. Knowing this gives us a choice about our level of responsibility for managing our internal chatter, a choice to keep it tidy and positive to the best of our ability, so the body doesn’t bear the brunt of our thought-full daydreams and dalliances.

     1. I love this Cathy, keeping our internal chatter tidy and positive. No difference to what it feels like if we leave our room messy and in disarray versus a room that has been joyfully kept tidy and spacious. We have the same choice with the thoughts we have, it’s our internal housekeeping that we and only we are the masters of.

572. We are the cause of our suffering and we are the remedy to that suffering – a question of choice, responsibility and power, all three going hand in hand.

573. “We are our own worst enemies. We make ourselves sick.” It is the oldest of all wars and the reason for every ugliness we are responsible for producing, inside and outside of us. Becoming our own best friend is part of the answer to healing the woes of the world.

     1. So true Alex. All the wars and conflicts raging in the world today and for centuries are a reflection of the internal conflict we grapple with every day, until we choose to heal this war with our love and understanding as you have expressed.

     2. Totally agree Alex. First and foremost we have to be our own best friend.

574. Other than our social or political systems, our organ systems actually talk with each other and serve all together the one unified purpose of caring for the health and wellbeing of the body. Such simple and natural collaboration supersedes by far so-called normal human behaviour and should be an inspiration to us, as it reflects the universal order at play, an order that provides harmony and balance, a state of being we all long for.

     1. Alex I love that reminder that the human body always seeks harmony between all the parts. And it follows that the mind, as a key component of this organism, can either support this harmony or not. If we are to fulfill our place in this grand harmony we must choose our thoughts carefully. Our body is therefore a finely tuned personalised marker of how we are either reacting to life or aligning to the harmony that we naturally are.

     2. Indeed Alex the bodies and the organs ability to naturally work in harmony is astounding. Yet when caught in the stress feedback loop all the systems seem to start working independently and hence an immune system attacking ourselves. It is so against our natural way of interdependence.

575. I consider negative internal talk to be one of the most hazardous plagues people suffer from with only one cure to heal it – a loving, understanding and appreciative attitude.

     1. I like what you have said here Alex, it adds serious weight to an issue that as a society we totally miss. We see the word plague and immediately consider something like the Plague or Ebola where many people suffered. What if ninety percent of the world is already infected with negative self talk, nervousness or anxiousness, isn’t this in plague proportions but we are doing nothing about addressing it.

     2. Oh I so agree Alex. Negative internal talk besides anything else is a total energy drainer. Whereas “a loving, understanding and appreciative attitude.” . . . can on the contrary be an real energy booster.

576. This is a brilliant article Dianne, thank you for your expression. I particularly love this part…”We are our own worst enemies. We make ourselves sick. And we can also be our own greatest friends, and bring ourselves back to true health.” I am definitely finding this to be true. I can choose patterns of behaviour that numb, disregard and create havoc in my body making me feel flat, dull, anxious and sick, or I can choose to see myself and my body as precious and worthy of loving care and choices that support me to stay connected and feeling light, vital and truly alive. I am learning not to judge myself when I make the former choice but to go deeper and bring understanding. Understanding feels like a great form of daily medicine 🙂

577. Another fascinating read Dianne… always questioning, explaining and inspiring through education, the power of the body and the responsibility we have to deepen our awareness, listen to it and treat it well.

     1. I love Dianne how you explain life and in this particular case the body’s response to stress in such a wholistic and inclusive way, easy for all to understand. There is such beauty and simplicity in how you present the interdependence in the universe.

578. “It began when I learned how to become aware of when I was racy and ahead of myself, then to stop and breathe gently.” Breathing gently is a great way to stop, to slow down our momentum in life, and to come back to ourselves and our bodies. It stops our focus being on the outside world and allows us to feel what is truly going on in our body – and from there we can choose to continue to react…or…we can choose what feels true for our bodies to do and follow that. Our bodies are so wise if only we listen to what they are continually offering us.

579. Our bodies are so finely tuned, and no detail of our life and the way we live is missed by our body – it responds to everything. As you share Dianne, our self talk can do so much harm…if we have a lack of self worth running our lives then we will constantly attract situations where we will be shown how it is playing out in our everyday – then it is up to us, it is our choice to learn from this and to make changes in the way we are with ourselves, or not. It is always our choice and our responsibility.

