The Connection Between Our Skin and Emotions
The Connection Between Our Skin and Emotions
Did you ever hear about the Japanese researcher, Masaru Emoto’s experiment with water? He said that human consciousness has an effect on water and it could react to positive thoughts and words. He even said that polluted water could be cleaned through prayer and positive visualization.
Well, if 60% of our body consists of water, don’t you think we would also benefit from positive thoughts, words and visualization?
All too often, we obsess about our skin purely on the surface level – diets, expensive creams - even cosmetic surgeries, while forgetting that our emotions and thoughts are as equally important to our skin – and overall health.
In many ways I feel we’ve become so disconnected to ourselves – we’ve forgotten how to really listen to our bodies and we rely purely on the exterior.
We’ve become bombarded with media telling us ‘how to look young’ in order to sell us their latest miracle product that promises to clear all our worries away.
The problem is when we don’t feel our best, it doesn’t matter how many creams we buy or surgeries we do, we’ll still look in the mirror feeling less than great about ourselves – we’ll still feel like something is missing.
When we constantly fight against ourselves, or talk negatively to ourselves, this kickstarts an endless cycle of negative thought patterns that cause flare ups, acne, inflammation other skin ailments that just won't go away – no matter how hard we try. In fact, the more we stress about it, the worse it gets.
Dealing with the stresses of our everyday lives is not easy. The responsibilities we have nowadays are hard – our jobs, families, relationships and god knows what else, can be very overwhelming. I believe all these things can affect the quality of our skin in numerous ways. But what can we actually do?
Our skin is quite miraculous in the way it responds to us. Its ability to repair skin damage and completely heal itself rapidly is really amazing! Think about it, you can get a cut and it heals itself in a matter of days. Our body is our friend, and it is doing its best – sometimes all it needs is a little encouragement.
What if I told you that there might be another magical potion that could help heal your skin – no I’m not talking about one of my skincare products this time, (although those will probably help too) I’m talking about healing on a much, much deeper level… and that is becoming friends with your skin.
What does a good friend do? A good friend listens, encourages, talks lovingly, and treats their friend with the care that she/he deserves.
What if we actually talked to our skin this way?
It took me a while to talk lovingly to myself. I struggled with acne, and various skin sensitivities for years in my adolescent and got down on myself for not looking the way I wanted to.
In many ways, I was in a war – with my skin.
After years of self-reflection, I started coming to terms with my skin, and as crazy as it sounds, it wasn’t until I came to peace with it - when I finally let go of controlling it, it was then that my skin started healing.
Although, my skin isn't perfect, I’ve finally found a way to actually love my skin! Realizing it's a journey and that it's not about perfection is key. But, I believe this love has a lot to do with thoughts and self-talk. I believe by incorporating some loving talk and thoughts to ourselves, we can help our skin – not to mention our overall wellbeing.
JOURNALING
Journaling is one of the best tools to de-clutter your mind. What is going on in your life right now? What are your fears, your worries and stresses? How do you REALLY feel? By journaling, you create more space in your mind. It will also give you some self-reflection, watch for patterns and learn more about yourself and figure out what could be causing your skin to suffer.
LISTEN TO YOUR SKIN
Everything that is going on with your skin – is the skin’s way of communicating with you. It’s easy to follow the latest health and skin advice without really knowing if it’s right for you or your skin. Of course, we can all agree that spending hours in the sun without sunscreen, or lathering our skin with toxic skincare products, is not the best for your skin, but the truth is, our skin is unique and the key is to learn how to listen to what YOUR skin telling you.
We’ve become so used to hearing what we should or should not do for our health, that we forget to listen to what our unique body needs. Do you need to change your diet? Drink more water? Would your skin benefit from more exercise and spending more time out in nature? Ask your skin what it needs, and see what comes to you. You can become more in tuned to your skins needs by watching, listening and learning.
SMILE
There is actually evidence that smiling leads to happiness. Smiling can actually have a positive impact on your skin because the act of smiling activates neural messaging to your brain releasing feel-good chemicals like dopamine and endorphins.
So I encourage you, even on days you don’t feel like it at all, start the day by looking at yourself in the mirror, look yourself directly in the eyes, stand tall and greet yourself with a big smile. If you’re having a hard time with it, just try to remember a time when you felt really happy or fulfilled.
VISUALIZE YOURSELF WITH CLEAR SKIN
I’m a believer in the art of visualization and I believe it to be a powerful tool to create anything you want in life. When it comes to your skin, there is no difference and by visualizing yourself with clear skin, you can achieve it.
You can do this visualization at any time, but the important part is to be clear with your intention.
Close your eyes and imagine your skin clear, vibrant, healthy and glowing. Imagine that the water you’re washing your face with is healing water and with every drop that touches your face, you’re literally washing away your unwanted skin “issues” revealing healthy, radiant skin. Visualize touching your skin and it feeling soft and smooth.
Visualize everyone you encounter telling you, you have healthy, beautiful skin. You can do this visualization as often as you want, in fact, the more often you do it, the faster your skin can heal.
TALK LOVINGLY TO YOURSELF
This is not just important for your skin, but your whole being! If you look in the mirror and tell yourself that your skin looks so bad, or that you’re too fat or have too many wrinkles. What messages are you sending your skin and your body? For anyone who suffers with body image or skin issues, I know how difficult this seems, because in that mental state, if you tell yourself you’re beautiful you feel like you’re lying to yourself…
But we can reprogram our negative thought patterns and change the way we choose to look at things to help empower ourselves.
Start by saying positive affirmations such as: I am radiant, I have healthy, clear skin. I am beautiful. We really do influence the world by our words, and by affirming it we’re restructuring the dynamics of our brains.
DON’T STRESS
Suffering from acne? Skin issues? Do you believe you can do anything about it? If you tell yourself you can’t, guess what? You probably can’t.
Please know that you have the power to heal yourself. Believe it!
Whatever you’re going through – be gentle with yourself, and know it’s only temporary.
And if you can’t do anything about it – then don’t stress! Instead, CHANGE the way you look at it. Accept yourself as you are – make peace with yourself. Be grateful for your body and how year after year it’s been taking care of you. And guess what? When you stop focusing on the negative and find acceptance within yourself, things usually get dramatically better.
GRATITUDE LIST
Each night before bed, write down three things you’re grateful for. It doesn’t have to be major things, just write down what comes to you. By practicing gratitude regularly, you’ll automatically start changing your vibration. It’s also amazing for days when you’re feeling low – you can go through your list and remember what’s truly important in your life.
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We often don’t give our skin the credit it deserves and yet it’s the most authentic mirror to what is really going on inside our bodies. When we care for ourselves, below the surface, our skin responds in great ways on top.
I hope this article helped you see just how much our bodies, skin and emotions are connected. I'm sure it sounds crazy to some and there was a time I was skeptical too.
However, I encourage you to incorporate some skin positivity in your life, because it certainly helped me.
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Love,
