Chattanooga Pulse

We have kicked off the year with discussions about wellness—trusting our “internal healer” and putting ourselves in the driver’s seat for our psychological and physical health; understanding how thoughts lead to words lead to actions lead to one’s reality; the power and energy of intentions, meditation, and prayer; and the importance of mind, body, and spiritual balance in one’s life.  (Check out the past few columns of “Shrink Rap” if you missed any of this.)

Now I want to round out this wellness month with a discussion about the power of a positive attitude.  Have you ever noticed that people with a positive attitude tend to hang out together and people with a negative attitude also hang out together? The people in the positive group tend to look at the negative group as complainers, while the negative group tends to view the positive group as naïve, unrealistic, or overly “cheery”.

Consider this:  a person’s perspective determines his or her reality. You’ve been reading in this column about thoughts, words, and deeds creating your reality.  Well, what’s behind these?  Your attitude about yourself and your life! Positive folks often face the same challenges as negative folks, except that negative people have their thoughts and energies focused on the problems and the consequences of the problems, while positive people focus their thoughts and energies on succeeding despite the problems.  Having a positive attitude makes a significant difference not only in a person’s level of success, but also in their enjoyment of life.  I’d suggest to you that we have much more power to change our reality than most of us realize!

Is it always easy to keep a positive outlook on life?  Of course not.  So how does one turn a negative attitude into a positive one? The same way someone with a positive attitude maintains it.  By reducing and eliminating negative influences in your life, and embracing positive ones. We’re bombarded with messages throughout the day and night. Some of them are healthy and some of them are just plain bad for you. We get “messages” from family, friends, co-workers, radio, newspaper, TV, music, the Internet, billboards, books, magazines, and any number of other sources. If YOU don’t decide what goes into your head, then someone else will.

Michael Beck, a well-known business coach and motivational speaker, offers these tips for creating a negative-to-positive shift:

Eliminate the Negatives
• Read the newspaper discriminately
• Watch less TV news
• Stop seeking the negative on the Internet
• Stop hanging around negative people

Introduce Positives
• Start hanging around positive people
• Start reading motivational or inspirational books—biographies, personal growth, success principles, etc.
• Start listening to CDs—motivational, personal growth, uplifting music, etc.

And also, this week, I want to invite you to be part of a place that strives to incorporate and actualize all of these topics and more.

My new mind/body/spirit wellness center,  “Well Nest,” is the culmination of a 20-year dream to offer several holistic modalities for healing and wellbeing under one roof.  It is the first stage of what I hope to develop over the years into an ever-evolving, growing center where people can address their mental, physical, and spiritual needs in a safe, comfortable environment, guided and supported by caring professionals and experts in their fields.

Well Nest offers individual psychotherapy, relationship counseling, clinical hypnotherapy, meditation and yoga classes, massage therapy (including reflexology, hot stone, and couple’s massage), diverse support groups (such as relationship, empowerment, bereavement, healing), and educational seminars (everything from nutrition, to spirituality, to local author readings).  Groups and classes are largely based upon community need and request, so I invite you to engage with us at Well Nest, and be a part of building this creative support system for Chattanooga.  You may want to utilize the services, teach a class, or facilitate wellness in a personal and unique way.  Let’s talk.

The grand opening is Saturday, January 30, from 2 – 6 pm, in East Ridge.  I hope you’ll join me for live music, local art, hot mulled cider, and good conversation with the Well Nest practitioners, who can answer your questions about all of the above healing modalities and more.  Call or write for directions:  (423) 326-7099, or DrRPH@aol.com.  Also, the new web-site will be launched soon and it’s a good way to stay in touch.  Visit www.WellNestChattanooga.com.

I truly believe that Well Nest, as but one example, is manifesting because enough people with positive attitudes and energy have wanted to create such a place.

I hope this starts you on a conscious path toward more of the wonderful that awaits your life.

Until next time:  “Why seek elsewhere for excitation, entertainment, or distraction when life is always unfolding here and now, and there is no place better and no other time?”  — Jon Kabat-Zinn