Have you ever wondered why positive thinking doesn’t replace the need for healthy food? Some people say they don’t want to be limited by rules about healthy eating. They believe it’s only necessary to think positive thoughts and picture good health. While there’s some truth to this—since focusing on positive outcomes does set your direction—it raises an interesting question…

If intention is everything, does that mean there’s no real difference between organic food and artificial junk food? Is the only difference just what you believe about them?

Like many popular ideas about consciousness and energy, the idea that “intention is everything” has some truth to it. But also like many spiritual concepts, it can become too simple and lose its balance. Let’s explore where this idea comes from, and what it really means for your daily life.

Understanding Mind and Creation

The idea that everything is consciousness, or Mind, is ancient and found in wisdom traditions worldwide. At first, this seems simple: everything comes from consciousness. But when you look closer, it could mean several things. Does it mean everything is an expression of Divine Consciousness? Or does it mean your personal thoughts create everything?

Let’s be honest—you didn’t personally create the entire universe. Someone or something did. Or perhaps you’re a co-creator, participating in creation but not entirely responsible for it. What does this have to do with choosing healthy food?

Think of it like this: imagine the universe as a vast symphony. You didn’t compose the entire symphony, but you are one of the instruments playing in it. Your choices—including what you eat—affect how well your instrument plays and harmonizes with the whole symphony.

PRACTICE: Sensing Your Connection

Take a moment right now. Place your hand over your heart. Take three slow breaths. With each breath, imagine that you’re not just breathing air—you’re breathing in the same intelligence that created stars, trees, and every living thing. Feel how you’re connected to something much bigger than your thoughts alone.

Notice: Does this feel different from just thinking positive thoughts? Can you sense a deeper intelligence that exists beyond your personal mind?

If the universe was created with intelligence—let’s call it Divine Intelligence or Universal Wisdom—then everything within it potentially expresses that intelligence. This means there are principles that align with this sacred universe. Your choices can either align with this intelligence or move away from it.

This is where healthy food comes in: natural, whole food aligns with the intelligence that created the universe. Why? Because the creative force that conceived the universe is a living intelligence—it’s involved with every aspect of what it created. Positive intention isn’t just what you think; it’s how you live in each moment. Your lifestyle choices, including food, can bring you into deeper harmony with this creative intelligence.

The Relationship Between Body, Mind, and Soul

Here’s what makes sense: if this universe was created by a vast cosmic consciousness, then some of that universal awareness must exist within everything it created—including your body. Your body isn’t separate from universal consciousness; it’s an expression of it. The same is true for your emotions and your mind.

Think of your body, emotions, and mind like the colors of a rainbow. They’re different frequencies of the same light. They’re meant to work together in harmony, like a beautiful chord of music. When one part is out of tune, the whole harmony is affected.

PRACTICE: The Rainbow Within

Close your eyes for a moment. Imagine your body glowing with warm, golden light. This is your physical energy. Now imagine a beautiful blue light around that—this is your emotional energy. Finally, imagine a violet light surrounding everything—this is your mental energy.

Notice: Can you feel that these aren’t separate things? They’re all you, just at different frequencies. When you eat food that lowers your body’s vibration, it affects all three layers because they’re all connected.

This is why claiming you can override your body’s need for healthy food with “mind power” doesn’t make sense. It creates conflict between body and mind, rather than harmony. You can’t think yourself above the needs of the universe—your thoughts are meant to help you discover your deep alignment with the universe, not separate you from it.

Two Common Imbalances

What about sincere health enthusiasts who focus only on getting the right nutrients? How does their approach relate to harmony between body, emotions, and mind?

Look at what happens when you’re completely focused on nutrients while ignoring your emotions and thoughts. Isn’t this curiously similar to those who ignore healthy food choices but focus entirely on positive thinking? Both approaches have the same problem—they believe they’ve found the one special way to control reality:

• “Nutritious food is all you need”
• “Positive thoughts are all you need”

People at these two extremes—mind over body versus body over mind—often see each other as completely opposite. But they’re actually quite similar. Both are missing the bigger picture.

PRACTICE: Finding Your Balance Point

Stand up and extend your arms out to the sides. Imagine your left hand represents “only physical health” and your right hand represents “only positive thinking.” Notice how being pulled to either extreme feels unstable.

Now bring your hands together in front of your heart. Feel the balance. This is where body, mind, emotions, and soul work together. This is true alignment.

What About Junk Food?

If everything is an expression of divine consciousness, how do we explain a sugar-coated piece of processed junk food? Was that created by divine intelligence?

Actually, no. Junk food wasn’t created by divine intelligence. It’s out of alignment with the original pattern for food. When you eat junk food, you’re participating with something that’s out of harmony with the universe.

Now, positive thinkers might say: “Even if junk food is out of alignment, my positive thoughts can bring harmony to it.” Is this true?

Like many spiritual beliefs, there’s some truth here. You can, to some degree, raise the vibration of food through blessing it or expressing gratitude. If you find yourself eating food that doesn’t express the highest vibrations, it’s certainly helpful to do some energy practice with that food. But it’s even better to start with healthy food in the first place.

