Mind over matter. We’ve heard that term forever, but usually as the butt end of some joke. Mind over matter. Yes, in most cases, my mind doesn’t matter. See? Mind over matter. This is the ability to convince oneself, or empower oneself to do things that are above the ordinary simply by concentrating.
We’ve all laughed at someone sitting, saying to themselves “I’m not cold” as they try to convince themselves that they can stay warm by thought alone while being in 20 degree weather. But why isn’t something like this possible? Well, it is. Why do we laugh when this person who is trying to prove them self fails? Well, because we know they’re going to fail. If they didn’t, we’d be truly surprised. Why do they fail? Because they don’t truly believe.
We’ve all done something like this, and failed. We tried to convince ourselves that we could do something, and knew, that’s right knew, we couldn’t. Well, if we knew we couldn’t do it, why did we try? We knew it was wasted effort, yet we tried anyway. Why? Did we have a hope that it would work even though we knew it was impossible? Yet, we still tried. (Hmmm. As usual, I hear Yoda in there somewhere saying something about doing and not trying.)
I had a student that I was teaching various things like meditation to. I would show her what she needed to do and how she should go about doing it, and she would say “I can’t do that.” Rather than try to convince her that she could, I moved on to something else. She believed that she couldn’t so that belief would cancel anything she tried to do.
Those of us that do energy work rely heavily on visualization. We create pictures for what we want to be doing. As I stretch out my energies, I ‘see’ the strands as they stretch from me to wherever I’m sending it to, even if it is half a world away. In doing this, I have to believe that what I’m visualizing is actually happening. When we start working with energies, and sending them to other people, we are very unsure that what we are doing is actually happening. I know I was. We look for confirmation by asking those that we sent energy to, hoping that they did indeed feel something.
The key here is that we truly have to believe we are doing something to make it happen. And in believing, we can make things happen. Several posts ago, I talked about changing the properties of one’s shields so they would protect one from different things, even insects. I have done this. I’ve had to spend a few minutes outside in the early evening while there were a lot of insects flying around bugging me. I changed the property of my shields so that when these bugs entered the energy field around me (my shields), they would not like it there and leave. This took a lot of concentration, and if one bug did manage to get through, the concentration was broken. It’s like having faith that a vampire will be unable to hurt you if you hold up a cross in front of it (at least according to legend). If you don’t have faith, you’re dinner.
The same thing actually does work for going outside in very cold temperatures, as long as you’re concentration is correct, and you believe in it, and in yourself (and that’s another topic for another time, believing in yourself). I’ve done this in the winter where I’ve spent several minutes (15 - 20) out in 20 degrees dressed in a shirt and pants, not outdoor winter garb by any means.
The key is that you believe that you can do it. Don’t doubt. Do. Hmmm, there’s Yoda buzzing in my ear again. Or maybe I should look at another universe and simply say “make it so”. Of course, I’m not suggesting that you spend time outside in the arctic nude. But for short periods of time, as long as your concentration can hold up, it can be done.
When doing this, you also have to discount what others tell you. “Don’t go out without a coat or you’ll get sick.” Well, if you believe that, you will. I had a Reiki student that was told by someone that one gets ill after an attunement, and can be sick for a day or more afterward. This, of course, is just a load of felgercarb. But, having been told that, and believing it, she got sick. In working with your mind to overcome things, truly believe what you want, and don’t let what others tell you affect what you manage to do.
As I wrote that, I felt a little shocked, and I think I have to qualify it. I’m not saying to ignore advice and council from people you trust. I’m saying that when you do your energy work, and that is limiting it to yourself, believe in yourself and what you can do. I’m not telling you to force your will on others. I think you’ll find that a bit harder, no matter what you truly believe. (No, the Jedi mind trick does not always work.)
So, mind over matter. In truth, your mind does matter. Even mine does. (That’s a surprise.) It’s just like anything you want to do. You have to believe you can. And isn’t that 90% of the battle anyway?