So far, we know that our belief is the attitude we take towards life. It shapes our mindset, the lens through which we see the world.

Positive beliefs reinforce a positive mindset, making us see the positive in even the worst situations, while a pessimistic view can make even the best situations seem risky and bad. As the common example goes, where a positive mind sees a glass-half-full, a negative mind sees a glass-half-empty.

But there’s more to the story.

A Play of Chemicals

Since our brain is also the command center for many chemicals within the body, there’s always a scope for our thoughts to affect our body. And one such effect is observed with a placebo, a substance or treatment which is designed to have no therapeutic value. Common placebos include inert tablets, inert injections, sham surgery, and other procedures.

When a placebo is given to a patient without telling them that it is neutral, an improvement is observed, despite it not being an active medical treatment. This is called the placebo effect. As per our current understanding, the placebo effect works more as a painkiller, by releasing hormones like endorphins, but it cannot cure the root cause of the disease itself. So you should not expect it to cure cancer or reduce cholesterol.

But we are more interested in the opposite of the placebo effect: the nocebo effect. It is when a negative belief in treatment leads to worsening our physical condition, with headache, nausea, and drowsiness. It is often caused by the release of the stress hormone cortisol, which is also known to reduce immune response, leaving us more prone to diseases. Imagine, all of this is just due to imagination!

The Pain of the Process

Many of us will go on to live for more than 75 years, but most of our beliefs are already affirmed in mind by the age of 25. In a way, we live our lives based on what we learned in 1/3 time. To make it worse, people fall for belief bias. For example, once a person is raised with sexist ideas, their negative beliefs for the opposite sex hardly fade, no matter how old they get or how much they are told to become “open-minded.”

Such negative beliefs are hard to overcome not just because of some emotional attachment but also because our bodies literally react to them. When we act in accordance with them, we feel fine, but when we resist them, the body can face a nocebo effect.

In extreme cases, you can see people falling sick or anxious when they are forced to act against their beliefs. This can show in many forms, like feeling butterflies in the stomach before a date or interview or falling sick on the thought of taking a business risk, not to mention episodic anxiety in people pushed to act against their will.

Now, this can be hard to moderate when it is happening to others, but you should still know this. Why? Because in the process of changing your beliefs, there’s a chance that you may find yourself in such a condition as well. And upon facing such resistance, we don’t want you to give up 😊

Remember, this pain is not fatal and above all know that it is not some supernatural signal for you to not take action. Rather, treat it as the anger of your old beliefs that you have revolted against. Take rest if needed, but then start again.

Be a relentless force of nature!