Why? Because food that’s in closer alignment with the natural order carries the pattern of divine intelligence more fully. Your choice to eat healthy food is a form of positive thinking—but it’s grounded positive thinking, expressed through your physical body, on this Earth. Believing you could eat whatever you want and simply balance it with affirmations is an unbalanced view of reality.

PRACTICE: Sensing Food Energy

Next time you’re about to eat, try this: Hold the food in your hands. Close your eyes. Take a breath. Can you sense the energy of this food? Does it feel alive and vibrant, or dull and disconnected? Your intuition knows the difference.

Notice: You’re not just thinking about the food—you’re feeling its energy directly. This is your body’s wisdom speaking to you. Trust it.

Freedom or Limitation?

Some people worry that focusing on healthy food or healthy lifestyles creates unnecessary restrictions. They ask: “Won’t healthy choices limit my freedom?”

Well, yes—making healthy choices does involve some limitation. But where does the idea come from that freedom means having no principles or alignments? This idea comes from thinking that mind is somehow separate from the universe—as if your awareness floats above reality like a cloud, looking down on the “limited” physical world.

True freedom isn’t about having no limits. It’s about being in harmony with your deepest truth. Think of a skilled musician: they’re “limited” by the structure of music, by rhythm and melody. But within that structure, they express incredible freedom and creativity. The structure doesn’t limit them—it liberates them to create beauty.

When you make healthy choices, you’re coming into alignment with the universe. You’re made of universal substance, and your soul was created by divine consciousness. You’re an expression of that consciousness, and your healthy choices reflect this recognition.

PRACTICE: The Liberation of Alignment

Think of a time when you made a healthy choice that felt really good—maybe drinking water instead of soda, or taking a walk instead of sitting all day. Remember that feeling.

Did making that choice feel like a restriction? Or did it actually feel like freedom—like you were honoring yourself and coming into alignment with what you know is true?

This is what true freedom feels like: not doing whatever you want, but doing what aligns with your highest good.

Your Body, Mind, and Soul Are One

Here’s the key understanding: your mind is a divine creation, but so is your body, and so is your soul. The idea that positive thinking can override unhealthy lifestyle choices isn’t in alignment because your body, mind, and soul are working together. They’re actually expressions of the same thing—your true Self.

Your true self is multidimensional, and all its parts affect each other. You can’t pretend that junk food affecting the body is okay, any more than you can pretend that mind-altering drugs affecting your clear perception are acceptable.

If junk food lowers your body’s vibration, it’s going to affect your thinking. Why? Because your mind isn’t an abstract thing floating somewhere else. Your mental body is a field of energy in the same space as your physical body. Your mental body vibrates at a finer frequency than your physical body, but they’re in the same place, influencing each other.

Junk food also affects the quality of your emotions. Your emotional body is a higher frequency than your physical body, but it’s also located where your physical body is. So if you eat junk food while claiming you’re a positive person, you’re expressing a contradiction.

PRACTICE: Feeling the Connection

Sit quietly and place both hands on your belly. Take a deep breath. As you breathe, feel your body. Notice any sensations. Now shift your attention to your emotions—how do you feel right now? Then notice your thoughts—what’s your mind doing?

See if you can sense that these aren’t three separate things. They’re different aspects of one unified you. When one is out of balance, you can feel it in the others.

Some people claim they function fine on a diet of junk food and other substances. Perhaps they’ve learned to compensate for these imbalances, but they’re working at a disadvantage. They’ve compartmentalized themselves by disconnecting their awareness from uncomfortable emotions and ignoring imbalances in their body. They’re holding these fragments together with a clever mind that floats above it all, claiming to be beyond the need for a healthy lifestyle.

Learning From Others

How do you respond when you encounter people with extreme views—those who believe diet and exercise are everything, or those who dismiss health entirely, or those who think positive thinking solves everything?

Observe people with curiosity rather than judgment. Notice how they may have accessed some truth. Also sense how they might have created a division within themselves. Let this lead you to your own inner exploration: ask yourself how you can come into deeper alignment with your own truth through honest investigation of your body, emotions, thoughts, and soul.

Continual Evolution

Your unique soul essence was created from a universal creator, and that creator is itself continually evolving—it’s not in a state of final perfection. What does this suggest about you? You, too, must be in a condition of continual evolution, because you’re made of that ever-evolving consciousness.

This is why there’s no simple solution of merely repeating positive affirmations or finding the one perfect combination of nutrients. Continual evolution requires self-inquiry at every level of your being. It invites you to discover your way through life through ongoing exploration.

This might sound like work, and it may well be. But though it takes persistence, it’s not dreary. Your daily evolution, as it unfolds, is a continual field of opportunities where your higher potential grows and shows itself.

Your Unique Path

Wouldn’t it be easy if you could find simple laws of life and just follow them? Many experts—whether spiritual teachers or nutritional specialists—claim they have the simple rules for you to follow. But their suggestions tend to be overly simple and assume one size fits all.

