Mind Over Matter

If these heels could talk, on this day they would say it is all about Mind Over Matter........

I remember growing up in rural Georgia right on the Flint River.  My mansion at the time was a single wide trailer that my dad had paid $500.00 for and pulled it to it's resting place with a tractor.  This mansion had two bedrooms and one bath.  My two brothers and I shared a bedroom.  It had one set of bunk beds, a twin bed and one four drawer dresser. 

This was home as I knew it and although I knew that others lived more extravagantly, I never felt like I was less than anyone.  My mother always made sure that we were proud of where we came from and was adamant that my brothers and I knew that there was more out in the world to see and experience. 

We did not have central heat and air. We had one wood burning stove for heat in the winter and as you know it can get quiet humid in the summer and therefore my mother would have all the windows raised to let what little breeze there was flow through the trailer.

I hated not having central air.  To be honest at the time I didn't even know what central heat and air was, I just knew I hated not having it.  There was always this one little mosquito that just would not die. No matter how many pillows you put over your head you could hear the pesky bastard around your ear.  Sleep was special in these moments. That mosquito was enough to drive any ten year old crazy.

Outside my mansion,  there was a big oak tree that my middle brother and I would often play under. There was no grass, just some Georgia red clay and a few roots from that tree.  We would spend hours under that  tree playing with trucks and cars and my Barbie dolls.  He would make a road with his hands or a brick  and then I would use his toy truck to drive Barbie around that dirt road. That tree was base for many hide and go seek games.  There were lots of memories by that tree.  I knew that tree well and there was nothing scary about that tree. 

At night time when I would go to bed I could see that very same tree from where I lay.  In the dark the same tree that I played and laughed  under during the daytime became something different, something that  was no longer pleasant. In the dark it  looked like a scary  monster.  I would be so scared looking out my window at that tree. I would spend seconds, minutes, or even hours scared that the monstrous creature that this tree looked like would come alive.  I no longer felt at peace about that tree as I did during the daytime, I now felt anxious and scared. 

As a ten year old little girl, you can't appreciate the mind's ability.  As a ten year old little girl, you can't comprehend what effect the mind has on one's life.  As an adult, I now know the tremendous effect the mind has on everything. A person with a strong,  healthy mind can change the world. While a person with a weak, sick mind can destroy the world.

Most people will say that the heart is what feels and is most powerful. I would not disagree that the heart feels and is powerful but in my opinion  the mind is the most powerful part of the human body.   The mind has the ability to make you believe that things are real, when in fact they aren't real. The mind also has the ability to make you feel like something is not there when in actuality it is and was there all along.  The mind will tell you to give up when you need to keep going. The mind will tell you that you feel pain and make you think you need to stop when the pain is really temporary and stopping should never  be an option.  The mind will tell you that you are not worthy, beautiful or smart.  Your mind will convince you that your dreams and goals are useless.  And the list can go on and on and on. You get my point.

I knew that the tree was harmless, yet when the dark arrived in my mind it became something harmful.   I allowed my mind to take something pleasant and special and turn it into something dreadful.  All I really had to do was close my eyes and picture that tree during the day time and fear would have been diminished.  All I had to do was take the negative image that I saw in that tree at night time and turn it into something positive.  At ten years old I didn't know the power of positive thinking. 

Fast forward twenty eight years and I will still say that on any given day we all have the potential to think negative thoughts, at least I know I do.  I have learned however that with every negative thought I have, it takes away from the  joy and drive I have for living.  And I don't mean just breathing, I mean LIVING. 

LIVING to me is helping those that can't help themselves, lending an ear for a friend, crying for and with those that are heart broken, laughing at the most inappropriate things, making fun of myself, saying a cuss word when I hit my finger with the hammer, having a night cap on a rough day (which could potentially contribute to negative thoughts, just saying, drink with caution), being childish with my children, not only having goals and aspirations for myself but acting on them and making them a reality. LIVING also means not only loving those around me unconditionally but being loved unconditionally.  And finally LIVING for me means  BUYING A NEW PAIR OF HEELS.   

If you exercise your mind to get rid of negative thoughts and images, then nothing else will matter.