Hey everybody, I’m Mike Uhrlaub with another episode of Power Your Life. It is so awesome to be here with you guys. I look forward to these sessions every single day. First, I want to share a little bit of something with you. Recently this year, my daughter has been taking a photography class at school. They teach the kids in this class some of the basics. She’s learning how to use different shapes and textures. How to create balance in her objects such as take a picture where the front is in focus and the back is out of focus. She’s getting pretty good at this and taking a lot of really cool photos.
Since the weather has been nice, she’s been going outside and taking a lot of photos of sunsets and nature. Of course, when she comes in, she’s just really excited and wants to show me her photos. She’ll say, “Dad, dad! Look at what I took.” I have to be honest, maybe I’m a little biased because it’s my daughter, but I am amazed at the creativity in some of her pictures. As she’s showing them to me, I started thinking about how truly amazing and beautiful all of God’s creations are.
Take a Look Around
Too often, I feel we fail to see the beauty and splendor around us every day. All we have to do is stop….. And really pay attention to what is all around us. When was the last time you took a moment to step outside and really look at all that is around you? Just to appreciate and enjoy all that nature has to offer. My daughter’s photos also reminded me of a quote from Albert Einstein and he said “There are two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” I choose to live my life as though everything is a miracle. All we have to do is look around. There are little miracles all around us all the time.
We’re getting ready to move into fall right now. The changing of the leaves as we move from summer to fall is a miracle to me. It’s amazing; Mother nature just knows how to do that. All it takes is a little bit of time to step back and fully appreciate how beautiful everything is. This new direction and realization has led me into a larger sense of gratefulness for nature and life. Gratefulness will lead you to more joy, love and peace in your life.
A Challenge for You
So……I want to challenge you guys….Sometime this week, take the time to get out in nature. Get out in nature and really appreciate what has been created for us. Even if you take a walk to the park or around your neighborhood, just STOP to take in and watch the sunset. If you do that, maybe you will start to see miracles everywhere too.
The Miracle of Your Gut
Now, let’s get down to it. Let’s talk about the miracle of your gut. I’ve already talked about, in some of my previous episodes, just the importance of how what you can eat can have such a great impact on your healing. It’s goes a lot deeper than just good nutrition and eating all of your vegetables. Your gut is also your second brain. We’ll talk about that here in a minute, but what I want you to know right now is that your gut, also known as your gastrointestinal track, will influence so much in the healing process.
I have a few questions for you….
Do you ever feel like you could be happier when you wake up?
Have you ever suffered from random feelings of anxiety?
Or just feel low but you don’t know why?
Do you ever experience brain fog or occasional memory issues instead of feeling really sharp?
If you answered YES to any of these questions you definitely need to read on!
What does all of this have to do with your gut and healing you asked?
Well, I’m glad you asked. First of all, one thing you need to know is there are up to 100 trillion microbes that live in your gastrointestinal tract. I know that sounds gross, but they are there and for good reasons. These microbes affect our immune system, energy levels, and even the fat levels in our body.
Not only that, but they also affect our mood. The journal of Biological Psychiatry has linked the levels of bacteria to changes in your mood; they’ve documented it. This is what’s known as the Brain Gut Axis, according to the researchers. What this means to you is your gut is connected to parts of your brain that process stress. Stress levels are related to the balance of bacteria in the gut. This is why we call your gut the second brain. In the scientific circles it is known the Enteric Nervous System (ENS). When I first read that, I’m like what is this?
What is the enteric nervous system?
According to Wikipedia, the enteric nervous system is embedded in the lining of the gastrointestinal system, beginning in the esophagus and extending all the way down to the anus. What you need to understand about this, is that your gut has about 500 million neurons in addition to all those hundred trillion microbes living inside of your gut. Neurons are the nerve endings and are what creates a nerve impulse. Believe it or not, this is more neurons than what is in the spinal cord.
The level of neurons in the enteric nervous system allows you to feel your gut. This also equips the gut with its own reflexes and senses, which allow it to control gut behavior independently of the brain, but also influences the brain. If you think about it, it makes sense. No wonder you don’t feel right when your gut is upset. If you have ever experienced or been around anybody that has suffered from Irritable Bowel Syndrome, known as IBS, or even Crohn’s Disease, you know exactly what I’m talking about. You don’t even have to have these issues to experience it. If your balance is off with the bacteria levels in your gut, you’re going be off too.
Gut Wrenching
When your gut is off, you can’t think right, you’re unhappy, and it is hard to be around others. When we don’t feel right, feel stressed, or upset, what we tend to do is try to fix it with other things. Eating a lot of sugar and carbs…. Mashed potatoes and gravy, a roll and even drinking alcohol. That’s why they call it comfort food. It makes us feel good. Sometimes it’s not just the things we eat, many times we try and fix this by just doing things as well. Checking our Facebook notifications, emails, or binge-watching Netflix. They give us a shot of serotonin and dopamine; These are our feel-good neurotransmitters. They are the neuro-transmitters that are produced to give us that “ahhh, much better,” feeling…….. hence the term.
All of these things give us a sense of importance by releasing dopamine and serotonin when we do these things that make us feel good. It has been shown and documented. That’s why it is important that you track your screen time; you start to get addicted to it making it an addictive behavior. The release of those neurotransmitters only makes you feel good for a short period of time. That’s a problem because guess what? You need more. You need another video, you need to check your Facebook again, you need another roll with mashed potatoes and gravy. It just never ends.
Your entire nervous system uses more than 30 neurotransmitters, just like your brain.
Check this out.
95% of your body’s serotonin is found in your gut. I just got done saying that is one of your feel-good neurotransmitters! So, the health of your gut is key to feeling positive, upbeat, and motivated. Not only is your gut linked to your mood, but it’s also directly linked to your immune system….. but we’re going to talk about that next time in part two.
Earlier I talked about the miracles that are all around us. It never ceases to amaze me at how much of a miracle our bodies are. The human body is truly a magnificent creation. And as always, I’d like to leave you with this thought-provoking quote from former president Ronald Reagan. And he said, “God’s miracles are to be found in nature itself; the wind and waves, the wood that becomes a tree. All of these are explained biologically, but behind them is the hand of God.”
By the way….
If you’re having trouble getting your body right from back pain, headaches, or shoulder problems, and need some additional help, we have our breakthrough exam for only $49. You can set up a session online. All you gotta do is go to this website and you can sign up for a session and you will also get several bonuses with this exam. You can get in and get a one on one session with us so we can get down to the root cause of what’s going on. If you would like a copy of my FREE E-book you can message me on Facebook or email me at mike@flex-pt.com.
Until next time, Power Your Life and keep moving forward.
Works Cited
Wikipedia contributors. “Enteric nervous system.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 10 Oct. 2020. Web. 13 Oct. 2020.
