Posts Tagged ‘mental influence’
Significance of a Day
Imagine if you had been waiting for this day for a long, long time. It is finally here. At the same time, for many more people of the world, it is just another day, a Wednesday in October. We have the freedom to make any day become a day of incredible significance, simply by our ability to choose to make a conscious decision. Think about how many days we act as subjects of whatever circumstances arise. There are a lot more days like that in our lives, than days when we choose to make significant proactive decisions. This could be a day when you decide to quit smoking. This could be a day when you make a call that you have been avoiding. Today, we can choose to exchange an unhealthy habit for a healthy one. Just don’t forget, to experience the benefits, we need to follow up the decision with appropriate action.
To some people, today is all about a baseball game, yet many others will be unaware that baseball is even being played this late in October. Or maybe it is an issue of importance relating to a local school board. It amazes me to consider the number of things that occur every day in the world, of which I find myself entirely unaware. Of course, from where I perceive it, everything appears to revolve around me.
It is entirely possible that the person who so coolly rebuffed my attempts to collaborate, by denying my desire for interaction under the guise of more important activity, had genuine concerns of a personal nature completely unrelated to me or my business. Imagine how it would feel to learn they were dealing with a family member being ill or some other grave concern. I might actually feel honored to be the brunt of such offense, taking one for the team, if I am able to interpret that it’s not always about me.
I have the opportunity to choose my response. Maybe not right away, my powers aren’t that strong yet, but after my fight-or-flight response subsides, I do have the option to create a response that aligns with the optimal health I aspire to see and manifest. I have the ability, at any time, to decide it will be a day of significance.
Expand Awareness
Our incredible brain machine is on my mind. Thinking about our thinking can get pretty tricky and sort of convoluted. It’s like getting in an argument with someone you live with and instead of arguing about the original point that triggered the debate, you find yourself fighting over the mechanics of the argument. Or like trying to make up a game in the neighborhood and spending the whole time arguing over what the rules will be and never getting around to actually playing the game.
There is an article from June of 2008 in The New Yorker that I was pointed to online. Fascinating. It is 8 pages long, so if you are interested in reading it, and I highly recommend it, then be prepared to sit down and read a chapter of a book. It is worth it. Among very many things covered in the article, there is a reference to how our minds are able to assemble an image from incomplete data. We do it unconsciously. I expect everyone, including myself, takes this for granted, but think about it! The author uses the example of viewing a dog through a picket fence where our eyes are only able to perceive separated slices of the animal, yet our mind is able to conjure a fully intact dog and visualize what the animal looks like. Our brain processes it for us without needing to think about it.
I am reminded of a scene from the documentary/drama “What the Bleep!?: Down the Rabbit Hole” where they claim the first time a native tribe witnessed an ocean-crossing vessel on their horizon of the sea, they didn’t “see” it because they had no reference of what it could be, so it just didn’t compute. I found it hard to accept at the time, but now I can understand what was being portrayed. Having no concept of what that ship was, no reference of having stood on one or walked around one to know how big it is, that image on the horizon must have made no sense at all. The mind couldn’t process that unconscious step of forming the image.
At the same time, it occurs to me that our minds are pretty adept at conjuring up threats that don’t actually exist. Many of the fears and phobias our mind conjures up are figments of imagination. The monster under the bed or the boogie man in the darkness. The spinning view of vertigo for someone uncomfortable with heights. Or, as the article graphically presents, the itching that has no source.
Also from the article, consider how the multitude of sensors of our skin can ignore the collar on our neck all day long, but when a thread pokes out of the tag, it has us scratching and fussing to fix it. The skin works with the brain. But sometimes, as the article reveals, the brain takes initiative to control without bothering to get input from the skin.
When we are adept enough, or introspective enough, it is a spectacular refinement to unravel the unconscious acrobatics that occur in our minds and harness the power for personal gain: optimal health of mind, body, and spirit. You might even call it, achieving a bit of enlightenment.
Expand your awareness. Think about it!
Beautiful Day
Do you know what the perfect day is? It’s easy. They all are! Perfect for something.
Wouldn’t you say that today would be a beautiful day to kick off the State Fair? Mostly sunny, warm but not hot, light summer breeze. Perfect for a picnic, a nap in the hammock, or a walk in the park. But if it were really windy, it would be perfect for kite surfing or sailing. If it were rainy, it would be perfect for snuggling down with a good book. Every day is perfect for something. We just have to frame it properly.
Isn’t it a bit strange that we have it within ourselves to re-frame absolutely everything to change the way it is perceived, yet we usually don’t wield that power to our (and the world’s) advantage? Often times, we simply sell ourselves short. Sometimes, we actually choose not to. Part of us still wants to dwell in the angst, for a plethora of reasons. But there is a part of us that knows. Knows the possibility exists. I think that is related to why folks get into the navel gazing of introspection. We are trying to find it. Deep down, I believe we all know what is possible. That contributes to what frustrates us about times when things aren’t going so well. Somewhere inside us, we know there are simple answers. Too often the solutions being sold involve side effects of dry mouth and constipation and an invitation to see their ad in some magazine while we are watching their ad on television.
Today is a perfect day to see if we can discover our power to find the perfection in every day. It’s in there somewhere.
Let it Rain
Finally, we are being blessed by the first enchanting rumbles of thunder as spring rotates into place here in my homeland. I can’t wait to find out if we will enjoy any dramatic weather in Nepal in April. I am preparing for anything and everything. If I can muster the mysterious power of mental influence, I will see what I can bring about by dwelling on nothing too serious or uncomfortable. I’ve really been wondering lately about the power of influence of our minds.
Recently, the thought passed through my mind that I did not suffer a cold this winter. I let that thought slip by unspoken, admittedly due to a superstition that saying something–acknowledging it–would lead to, …well, …you know: getting a cold! Why, then, did I suddenly let the words fly when the thought came to me a second time in the car the other night? I had no conscious reason for these thoughts in the first place, nor any explanation for why I ended up saying it out loud.
I woke up Sunday morning with a sore throat that had me feeling just a bit off and by the evening was struggling with a tickle in my throat and stuffiness in my nose that really hassled my attempts to fall asleep. It continued to progress to an overall feeling of cruddiness with stinging eyes that have me just wanting to snuggle under the covers and sleep for days. So, which came first here, the chicken or the egg?
Is it possible that deep within my essence I sensed what was coming, long before my mind became fully aware? My body knew what was happening before my mind did? That would explain why the thoughts seemed so out of context to me. Or is the onset of illness simply a result of me thinking about it and my body following the path I was paving? If the mind can control the body, I’m sure not displaying the necessary discipline to redirect this now. All day I’ve been floundering back and forth with trying to talk myself, right-quick, back to optimal health and then whimpering that I want to just allow myself to feel all the yuck and stay in bed! My poor body seems to be following both messages equally well and it is no wonder I feel so crazy sometimes.
I’m using this as a reminder to be sure to pack as many little medicine cabinet comforts, the ones I rarely-if-ever turn to normally, in order to be prepared for anything that my mind conjures up while wandering around in the Himalayan wonderland of Nepal.
The duality within me truly believes in the power of the mind to influence the processes and functions of the body, while at the same time, doubts that my little mind is enlightened enough to wield such otherworldly power. Just the kind of thing worthy of pondering in long hours of trudging uphill on unpaved foot paths in the thin air of the world’s highest mountains, don’t you think?
Rain, or shine.
Relative Something 