You’ve certainly heard the phrase “Mind over matter.” It’s often synonymous with positive thinking, though sometimes is connected with an assumption that we just have to let things go and not let them bother us…needing to ‘buck up.” Sometimes that’s good, sometimes not.
Where does this phrase come from? It’s so much more than positive thinking, though that’s one great component. “Mind”…what we think, and “matter”…what we see and experience in this 3-D world. Sometimes matter is physical things, like our homes or money. Sometimes it’s non-physical, like a job or relationship or our health.
What’s the ‘mind’ part? The goal of our conscious thinking mind is to keep us safe and help us to make sense of our world. If we didn’t trust our minds we would be in a constant state of confusion and doubt and fear. But is our mind always 100% accurate? Certainly not. Does it get the wrong idea at times? Absolutely.
Regardless of truth, however, what our minds tell us…what we tell ourselves, is our reality. If we don’t question that, it’s largely what we see, and more importantly, how we experience it.
Mind over matter references the idea that where our intention (thought) goes, energy flows. This is the basis of the self-fulfilling prophecy. If we believe something to be true, and remind ourselves of that repeatedly, that’s likely going to be the case.
If you’ve ever had a day in which things you don’t like just continued to happen, one after another, this was likely due in great part by you focusing on the initial things not working and reviewing those in your mind and connecting with your frustration, and sending out that expectation. Been there, done that!
When we say things like, “These things always happen to me,” or, “What a horrible day,” we send a message to the Universe that this is true, and the Universe responds by making it true. This may seem a bit woo-woo, but in the Quantum Theory world it’s just a given. This doesn’t mean you’re consciously asking for the things you don’t want, but the Universe hears the implied statement and complies. There’s no judgment here, no right or wrong. Just call and response.
The Shift
Our unconscious acts upon what it knows to be true, until it isn’t. If we want to change our experience, we need to change the thought about what’s true. One of the best people to listen to about this idea, I think, is Bruce Lipton, who wrote Biology of Belief.
Mind over matter works when we consciously choose to replace the unhelpful thought with a new belief. If our new thought is strong enough, and we truly believe it (herein lies the work), that becomes the reality. We can say, “This thing I didn’t like happened, but it’s just one thing. The day is great,” and the rest of the day will likely progress in a much easier way, or at least our experience of it will be gentler.
So, if we catch ourselves believing something isn’t possible, or will last forever, or isn’t fair, then choose to reframe and create a new story, we could find that a very different result appears. Mind over matter…using our minds to change reality, or the experience of it.
As I’m writing about this I realize it may come across that I think this is easy. Not so. This a focus of mine every single day. Like meditation and mindfulness, it’s a practice; each day there are multiple opportunities to practice becoming aware and shifting those thoughts that get in the way, those that hold us back. I haven’t reached a point in which I’ve ‘got it’…always see the positive and remove all limiting beliefs, but I do see progress in my practice. That’s my goal.
If you’d like to chat about how to shift your beliefs, you can schedule a free consult. Have a fabulous day!