In my years as a strength and fitness coach, I have emphasized the importance of keeping mind and body moving in unity. What I mean is that the thoughts you allow your mind to dwell on, and the words you let yourself speak, will have great impact on the progress you make in any venture, and that most definitely includes your health and fitness. This is just one important facet of what many call the “Mind-Body Connection.” Let me give you one quick example.

Many years ago there was an article in The Journal of Prospective Techniques about a Mr. Wright, who suffered from advanced lymphatic cancer. The doctors had done everything they could for Mr. Wright, and had finally given him up to die.

It was then that Mr. Wright heard of an experimental drug that was being administered to cancer patients whom doctors believed still had several months to live. Wright begged his own physician for the drug, and the doctor agreed. Although he really didn’t expect Wright to live through the weekend, less than seventy-two hours after the first injection he was walking around feeling great, and within ten days the doctors sent him home, telling him he was cancer free!

But months later the American Medical Association published a study on this experimental drug, declaring it worthless. Mr. Wright read the study, believed it, his cancer returned, and before long he was dead.

So what happened? Regardless of how worthless this drug was, Mr. Wright’s mind—his intellect and his emotions—believed that a cancer cure had been found. As a result his body had no other choice but to obey the single message that it was given by his mind: HEAL! Had Mr. Wright never read the study that negated his positive belief, who knows how long he might have lived?

Whatever you believe about yourself, both intellectually and emotionally, will determine the outcomes you experience in life. For that reason, you must guard your thoughts, your speech, and all of your associations. If you surround yourself with positive reinforcement in what you see, hear, think, and verbalize, and if you follow through with positive action—you will meet with a positive outcome. It is inevitable!