by Anitra Lahiri

Created on: December 30, 2008

We were fourteen weeks into our first pregnancy, and I had felt physically healthy all along. We were ecstatic when we went to the midwife to hear the baby's heartbeat. There we were, listening intently as the midwife held the doppler to my abdomen. We waited and waited. But there was no sound. As my heart beat faster, the silence beyond it became deafening. What could this mean? We then went to have an ultrasound, and as I lay there, blood pumping through my veins at a rate so fast I thought surely it would kill me, we stared at the ultrasound, and then before us was the image of emptiness. There was nothing there- a placenta, a sac, but no child. We later understood that I had miscarried very early on and had a "missed miscarriage", a miscarriage that my body refused to acknowledge or expel.

It seems like a sad story. Yet, this experience proved to me without a doubt the absolute power of the mind over our bodies and the deep interconnectedness among mind, body, and spirit. After grieving, I was able to look back on the experience and realize something profound: From the moment we conceived, I was overwhelmed with fear, and this fear permeated not only my mind, but also my heart and body. I had a fear of something going wrong, of birth defects, of my own power as a pregnant woman, and even a fear of motherhood. My mind focused, and my body reacted. Though there is no doubt that sometimes we have little control over our physiology (the toddler who suffers from brain cancer), often times our spirit and mind are the primary cause of illness and disease.

We create our reality by the way in which we react to the circumstances of our life. Yes, we are born into certain families, we experience events and problems that are out of our control, but the way we react to these, our perceptions of them, is completely within our control. Our mind is much more powerful than we realize.
Studies have demonstrated time and again that when we envision something, it often comes true.Therefore, it is safe to surmise that negativity breeds negativity, but optimism breeds positivity. And it is this reality that leads us to create diseases (or health) within our bodies. Therefore, our perceptions of our reality often become the state of our health. Do we feel angry most of the time? Live in fear? Behave like a victim? Then our life will create circumstances that match our expectations.

The body, mind, and spirit are interconnected and inseparable. Our mind is incessantly creating images and thoughts. But when we consciously influence our mind, our body responds. Whether we use our mental prowess in a way that attracts health and vitality or pain and suffering, our mental state is a powerful tool in affecting our physical health.

Today, four years after my miscarriage, I have a three-year-old boy and am expecting again. I do not self-deprecatingly blame myself for what happened in my first pregnancy. Yet, I do take responsibility and am moved by how very powerful the mind is over our reality and physical experiences.

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