“Cease to be idle; cease to be unclean; cease to find fault one with another; cease to sleep longer than is needful; retire to they bed early that ye may not be weary; arise early, that your bodies and your minds may be invigorated." (D&C 88:124)
What I almost skipped over, until alarm bells went off in my head, is the line sandwiched in the middle that says: “cease to find fault one with another.” This doesn’t seem to have much to do with our physical health, but I figured if it is in the middle of this verse, it was no accident. So I meditated on it and I have come to the conclusion that finding fault one with another does, in fact, affect our health and others' health (even if we don't speak the words out loud).
My acupuncturist once told me that people in verbally abusive relationships were sick twice as often. I'm sure there is a study on this because I have read it elsewhere, but I don't have it for you at the moment. I do have something else though:
When I was pregnant I discovered a book called the Hidden Messages in Water. Masaru Emoto, a Japanese scientist did experiments on water by speaking different words to it, playing music, showing the water pictures, etc. He then froze and photographed the crystals that the water formed. The water that was spoken words of love and gratitude formed breathtakingly beautiful crystals. The water that was called bad names, exposed to heavy metal music, or shown disturbing images would not even form a crystal—the images looked like deformed blobs. And, interestingly, the deformed water was then prayed over or blessed and when refrozen and rephotographed, it formed beautiful crystals again.
He said all kinds of things to the water but he determined that the most beautiful crystals formed from the combination of love and gratitude.
This is a powerful visual testament to the effect that words have on our constitution, which is anywhere from 70-90% water, depending on your age. Babies in the womb start out almost 100% water.
Learning this during pregnancy was important to my journey. I made more conscious decisions about who I was around, the movies I watched, and I was even more aware of the looks that strangers gave me on the street. I smiled more, so people would smile back. I didn't want any negativity directed at me or my unborn child. My mantra during pregnancy was "Thank you body. Thank you baby. I love you baby." I know that my body and my baby were as healthy as they were because of this love and gratitude.
What are your experiences with this?
I just found this post from CJane about how positive words, thoughts and prayers saved her pregnancy. Check it out and please share your experiences with me.
I discovered that book about water a few years ago too, and I found it utterly fascinating!
ReplyDeleteIt reminded me of the sacrament and how the bread and water are prayed-over and blessed. I really believe that when we pray over the sacrament, it literally makes the bread and water (and once we eat them...us) more holy.
I think the same is true of the food we eat in our homes. Showing our gratitude for that food through prayer will alter the food/drinks in positive ways.