One of the biggest hurdles I see us needing to overcome is the perspective that dis-ease and dis-order are signs that the body is failing us. It’s quite the opposite. Poor health is more of a battle cry and a sign that it is working very hard and quite possibly fighting for our lives!

While talking about the stress mechanism to a few people the other day, we got into genetic adaptions; often referred to as polymorphisms or SNP’s which stands for ‘single-nucleotide polymorphism’. In many conversations as well as online posts, I ‘hear’ people describing them as defects. Clearly another example of our negative thoughts about the body’s inability to survive … oh wait a minute, if I’m typing this and you’re reading it, then it’s fair to say each one of us is at least alive and surviving.

Where did we get this idea? How is it we wake up in the morning or look at ourselves in the mirror and actually believe the body is weak or faulty? Look, I get it …. many of us are unhappy with our current state of health but that doesn’t mean it’s deficient or limited in its ability to keep us alive. To be dis-eased means the body lacks ease. To be dis-abled means it’s limited in its ability. And to be dis-ordered means it’s lacking order …. these things I can agree with. When the body is struggling, and many are, it is clearly lacking ease, order and the ability to optimally function all of which leads to dis-comfort a.k.a. lack of comfort. If you’ve read prior posts or watched any of my YouTube videos, then you’ve heard me say this many times over and yet, it bears repeating until more and more of us make the shift from poor health equals failing. Maybe our thoughts are failing our body which is why we remain challenged with illness or at the very least, living with a collection of symptoms.

Let’s back up a sentence or two and review the genetic adaptations a.k.a. defects I mentioned. How many times have you heard: you get what you focus on. Now this could get a little deep so I’ll do what I can to be as concise as possible. However, I say this to people all the time and it wasn’t until I turned this phrase back around to myself that I began to see just how much I was in my own way. What do I mean by this? Well, having a goal, I took steps in the direction of that desired result; so, whenever I ‘d hear ‘you get what you focus on’, I would say, ‘yeah, I get it and I’m focusing on the prize’ even though I wasn’t accomplishing what I wanted. There were times I would feel let down and almost punished; although, I didn’t have it in me to ‘hang out in that space’ for very long.. So, I’d take the time to examine myself … explore the emotions and try to understand what was underneath all of it. In other words, with each let down, I was cast into self-exploration and what I ultimately surmised is my focus was not on the prize like it was on the negative self-talk | limiting beliefs; therefore, each time I took a step forward, I was undermining my own progress with feelings of ‘less than’, ‘not enough’, and so on. Well, it’s one thing to put on a face but if you don’t have the confidence to carry yourself boldly and filled with light, then the way the world perceives you is questionable. It brings up those times when you may have encountered someone and may have mentioned that something didn’t feel right about that person or even questioned their abilities. And because I was more wrapped up in questioning myself, that’s exactly what I got and experienced.

This was and is a valuable lesson and REALLY knowing what you’re focusing on means everything; and if you’re not getting the results you want, then consider each breakdown as a gift of time …. time to check-in on where you’re doubting and undermining your well-deserved success. It’s not the easiest task; yet, one I believe we’re being led to undertake for the sake of healing and growing!!

As above, so below…. As within, so without … As the Universe, so the Soul.

The external world is a reflection of our inner world and when we don’t get what we think we want, consider we just received something better, and the gift to being human is our awareness; the ability to go within and explore in order to return even stronger. No other species on the planet that I know of has this capability. We have the power to thrive which brings me back to the human body essentially surviving when it’s wired to thrive.

We’ve heard it countless times: mind over matter OR the body mind connection. This is real guys, and as I’ve brought up in previous posts, Dr. Bruce Lipton and others have successfully demonstrated our capacity to influence the health of our bodies.

