Good Intentions?

Do we unconsciously wish ourselves ill?

by Alison Bonds Shapiro, M.B.A. in Healing Into Possibility
Originally published online by Psychology Today

I recently read an article about the effect of other people's good intentions on us. Others' good intentions have been shown to decrease our pain, increase our pleasure, and, yes, even make food taste better. It's a delight to see a study done that articulates what we know from our own experience. Most of us have witnessed or felt the power of others' good or unkind intentions on us and ours on them. But have we stopped to consider the power of our intentions, kind or unkind, on ourselves?

The effect of our intentions on ourselves may be harder for us to see, but this effect is even more crucial to our wellbeing than the power of the intentions of other people. The person we spend the most time with is our self. What we wish for ourselves plays out in every moment of our lives, 24/7 awake and asleep. Our intentions towards ourselves change our outlook on life, directly influence the quality of our lives, and support our resilience when hard times come our way.

Read the original article...