     1. Yes well said Paula, we create the situations that perpetrate the lack of self worth and then we blame them and others for the hurts this causes and the cycle keeps on going around and around until one day we realise that it is all of our own making. Our tragedies can be seen as very comical if we can step off the treadmill we have placed ourselves on and have a good laugh at our selves.

580. This is so true Dianne, “We are our own worst enemies”. We are the ones that make ourselves sick, that run ourselves down into exhaustion, and the owners of the incessant negative self chatter that is so very destructive. But we can also be the very best friend we could ever have, and in my experience this is when life begins to change in so many miraculous ways.

581. ‘We are our own worst enemies. We make ourselves sick. And we can also be our own greatest friends, and bring ourselves back to true health.’ Dianne, this is so empowering for us all. Thank you for sharing.

     1. Yes Jane, it is indeed very empowering to know that we can change a very harming and unpleasant experience and to have many tips about having a go. Thanks Dianne.

582. Another great blog Dianne, I have found that working on choosing to not buy into or react to the internal chatter is the first step to my being steady enough to deal with anything that does come up that usually causes stress. Having said that this is a timely blog because I did react last night and could instantly feel the detrimental effect this had on my physicality. And to think that this was almost a moment to moment way of being before I began my study of esoteric medicine as taught by Serge Benhayon, as I was totally in reaction to life.

     1. It was also a timely blog for me Kathleen, as I was actually going in and out of reaction the whole time I was reading it, as I was interrupted many times, it was very cool to feel the physical effect this had on me.

        1. Oh you make me laugh Sarah, as you reminded me of when I had lots of little children and very little sleep as I felt I was being interrupted all of the time even when dreaming. Little did I know then they may have been calling me back from my check-out-ness! Our reactions are often defending our right to drift off.

        2. Well said, there is always a message in everything that happens but I had no children today to blame, it was my husband!! Just joking but seriously, nothing is more important than anything else, so what is important is to appreciate what ever it is that you are doing at any time.

        3. Yes Sarah, to appreciate and be fully present with whatever we are doing is certainly the key to being steadier in our interactions with others.

        4. This can be challenging at times as the mind wants you to rank things and push harder in some circumstances but its a choice moment to moment, movement to posture.

        5. I know what you mean Sarah it is challenging because the mind is forever labeling and judging things/ people as being right and wrong, good or bad. It is for us to override the mind by and through our movements and, as you say, we can change our movements by changing our posture so we can return to being with our body and able to feel the source of the energy that we have been in or that is coming toward us. The mind cannot be used to discern energy only the body can. We observe through feeling not through thinking

        6. Thank you, I open another business tomorrow and have been quite stressed in how it is all going to come together, your words have reminded me of what is important.

        7. Yes Sarah it is true, the quality we are in at any given time is the most important thing we have to consider.

        8. Yes, quality is everything, along side movement and responsibility.

        9. Absolutely Sarah, movement and responsibility actually establish, confirm and hold steady the quality we are presenting in.

        10. Indeed, its all connected.

     2. Thanks Kathleen, a great reminder for me to not give power to my own internal chatter which can be incredibly vocal when given the chance.

        1. Yes Jane it becomes even more vocal when we entertain it in anyway, and very settled and at home if we think it is us thinking and that this is who we are.

        2. This is great Kathleen. There is no room for that internal chatter to get its feet under the table – it is never welcome in a body of love.

        3. I love this Jane “There is no room for that internal chatter to get its feet under the table – it is never welcome in a body of love” Yes! Yes! And therefore I am always on vigilance so as to ward off letting the internal chatter park it’s feet under my table!

583. Having been quick to react throughout my life, I was fascinated to witness in Serge Benhayon the possibility to remain loving, open, confident and harmonious regardless of what other people displayed. This has prompted me to notice what happens when people like me do react – as Dianne covers so well the harm to myself on all levels, and also the collateral damage around me. It is definitely an area worth looking at because this way of relating to life creates its own vicious cycle further and further away from the steady love, joy and harmony that is our true true expression.

     1. Me too, Golnaz. I have wasted so much energy being and creating collateral damages, and when I go into reaction it does actually feels like I have lost myself, so as Dianne suggests, choosing to deliberately and mechanically connect back to my own breath really makes sense.