Why can’t it be that easy? Because you’re an entirely unique expression of the divine creator. Even though your choice to eat healthfully can bring you into greater alignment, everyone has different biochemistry. There’s no one healthy diet that fits everyone perfectly.

Similarly, there’s no one spiritual practice, teaching, or method suited to everyone. This is why it’s both amusing and sad when religious people insist they have the one perfect spiritual solution. Their health-focused counterparts who insist everyone should follow their favorite diet are expressing the same narrow understanding.

The Balance of Uniqueness and Universal Truth

But if there’s no one rule to follow, does that mean anything goes? Are all approaches equally valid?

It seems contradictory: everyone has unique dietary requirements, yet there are basic health principles to follow. Which is it? The answer is: both understandings work together. There’s no contradiction.

Yes, you need to discover your unique diet based on your distinctive biochemistry. But you can be certain that a “sugar-coated doughnut diet” won’t be appropriate for anyone.

This is true freedom: you realize your requirements are unique, and you can bring yourself into greater universal alignment through your healthy choices. The delightful freedom to be yourself, while also discovering your unity with the greater cosmos, gives you the wonderful feeling that you’re being true to yourself.

PRACTICE: Discovering Your Truth

Take a moment to check in with your heart. Place your hand there. Ask yourself: “What feels true for me right now?” Don’t think about what others say you should do. Don’t worry about rules or restrictions. Just listen to the still, quiet wisdom in your heart.

Notice: Your truth has a simple quality to it. It feels like a quiet “yes” inside. It’s not something you can force, and it won’t come from trying to fit into someone else’s program.

Your Sacred Contribution

You’re entirely unique, yet you’re entirely one with the universe. That’s a vital understanding, because everything in the world tends to pull you toward agreeing with something or someone else. The world does that because it makes things simpler. But simpler isn’t better—it’s just easier for everyone else, because then they don’t have to face the unique example you provide.

There’s always some creative tension between any two different things—people, groups, ideas, or styles. This tension doesn’t have to be uncomfortable. It can create interesting growth. So what happens when you discover, through your inner exploration, how to live your truth?

Your deepest truth—such as your ideal food choices that serve your highest good—will never be in perfect alignment with everyone else’s truth. This isn’t a problem. Your truth is your special contribution to this Earth experience. The same is true for your spiritual life—it’s an expression of you that contributes to the world. Your soul, your mind, your very presence shares your own particular vibration. You’re not supposed to be in full agreement with everyone, because your contribution to the highest good is to be your own unique self.

When you realize you can never fit into anyone’s perfect diet, perfect lifestyle, or perfect spiritual teaching—because no one can fit into such patterns—then you can be free. But free to do what?

There’s higher alignment available for you, and it’s not random. Your higher alignment resonates with your true self. It’s not freedom for freedom’s sake, nor is it a set of restrictive laws. Your truth goes beyond these extremes.

Your truth follows the highest understandings, which you’ll find from many sources. Your ideal diet is actually a combination of various approaches—validated by your own daily experiences. Just as your dietary understandings may shift and evolve over time, your ideal spiritual practice may evolve, possibly drawing from various teachings.

Who You Really Are

You are not your mind, but through the window of your mind you can create, invent, and examine deeper realities. All these are available when you use the powers of your mind.

You are not your emotions, but through the doorway of your emotions you can know yourself on many amazing levels and feel connected with yourself, with people, and with the universe. All these are available when you use the powers of your emotions.

You are not your body, but through the vehicle of your body you can experience your emotions, your thoughts, and even your soul and the universe. All these are available when you use the powers of your body.

You are not even your soul, though you do have an eternal soul, and that soul is, even now, shining forth from within your body. Through the presence and consciousness of your soul, you can know what you are.

Well then—what are you?

You are the eternal divine universe—and you are a particular and distinctive expression of that ultimate reality, unlike anyone else. As your understandings evolve, you’ll uncover, each day, more about your appropriate diet, your spiritual practice, and how you can move into deeper alignment with your highest truth, so you can make a difference for others through your aligned presence.

Moving Forward

Although there are no simplistic solutions, when you do discover something in alignment with your deeper truth, it will have a simple quality to it. Your truth can feel like a still, small voice within you whispering to you, and you quietly smile and nod in agreement. It’s not something you can force, and it won’t happen when you try to fit into anyone else’s program.

Your truth is a sacred experience between you and the universe. Keep exploring, because it’s an ever-evolving understanding, like a river that’s never exactly the same from moment to moment. Don’t grab onto it. Let your body, emotions, thoughts, and soul find truth by resonating with it, layer by layer.

PRACTICE: Entering the Present Moment

Right now, in this very moment, let yourself breathe gently into your body. Settle into the living, multi-sensory, multidimensional sensations you discover there.

Sense that where you are, in this moment, is the center of the universe. Feel the dynamic interaction between you, in the truth of this moment, and the universe all around you as it shares its gifts with you and embraces you.

Know that at the same time, your conscious attention creates a sacred space that enhances the universe, radiating forth the truth of your being with your every breath, with your every thought, and with every spinning particle of your sacred being.

This is your practice. This is your path. This is your truth, unfolding moment by moment.

Joel Bruce Wallach