These genetic adaptations are the body’s answer to the environment; both inside and out. Our internal environment goes through countless processes every day which means genes and cell receptors are adjusting as needed. A good example is the sleep cycle; what about stimulating an appetite or sending messages of fullness or for that matter, a woman’s monthly cycle. Each of these are signaled by our wired in messaging system. At the same time, the outside world is full of lipophilic messengers | chemicals that are both beneficial and not so much; therefore, this incoming information is interpreted and the appropriate adjustments are made. Depending on what it is and the way you ‘see things’, the message is either short-term or prolonged. No matter what, switches | genetic receptors are both activated and deactivated contingent upon the body’s needs for the purpose of signaling the production of inflammatory as well as anti-inflammatory chemicals. Again, all of this has to do with interpretation and perceived need.

None of this is bad. Truth be told, it’s quite good given the number of endocrine disruptors we’re exposed to on a daily basis which means oxidative stress serves a significant purpose. This is how inflammation is saving our lives. The difficulty we face has more to do with the way we view and doubt our nature because chronic negative thinking doesn’t give the body much of a chance to produce the anti-inflammatory chemicals. Essentially, we’re holding ourselves hostage. This degree of rigid thinking inhibits the ebb and flow of neurochemistry and actually compounds the issues as our bodies continually increase their production of inflammatory chemicals. This, however, does not mean our epigenome is static; not in the least.

Besides the internal processes, the things we’re exposed to on a daily basis differ, as do our moods and emotions. All of this factors into the way the methylation pathway sends signals which is why ‘a SNP is a snap’ (if you’ve submitted your saliva for a DNA test) … it’s simply a snapshot of what your body was doing at the time you spit into that tube. I can’t tell you how many people I’ve spoken to that believe their SNP’s are what’s causing their health issues.

First of all, unless you’re testing your epigenome every day, a SNP today may not be one tomorrow. There are countless studies on identical twins over several decades and even though their epigenomes were virtually identical at birth, each one adapted in their own unique way over the years to the point that nothing about the epigenome was the same. This is the perfect way to illustrate my point. These SNP’s are unique to the moment …

And

Secondly, even though health issues are the direct result of the stress mechanism signaling the need for inflammation, it is next to impossible, especially with these methylation tests, to confirm that any one or collection of SNP’s is the absolute cause of poor health. As a matter of fact, when they study various dis-eases and dis-orders, there are times when certain genes are indicated but not 100% of the time. What’s more, the color coding we see on genetic tests (and if you’re not familiar with them this should help), green is explained as ‘good’, yellow is potentially a problem, and red is considered bad. This is what I call ‘priming’ since we know those colors in other areas of life to be green equals health and red means danger. These are EXCELLENT marketing tools for anyone selling nutraceuticals for MTHFR and methylation issues; however, as I was saying, a ‘double defect’ | red SNP could mean the body is actually needing to deactivate those genes for one reason or another. An example of this is the angiotensin II receptor; which is activated when the fight or flight message is firing. At the same time, the DPP4 (dipeptidyl peptidase-4) gene which is responsible for the metabolism of gluten, is deactivated; hence, gluten sensitivity. While the body has the ability to reverse this deactivation when the threat of danger has passed, it’s not happening because the body is chronically taxed … mentally, emotionally and environmentally…. and needing to remain on high alert. How this is ultimately translated by the body is determined by the person's genetic wiring, lifestyle and above all, beliefs about what the body can and is doing

(Since gluten is a protein, I would like to point out that this is a great illustration of why I say, when stressed, the body is no longer able to fully break down and use glucose and proteins ….)

Nevertheless, it is becoming increasingly important to check our thoughts and beliefs and seek ways to not only adjust them but EMPOWER and BELIEVE them. I mean really own the fact that you’re here because your body is fighting for your right to live. Now it’s our job to help it thrive.

At this point, you’re invited to consider my online course ‘Breaking the Cycle of Disease Management’. You can take it in segments or purchase it all at one time. I take you on a brief journey covering health care in history up until today, segue into plants and medicine and finish up with nutrition. The intention with this program is to help us shift out of survival mode and find our way into experiencing a healthier life.