        1. Yes Fumiyo, what hurts the most when I react, regardless of what or who I’ve reacted to, is the fact that I feel I have lost myself. It is a hard habit to break, but as Rosie shared in her comment, we can observe what feels great and what does not, and slowly start to make different choices in the moment.

     2. I have been inspired to not react and it’s actually been a hard habit to break… but the more and more that I make that choice, the more I know what feels great and what does not. It is amazing how the whole situation can play out completely different when there is no reaction but an understanding and acceptance.

584. ‘The bit about “changing the way we react” is super important. We tend to think stress comes from outside and the blame lies with someone else or some situation beyond our control. But the biggest form of stress is how we ourselves react to the situations and people that we say ’cause us stress’. Ultimately it is we who choose to get or stay angry, sad, impatient, frustrated, worried, scared…. and it’s thus we ourselves who can change it.’ This is super important to know. We are so caught up in th belief that things from the outside cause us stress while all along we basically choose stress.

     1. I have often wondered why others would not react when I do while we are all in the same situation. I used to think that perhaps the others were not as sensitive as I was, and not seeing what I was seeing – but this is not true, now I understand. I was holding onto my hurt and using that as a trigger point, letting that image dictate how I perceive the world to be, and that was actually stopping me from seeing and accepting the whole picture.

     2. This is such an interesting and challenging aspect that Dianne raised here. We basically choose stress and then react to the situations we have created by this choice. I love how it is all brought back to the body and with this to self-responsibility. No blame-game or victimization, it is simply a choice.

585. Thank you Dianne, yet again another scientific blog that makes me more curious to explore and understand my body.

586. I always enjoy reading your practical, down to earth science blogs that brings it into everyday life. This is something no doubt everyone has experienced, and becoming aware of the relationship and knock on effect of the body and mind has been life changing for me. Negative thoughts create tension in my body, but certain movements create the negative thoughts. Rather than trying to hunt for the answer in my mind (which is like a mouse on a wheel going nowhere) bringing the focus back to the quality of my body realigns the mind much quicker and simpler.

     1. So true Leigh when I am worried or rushed the way I move only seems to magnify or intensify the negative self-talk. To bring myself back to the quality of movement in my body quells the images of imminent diaster that my mind has.

        1. Thinking in worry or rush often has us moving in worry or rush then we hurt ourselves because we are not with ourselves, we’ve gone off into our minds with the worry and rush. Rather than going into the fight with the thoughts bringing it back to whats going on in the body stops all that dead. If we bring more focus towards how our body is moving and take notice when we are rushed and bumping into things rather than fobbing them off or discounting them as little things this can bring a huge change to the quality of our minds. What if mental health took this approach more rather than trying to battle a restless mind?

     2. Well said Leigh, we are so very keen on finding all the answers in our mind, trying to think us out of situations, but as energy flows through us all the time, we have to accept the fact that we don’t think and that it is the movement that determines the quality we have in our body. Our mind is aligned to the quality we have in our body and our quality is built through movement. This shows us the responsibility we have and also our power, and that we are not subject to outer circumstances.

587. Thank you Dianne. I love how you scientifically break down how energy is flowing through our body. This line sums up the choice we have to be open to the powerful effects of love and harmony within ourselves and with others………But if we refuse to listen to the internal chatter, and allow ourselves to feel and express our natural love, understanding, patience and acceptance of others and ourselves, we can send beneficial effects flowing throughout our physiology.

     1. Vicky, I too love the way Dianne dissects stress on a physiological level and it confirms for me the choices I make to allow this imposition on my body. It is so empowering to know that I choose my reactions and so too can I choose not to react!

        1. Great poing bernadetteglass. I had a dream last night that showed me the power of observation over re-action. The dream was revealing the energy of a place I had been to during the day. The place was intense as was this part of the dream. I went to re-act and then at the same time I felt the choice I had to not re-act. In that space, the observation, I immediately received why I was seeing what I was seeing. The dream stopped and I lay there appreciating the power that we have and how everything is here to support us.

        2. Beautiful Vicky. When we are open, completely open to be shown the truth of our lives, as you say ‘everything is here to support us’. Deeply beautiful and to be fully appreciated.

