In the early 90s, researchers launched into a landmark study of over 17,000 individuals and asked them about negative experiences in childhood and their current physical and mental health. They found was that when children are exposed to toxic stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline, this may have a dramatic impact on their minds, brains and bodies. This study later became often known as the Adverse Childhood Experiences or ACE study.
Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are traumatic events that children could also be exposed to while growing up that include abuse, neglect, domestic violence, substance misuse or mental illness. Long-term exposure to childhood trauma has been linked to all the pieces from heart disease and diabetes to alcoholism, depression, and suicide.
While there is no such thing as a denying the truth and impact of hostile childhood experiences on our mental and physical health, just focusing just on the negative alone, or the bad that happened to us, may very well slow the means of our healing down. Research on the mind-brain-body network shows that a very negative focus without balancing with the positive can distort our perceptions and potentially hamstring our ability to work through what now we have passed through in a way that doesn’t keep us trapped prior to now.
Why? The mind-brain-body network is all about balance, and restoring balance when it’s upset. Focusing only on the negative will add to an already overloaded amount of toxic stress from the hostile experience. This is why it will be significant that while we do the work to search out the foundation causes of our distress and process and reconceptualize what has happened to us, we also make certain now we have some positive, balancing checkpoints in place on our healing journey or we risk the danger of getting stuck in a cycle of pain and victimhood.
In fact, there’s exciting research that shows that positive childhood experiences (PCEs) can actually help buffer against the negative health effects attributable to exposure to ACEs. PCEs also can promote healing and recovery through activating our resilience. This shows that each one of a baby’s experiences—positive and negative—matter, so we shouldn’t just be considering the bad of what has happened to us but in addition the great, and the way all these experiences affect our mental health as adults. Some research even shows that folks with some exposure to ACEs, in the event that they reported 3 to five positive childhood experiences, had 50% lower odds of maturity depression or poor mental health, and people who reported 6 to 7 PCE’s had a 72% lower probability of adult mental health challenges. These findings reveal that positive childhood experiences can have a cumulative effect on life-long mental health outcomes, and play a vital role in our healing.
Although we definitely have to work on what we experienced growing up, at the identical time we’d like to depart room for the positive, and a terrific method to do that is what I call the “3:1 thought ratio”. This is one technique I often use this to balance myself, and find it extremely helpful when things seem overwhelming. All you may have to do is to intentionally deal with the positive to balance out the negative in a 3:1 ratio. And this will be used for any negative situation, not only for ACEs. For every negative thought that involves mind, together with its emotions, behaviors, and perspectives, counter it with three positive thoughts. This will help to keep up a balance in energy (quantum) waves within the brain so you possibly can think clearly, construct your resilience, and rewire healthy thought patterns!
When you practice the three:1 ratio, which means every time you may have a negative thought, you do not suppress it, but reasonably use it as a prompt to think about three positive childhood experiences. This doesn’t mean you might be ignoring what has happened to you; reasonably, you might be maintaining the balance of your mind, brain and body so you can heal what has happened to you reasonably than remaining trapped prior to now. You are essentially using the negative thought as a habit loop trigger to provide help to recognize what to alter WHILE “padding” or mitigating the consequences this negative event has in your overall wellbeing. This isn’t swapping the negative for the positive. It is using the positive to assist us face and overcome the negative.
For more on managing the effect hostile childhood experiences have in your health and wellbeing, take heed to my podcast (episode #590). If you enjoy listening to my podcast, please consider leaving a 5-star review and subscribing. And keep sharing episodes with family and friends and on social media. (Don’t forget to tag me so I can see your posts!).
Originally published by Dr. Caroline Leaf. Used with permission.
Do you may have a story of healing to share? Comment and share your thoughts and testimony at Crosswalk Forums! Click HERE.
Photo Credit: ©GettyImages/ Erica Shires
