I belong to a networking group. It meets once a week to share and talk. The members are from various industries and I’ve met some talented smart people with backgrounds different than mine. I’ve made friends and great connections.

One day, the group facilitator Lynden led an exercise during which we were instructed to visualize ourselves teetering on the edge of a platform at the top of a skyscraper and then examine our real physical reactions.

Then, she instructed us to visualize ourselves on the platform again. But this time, Lynden said, we were able to fly to any destinations we wanted and do whatever we wanted. She then asked us to examine our physical reactions to that second experience.

Many people experienced real physical sensations of fear including sweaty palms and fluttering stomachs when they thought they might fall and real joy when they could fly. The experience was so powerful that one of my fellow group members was visibly moved and grew quite red-faced and teary eyed.

One of Lynden’s points to make was that our minds can control so much of our body.

I thought about this so often since our meeting because I have sometimes thought about a past event and actually relive the emotions of that event. Unfortunately, those past events are often those that are unpleasant. I’ve also grown physically uncomfortable when thinking about events that have not even happened yet.

Only recently, and partially because of Lynden’s exercise, have I been better able to control those thoughts. And now some of ways I feel about people or situations have become simpler, clearer, less cluttered, and less filled with negative emotions. This might, in the long run, make my relationships better.

One of the people in my networking group was absent that day and contacted me to ask what the members did the day he missed. I told Juan Carlos we talked about the power of the mind and that Lynden did an exercise with us to show how good thoughts and bad thoughts can actually affect the body. Juan Carlos was inspired to send me the following comments:

“That was an interesting topic. I have a book with the title The Ministry of Healing and there is a part in the book that touches this topic. I will share part of it: The relation that exists between the mind and the body is very intimate. When one is affected, the other sympathizes.

The condition of the mind affects the health to a far greater degree that many realize. Many of the diseases from which men suffer are the result of mental depression. Grief, anxiety, discontent, remorse, guilt, distrust all tend to break down the life forces and invite decay.

But courage, hope, faith, sympathy, love, promote health to the body and strength to the soul.

A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person’s strength.”