Mind over matter is more than just an interesting turn of phrase to describe the power of thoughts. The sages through the ages have all informed us, each in their own way, that mind over matter is a part of the destiny of humanity.
What is Mind Over Matter?
Most minds throw up obstacles before you even get started pushing the envelope of your comfort zone. Our brains and our communities of family and friends are all wired to protect us—and themselves—by discouraging outrageous goals and dreams.
Why? Because it’s risky. You might fail. Because your pursuit of personal excellence is a threat to those who are not.
Mind over matter is YOU bringing your dreams to life, no matter the obstacles in your way.
Thoughts become things if we energize them.
~LeAura Alderson, creator iCreateDaily.com ®
Table of Contents
- Mind Over Matter
- The Power of Thoughts
- The Animal Inside
- But What About my Feelings…?
- Adult Up
- Train Your Brain
- Listen to Your Body — Train Your Body…
“The power of thought is a bridge to our divinity.
Visioning followed by effort, is a daily walk across that bridge.”
~LeAura Alderson, creator iCreateDaily.com ®
Mind Over Matter
Tired.
That feeling that washes over your body that signals to you to slow down… to give in… to stop and to rest. That voice that says, as you’re exercising, “I’m too tired to go on.”
That voice that says when you’re tempted, “I know I shouldn’t, but…”
“Mind over matter”, you tell yourself.
But positive sayings are just cliches; lightweights in this heavyweight championship between wishes, words and actions. The natural human inclination… that which we are hardwired to do is to stop when we feel tired.
Until you decide to push through tired. And to do it again.
And again.
Until you decide to change your trajectory… and your fate, by the choices you make.
We can fire Stinking Thinking and hire Mind Over Matter and his employee, the Power Of Thoughts.
We’re wired to stop at tired. But we can rewire.
The obstacles you push against yield to the extent that you push. And sometimes you have to go around them. But whatever you do, don’t let them stop you.
~LeAura Alderson, writer, editor, creator iCreateDaily.com ®
The Power of Thoughts
If you’ve ever seen the movie, The Adjustment Bureau, you will recall the creative plot that depicted how destiny is—or is not—fixed. While that’s a fiction movie, the concept of the power of thoughts to change everything is real.
The past is certain. The future is created by the present.
You can change your trajectory by the choices you make and the actions you take.
~LeAura Alderson, writer, editor, creator iCreateDaily.com ®
The Animal Inside
When you get tired, to give in to tired is to be ruled by your “lizard brain”… the amygdala. The amygdala is the brain of your animal nature… your physical mechanism.[1]https://www.gracepointwellness.org/109-post-traumatic-stress-disorder/article/55760-reptilian-brain-of-survival-and-mammalian-brain
Same thing with cravings. To give in to cravings, impulses and reactions, is to be ruled by your lizard brain. We love our animals. We respect all aspects of our being too. But we try not to let them rule our day.
To master yourself requires that you level up to your best expectations.
You know this.
We all do. It’s just that forever so long it’s easier not to. It’s easier to look elsewhere for cause and blame and excuses. Until you can’t anymore. Until the price of avoidance is greater than the price of the struggle to your next level of growth.
Success requires that you honor your vision for your life.
~LeAura Alderson, writer, editor, creator iCreateDaily.com ®
The Good Dog and Bad Dog
Perhaps you’ve heard the story of the good dog and bad dog..? Sometimes called “White Dog, Black Dog”, or “Story of Two Dogs”, the origin is multiple,[2]http://tithenai.tumblr.com/post/17655980732/the-history-of-the-two-wolvestwo-dogs-story but the basic premise goes like this:
Native American Elder to youth: “There are two dogs inside you; a good dog and a bad dog, and they’re always fighting.”
Youth: “Which one wins?”
Elder: “Whichever one you feed.”
To give in to cravings, impulses and reactions, is to be ruled by your lizard brain. To master yourself requires that you level up to your best expectations.
~LeAura Alderson, writer, editor, creator iCreateDaily.com ®
But What About my Feelings…?
It’s normal to experience a feeling and then focus your mind on that feeling or emotion. To focus on it is to reinforce it. In order to transmute you need to reframe and reconstruct the force of habit to work for you, not against you.
To mature into a mastery of self requires that you condition and train your emotions in the way an athlete conditions her body.
~LeAura Alderson, writer, editor, creator iCreateDaily.com ®
To be ruled by our emotions is like allowing the children to run the household… or our allowing our pets to control what we do. We’re not talking about heart here. We’re talking about the whim of feelings that change like the weather, and toss us about in emotional storms.
Children and pets in this case, are symbolic of our emotional and physical aspects. What both children and pets need is a responsible, caring adult to take charge and do—and require—what’s best for their growth and development.
Most feelings are just habits. If we don’t like the feeling, we can change the habit.
~LeAura Alderson, writer, editor, creator iCreateDaily.com ®
Adult Up
It’s time for the “Inner Child” to give way to the Inner Adult.
Just take your creativity, individuality and free spirit with you! Time to create the life you want as only you can.[3]http://janinegarner.com.au/the-standard-is-you-adult-up/
Shallow people believe in luck and circumstance. Strong people believe in cause and effect.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson, essayist, philosopher, poet 1803-1882
Train Your Brain
Years ago when my daughter, Devani, was around five, her great aunt complained that we shouldn’t require her to eat her salad if she didn’t want to. Her premise was basically that we should allow her to eat what she wanted to eat.
If that’s what we did then we would not be parenting. The child has parents because they need guidance on choices. They are not yet mature enough to make the best decisions for themselves. It’s the same thing with our cravings and cavings.
