Mind Over Matter: A phrase defined as, the use of willpower to overcome physical problems, having intellectual powers to override threats, difficulties, or problems.
Do you possess the ability to willfully overcome obstacles? Sure you do! Think of one instance when you made a decision about something and went through with it. You decided to go to college or get married or buy a new car. It takes money to go to college or buy a new car and a strong desire to get married knowing that the idea is to spend the rest of your life with that one person. The obstacles here are getting the money and knowing the decision for marriage is the right one. There are always obstacles in life.
What if you could take that phrase, “mind over matter” and apply it to something physical. What would happen if your mind stopped communicating with your body? You would essentially cease to exist. Why do so many people talk about the mind-body connection when it relates to physical exercise? Because without your mind present your body isn’t functioning at maximum capacity and vice versa.
Ever get a feeling that something deep inside is lost or buried, and then you get that awareness and connectedness of self?
That is the mind-body connection! Research shows that people who exercise think better and more creatively than those who don’t exercise. So get your mind right! Get it set to sync with your body. Be present in everything you do.
Take the mom who works, takes care of the family and wants to lose 10 or 20 pounds. She’s been overweight for years and as she ages just assumes that this is the way she may be for the rest of her life. She doesn’t feel very good about herself. She says she can’t run, she’s weak and gets tired easily. At this juncture you might be thinking that all those negative thoughts aren’t very helpful, and you would be correct. But what if this same person after all that decides to give it another chance, and says to herself, “this time will be different”. Would you say that she might have a good chance at succeeding? Absolutely, yes!
The mom, without doing a thing physically yet, has already begun the road forward just by changing her mindset. It takes determination and the will to change our minds. “This time it will be different”, is the defining phrase she made. From here she has just minor decisions or details to figure out, like how she’s going to lose the weight. Thankfully there are more than enough modalities of exercise and roads to wellness to jumpstart her goal. She chose to look deep inside, knowing in the past that she didn’t reach her goal and instead of the usual negative thoughts, she puts a new positive spin on it. Mind over matter, in this case is positive thinking about her body and what she wants.
Imagine you hurt your knee to the point that you just want to cry.
Now imagine, you have to walk across the street to get to your car thinking maybe you can’t make it because the pain is so intense. It begins to rain. You have two choices. Get wet and possibly sick from being in the rain or reach deep inside yourself to acknowledge the pain and decide to walk to your car where you can get inside and stay dry. The choice, to push pass the pain of your knee (mind over matter), to get to the dry car.
No matter what you want to do, no matter how much pain you endure, whether physically or mentally, you can overcome it. It’s the decisions we make from that moment forth that determines the outcome. If you don’t think you can do anything you set your mind to, you are wrong! You absolutely Can Do It!