Finally: “Questioning our thoughts is a huge part of the mind-body connection,” Laird says. Essentially? Don’t believe everything you think.
So when a negative thought pops up, Laird suggests asking yourself a simple question. “Let me use an autoimmune flare as an example,” she shares. “The first time I have a flare, my mind will go, ‘Ugh, this is never gonna end. What damage is happening to your body right now? What did you do to cause it?’ It starts saying a lot of unhelpful things.”
Rather than spiraling down that rabbit hole, she shifts the narrative: “I’ll say to my mind, ‘What helped in the past for flares to pass more quickly? What nurtured me through that process, and what made it worse?’ I find that my mind likes to answer those questions; we just don’t ask our minds those questions that often.”
The key here is to interrupt those negative thoughts and redirect them before you believe them wholeheartedly. “[The mind’s] default is negative, and so it needs to be retrained to balance that with a more positive approach.”