To give in to your cravings is to allow your lowest self—your physical elemental—to rule. To give in to your emotional whims, is to allow your mammalian self determine your life… and your happiness.
People cannot see past their limitations and they take them for truth.
~Tom Bilyeu, entrepreneur founder, Quest Nutrition & Impact Theory
The Integrated Self
Your role as the adult of your life is to take hold of the reigns of self.
Recruit your cerebral cortex, qualified through the filter of your heart. Your role is to train the animal inside… the whims and tantrums of the child and to self-parent and “adult up” into mastery of self.
This is the era of the integrated mind, as depicted by author Daniel Pink in his book, A Whole New Mind. This is the age of synthesis of opposites and disparate parts… of “left brain” and “right brain” where the subjective and sensitive creative is empowered by the mentality and awareness of the observer.
“Never let what you cannot do interfere with what you can.”
~John Wooden, basketball player and renowned coach, 1910-2010
Listen to Your Body — Train Your Body…
When you’re tired and it’s time to rest… then sure, heed those are signals. This is not about not listening to your body. Rather, it is about tuning into your body, and also teaching your body to listen to—and obey—you.
Mind over matter, places consciousness above physicality. Let consciousness rule.
Physical barriers you encounter are set as much by your brain as by your body.
~Alex Hutchison, author, athlete, journalist, PhD in Physics
YES YOU CAN!!!
My first personal trainer, Jade Teta, would belt out “YES YOU CAN!!!”, invariably just when I was ready to give up and stop whatever exercise of the moment—under his command—was kicking my bootie. It’s as if his baritone coaches’ voice could literally infuse more energy in me at the moment I needed it most, and bolster my ability to do more than I thought was possible.
Because he believed I could, I believed I could. Because I believed it… I could.
Stories of Greatness
We’ve all heard stories of incredible human feats that give tribute to this truth: whatever you put your mind to, you can do.
History is brimming with real life stories of those who believed they could… and so they did. We all know the story of JK Rowling, Thomas Edison, Vincent Van Gogh, Walt Disney, Steve Jobs, and so many more.
Viktor Frankl survived the Nazi concentration camps and went on to write the epic book, Man’s Search for Meaning, which continues to inspire and influence people today.
Oprah Winfrey overcame rape, abuse, neglect, racial and gender prejudice, to become one of the most wealthy and influential people in the world today.
Nick Santonastasso, didn’t know he was supposed to live an invalid. And so he didn’t.[4]https://youtu.be/rc8offk7Mho
Do you remember Faith the Dog… a two-legged dog who lived to walk and inspire millions? Faith didn’t know she couldn’t walk on two legs only. And so she did.[5]http://www.oprah.com/spirit/faith-the-walking-dog-video
PUSHING PAST OBSTACLES AND RESISTANCE
Reflect on your own life and a time when you pushed through something you thought you couldn’t do.
- How did you feel afterward?
- Is there something really challenging in your life today that’s requiring more than you think you can do to push through?
- What if you do it anyway?
Mind Over Matter Quotes
“What is to give light must endure burning.”
~Viktor Frankl, Austrian-American Neurologist, Psychiatrist, Holocaust survivor, author-Man’s Search for Meaning, 1905-1997
“I went to art school. That means that everything I can do with a pen you can learn to do as well.”
~Alex Peck, Creative Director for Seth Godin
Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve.
~Napoleon Hill, author of long time bestseller Think and Grow Rich
What’s important is that you latch onto a vision and you learn how to create.
~Dr. Joe Dispenza, medical doctor, author, educator, researcher
“Because my trainer believed I could, I believed I could.
Because I believed it…
I could.
~LeAura Alderson, writer, editor, creator iCreateDaily.com ®
“It wasn’t in my reality—the same as it’s not in most people’s—for a guy with no legs to climb to the top of Kilimanjaro. So I set out to create that reality.”
~Warren MacDonald, tragedy survivor and author
We’re wired to stop at tired. But we can rewire.
~LeAura Alderson, creator iCreateDaily.com ®
“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”
~Viktor Frankl, Austrian-American Neurologist, Psychiatrist, Holocaust survivor, author-Man’s Search for Meaning, 1905-1997
It’s worth remembering that if someone knows how to do something, that means, with sufficient effort, you could probably learn it too.
~Seth Godin, thought leader, author, founder-AltMBA
“The power of thought is a bridge to our divinity… our capacity to create our future.
Visioning followed by effort, is a daily walk across that bridge.”
~LeAura Alderson, writer, editor, creator iCreateDaily.com ®
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Hello! I’m LeAura, owner and co-creator of iCreateDaily.com®. As an autodidactic philosopher, generalist, personal development advocate, entrepreneur, writer, editor, author, ideator, media publisher, and podcaster, I’m passionate about helping others achieve their best possible life! Our small family of entrepreneurs, writers, investors, educators and creators own and run websites around topics we enjoy, such as gardening, health and fitness, creativity and pets, with more to come.
While my greatest teacher is Life… my formal training includes certifications in mediation, fitness, and strategic intervention coaching, including marriage and family. Today, the synergy of creating websites, articles and podcasts, brings together all my favorite things: family, learning, growth, creating, connecting and contributing. To share these with you is a privilege, that serves my lifelong aspiration to help others.
My personal areas of creativity are in writing, masterminding, ideation, synthesis and bringing ideas to life through business and entrepreneurship, all with a pervasive spiritual foundation with a focus on elevating the lives of others.
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