588. And I would have to agree with you that “one of the worst forms of stress…is negative internal talk, about others and about oneself”. The way you explain the physiological reaction to this “chatter” makes it super clear how important it is to cut that chatter as soon as it starts…speaking from personal experience it certainly doesn’t go away overnight – that’s like going to the gym once and expecting to be super fit immediately. It takes a bit of time and steady commitment to building that “cut the chatter” muscle but is so very worth it.

     1. Love it, my workout will now include building my ‘cut the chatter’ muscle on a regular basis!

        1. Ha ha, yes Helen, definitely an essential part of every workout 😉

     2. I love your comment Hannah, and the analogy of going to the gym to build the ‘cut the chatter’ muscle. It does take an ongoing commitment, but I agree is very much worth it.

589. This is such a clear and common sense explanation of why negative thoughts are so harmful. Thank you Dianne.

     1. and the article highlights to me that not only are negative thoughts self abusive mentally, they are actually physically abusive too.

590. “Ultimately it is we who choose to get or stay angry, sad, impatient, frustrated, worried, scared…. and it’s thus we ourselves who can change it.” – Absolutely spot on Dianne, thank you for another awesome article. So very on point and exactly what I needed to read this evening.

591. This is a great article Dianne that you have presented on the physiology of stress and challenges the common belief that stress is something outside of us that we have little control over. The practical steps in dealing with stress that you have shared are simple but very effective. Your concise and well structured description conveys much!

     1. Indeed Alannah, it is so important to realize that it is our reactions to the world that we actually have some control over. For as you say our reactions are our personalized ways that we have learnt, often in a maladaptive way to manage perceived threats to our sense of self or even physical self.

     2. Agree Alannah, to be presented with the fact that we are the creators of stress supports us immensely to be more aware of how we go through life and the situations we create. This article offers us to let go of controlling something we ourselves have set up.

     3. Yes Alannah, it brings a greater understanding and empowerment to how to handle stress, and most importantly know it only becomes an issue and more complex if you run with it.

592. “One of the worst forms of stress (in my humble opinion) is negative internal talk, about others and about oneself. It usually comes from comparison and/or jealousy. Things like: I’m no good. I can’t do that.” Ooh, I’ve done that so much up until the past 9 or 10 years. I suffered from low self esteem for most of my life, and I have now learned that I did it to myself! Ouch, ouch. It was my choice to have that internal dialogue with myself, but I could just as easily have made a different choice I now realise. How sad it is that we do this to ourselves.

     Since I met Serge Benhayon and attended presentations with Universal Medicine, I have let go of that awful pattern. I have learned to connect with my own innermost, and can now feel that I am so much more than I had ever realised in the past. And how amazingly easy it is to change my choice, yes, with some support from Universal Medicine practitioners over the years, and whenever I catch myself drifting a little back into that pattern, I just connect back to myself, and there is no more dialogue. Thank you for such a beautiful blog, Dianne, you have shared so many important points here, I will be reading this blog daily.

     1. What I love about reading your comment Beverley, and because I know that you are a mature woman, is that it just goes to show that it doesn’t matter how young or how old your are, you can always change and make different choices. I know there is an old saying that implies that you can’t change old habits or it’s harder to change patterns of behaviour once you are older and they are ingrained, but what I have seen with you and many others is that is totally not true.

593. “the biggest form of stress is how we ourselves react to the situations and people that we say ’cause us stress’. Ultimately it is we who choose to get or stay angry, sad, impatient, frustrated, worried, scared…. and it’s thus we ourselves who can change it.” How true Dianne, it is our choice how we react, if at all, to any situation. In other words, we are responsible for how we allow ourselves to become stressed due to our reactions to situations and people. It is up to us to make the choice to not react. You have shared how you use connection to your own body to feel what is going on when you begin to feel yourself become racy, stop and breathe gently before gently moving from that awareness, rather than reacting. Thank you for sharing, a great way to not become stressed.

     1. The body is always honest if not truthful, it calls out every tiny bit of disharmony for us to become aware of so that we can correct the course of lovelessness that produces the disharmony. We are the masters of our own making.

        1. Beautifully written Alex, our body along with all its illness and physical complaints, is our greatest friend and ally, it always has our best interests at heart, we only need to take note of the wisdom it imparts.

     2. Yes Beverley, the power of choosing that gentle delicate inbreath for ourselves will certainly support our outward expression.

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