Unlocking The Power of The Mind- Is there an easier way?
Science tells us that we currently use no more than 70% of our brain’s capabilities. Yet we struggle to cram our brains with content in this, the information age, where it seems to be particularly important to ‘know everything.’ Then too, along with the cramming comes the seemingly fantastical claims that we can ‘have it all’- including wealth, happiness, abundance, and breath-taking love- simply by making up our minds to it, and using our brains in a more productive fashion.
If you are interested in the power of the mind you can access a lot of tools to help you on your way. You can buy cards and mini-books created by famed affirmation-ist Louise Haye, and read them daily. You can join a 12-step program, such as Alanon (if you have or know someone who has an addiction.) If not, you can at least read the 12-step books and use the slogans daily. You can do meditations, and yoga, and a myriad of body-mind-spirit practices that will help you unlock the power of the mind by going within the body. All of these are valid and very beneficial.
How often have you gone to a party in this, the’ new age of enlightenment’ and heard someone talk about ‘mind over matter’ or a way to increase mental power. If you’re like me you nodded your head yes to the person across from you, while also thinking “Well, you can say it- but can you do it?” Or more to the point, you thought ‘But can I really do it.” And there may have been some frustration because you’d been working on that skill for a long time already. And if you’re like me, you were probably not acknowledging your successes- but only how far you seemed to be from your goals.
My experiences with ‘mind over matter’ have included some life-changing things- such as a course called The Landmark Forum- where you delve into the very question of what it means to be human. I have looked at myself as a human being, and how my very self was created at a young age. I have dissected the process so that I could shift my way of being to become all that I want to be. In this process I have looked at the very way my brain operates, which sometimes empowers me but very often dis-empowers me.
It has been said that the mind is a machine. It is a machine very much like a computer. When you input information into the mind’s machine, the mind comes up with an answer. Unfortunately, sometimes what you put in the machine is intrinsically flawed information. Life gives the mind a scarring experience. Life gives it other people’s words that cause pain. Life gives the mind physical and emotional trauma. Usually these events are not the average. They are not happening every day. But by their very oddity the machine that is the mind singles them out, and makes special note of them. It then outputs some negative thought into your brain that will stick with you for life- and may sometimes be so intrinsic that you can’t even see it.
One has to wonder if the mind truly can speak to the very cells in your body. One has to wonder if the claims people make about the mind’s power to cure all manner of diseases are really true. Can the mind cause you to lose weight effortlessly? Can you become a master at some unknown task overnight. Is it perhaps true that faith- your faith in your mind’s ability- can move mountains. If we believe, can we accomplish a miracle? And truly, this level of believing itself seems to be a miracle.
How would it be, I wonder, if we could skip over the hard work of constant bathroom affirmations, cards, and readers? What would it be like to just lay there and listen to a tape or CD- then fall to sleep and allow the magic to work on you the next day and into the future. Experts say this method, called brain entrainment, is entirely possible- and even works very well. I am also told does not involve any scary ’subliminal messages.’ This is such a fascination for me- this thought that I really can train my brain without working so hard- that I am inclined to try this method and let you know how it works.
It is said that we can increase our mental power and access the power of our minds through brain entrainment. I am sure this is very true. But the true test for me will be will I do it steadily, every day, until the learning sinks in? Or perhaps I need to first buy the entrainment CD that will train me to do that.