How Does Mind over Matter in Mindfulness Actually Work?
Mind over matter is a challenge many people struggle with.
I firmly believe that consciousness creates reality. This process occurs through the active practice of mindfulness – conscious awareness, here and now, of that which you control. Specifically – your thoughts, feelings, actions, and intentions.
Working with mindfulness, you can make choices and decisions to actively, consciously create reality.
I’ve done this. More than once. Thus, I know that it’s not some pie-in-the-sky bullshit.
However – neither can conscious reality be created from the pure void. It takes intent and action.
When I was severely injured – I got hit by a car crossing a street in November 1999 – the prognosis for my total and complete recovery was full of uncertainty. Would I walk again? (I had a severely shattered right tibia and broken fibula – the bones between the knee and ankle.) Could I regain full use of my right arm? (My clavicle – the collarbone – was shattered and the brachial plexus nerve bundle stretched and damaged as such.) And if I fully recovered, how long would it take?
Yes, I had amazing doctors, therapists, and nurses. But the initial prognosis was years of recovery, and total recovery possible, but not definite.
That wasn’t what I saw. It wasn’t how I allowed the outcome to play in my mind, heart, and soul. I saw myself healing completely, walking again without difficulty or aid, and using my right arm normally, too.
My total focus was on healing. No doubt, no question, no second-guessing. I’d recover completely and totally. This was my reality.
And I did. A year after the accident, I was walking without a limp and had almost full use of my arm. Not long after that, unless I told you about this or showed my scars, you’d never know how badly injured I’d been.
This is empirical proof that mind over matter consciously creates.
Consciousness creates reality
One of the biggest problems with ideas like the Law of Attraction and manifestation is that they are akin to a magic genie. Make a wish – make it with all your heart – and it will come true. Nothing else is required. Use positive thinking all by itself and you can get anything and everything you desire.
But that’s not the whole story. First, you need to work from a place of mindfulness – true knowledge of the thoughts, feelings, and intentions (here and now) attached to your desire. Half-considered, semi-conscious desires cannot be made manifest because they’re not fully formed, thus not giving them the fuel that they need.
Second, there must be action. But that’s not necessarily literal. Action can be actively, consciously envisioning the reality you desire to see made manifest.
For example – while working with my doctors, physical and occupational therapists, and nurses during my recovery – I expended lots of action. And I saw everything I did rebuilding muscles, repairing damage, and increasing my overall health, wellness, and wellbeing.
My consciously created reality of a totally healed and healthy body didn’t come from the void or thin air. There was thought, feeling, intention, action, and overall effort.
So where does mind over matter come in?
Mind over matter and learned lessons
As children, we’re taught many things. Among them, we learn we have a mind and body (and though some might disagree, a spirit). These physical manifestations of who we are is what we are.
Then, we’re taught that there is a within and a without. Things exist on a microscopic level, a macroscopic level, and an utterly invisible energetic level. You are a physical being amidst all of that.
We develop identities as we mature and learn reason and logic. The awakening of the conscious mind comes after you’ve learned how nothing is connected.
Yet both metaphysics and quantum physics agree that that’s just not true. The opposite is. Hence – EVERYTHING is connected.
Matter – like the keyboard beneath my fingers – is barely a fraction of a fraction of the totality of what makes up life, the Universe, and everything. Because no matter what it is – you, me, cars, trees, buildings, planets, galaxies, and all else – energy is its core. At its most root level, it’s made of energy.
We think we’re all disconnected from not just one another, but deeper philosophies, the root energies of the Universe, and much more. But that’s not the truth. The truth is all of it – EVERYTHING – is connected. And all of it is made of energy.
Mind over matter, in this regard, is unlearning these “truths” for a broader, energy-based, connected reality. And once you start to do that – you can work with it to consciously create your reality.
But that leads to a new issue.
The instant gratification/quick fix desire
Can you believe that, not even 100 years ago, the ability to instantly connect with someone on the other side of the globe wasn’t remotely possible? Did you know that less than 45 years ago, only 20% of American households had microwaves to cook foods in minutes? Do you realize the modern smartphone – a pocket computer – is barely 20 years old?
And yet – we all want things to be faster, more convenient, and more gratifying. Many world cultures have become hell-bent on quick fixes and instant gratification.
Inevitably, this gets attached to manifestation via conscious reality creation.
Some of the more popular movements around the Law of Attraction tell you that time – how long it will take – can be disregarded. This plays into the central tenet of The Secret and ask, believe, and receive.
This lessens or outright disregards that work – mindful, intentional work – must be applied to manifest anything via conscious reality creation/the Law of Attraction. The notion of it being instantaneous and without necessary work of any sort makes more people disbelieve – because when it doesn’t work, they can say, “See? I told you this is bullshit!”
The desire for quick fixes and instant gratification works against you. That’s because there largely are no quick fixes, and instant gratification is fleeting at best.
Conscious reality creation is an ongoing process that requires effort (mental, emotional, spiritual, and sometimes physical), conviction, and repetition.
You also must surrender control for the how.
The how ties to mind over matter
I love to be in control. No question. This often shows clearly in my preference to be the driver when I’m going somewhere with friends or family.
How things work intrigues me on many levels. Even with theoretical notions that I use in writing sci-fi, I seek to know as much of the how of their workings as possible.
When it comes to conscious reality creation, however – how is utterly not your job. That can be a bitter pill to swallow.
The simplest reason why how isn’t your job is this – if you knew how, wouldn’t you have done it/be doing it already?
Sometimes, trial and error are the processes of development, and the how is only clear when you’re done.
Creating things – like writing a blog – involves a set process. The how is part of this. But just because I know how – now – doesn’t mean I always did. I had to learn.
When you’re stepping out of the familiar (your comfort zone) and consciously creating reality, choosing a path to walk, how is not known to you. But you still need to act mindfully, here and now. It’s necessary to be consciously aware of your thoughts, feelings, intentions, and actions to do the work required to make any reality come into being.
That’s because everything is connected. Everything being connected, and everything being energy, possibilities and potential are practically limitless. Mind over matter is literal – just because you can’t see it, touch it, taste it, and so forth, doesn’t mean it’s not there.
But without putting in the work, taking the action, and working from mindfulness – conscious reality creation seems challenging, difficult, and even impossible.
My challenge
Mind over matter is a challenge many people struggle with. I certainly do.
As much as I write constantly about conscious reality creation, mindfulness, and non-toxic positivity – I still catch myself not being mindful. What am I thinking? How and what am I feeling? What do I intend and what I am doing or not? I do not ask myself these questions as often as I should.
How often? More or less every time I let my brain weasels start running around and chittering away. When I let my depression settle in my chest. Every time I forget what I’ve done before, and that I am energy and connected to it all.
Part of why I’m writing this is because I need to do a better job of practicing mind over matter. This meat popsicle I occupy for this lifetime barely scratches the surface of who, what, and why I am.
The same is true for you and your body, too.
As I continue to work with mind over matter to consciously create reality. I see what I must do. It all comes down to mindfulness and being present here and now. And when I’m not – taking action to be mindful of my thoughts, feelings, actions, and intentions.
Can you see how mind over matter works in conscious reality creation and with the paths you choose?
This is the five hundred and eighty-seventh exploration of my Pathwalking philosophy. These weekly essays are my ideas for – and experiences with – using mindfulness and positivity to walk along a chosen path of life to consciously create reality.
I share this journey as part of my desire to make a difference in this world and empower as many people as I can with conscious reality creation.
Thank you for joining me. Feel free to re-post and share this.
The first year of Pathwalking, including expanded ideas, is available here. Check out Amazon for my published fiction and nonfiction works.
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