Mind Over Matter

This is perhaps the most influential of my personal beliefs:

Thought is energy, energy creates matter, therefore thought is tangible. Things you have faith in have power because your faith transmits a great deal of energy towards actions that reflect your faith. That which you choose to ignore has even less power than that which you actively disbelieve, because disbelief, when taken to the extremes of an “atheist” that doesn’t say “I don’t believe in god” but rather proclaims with great emotion “I hate god,” is still a form of belief and affirmation that you acknowledge its existence.

I pray because I believe that the energy of my believing tranfers into what I’m praying for, and that energy, collectively with such prayer energy from others who likewise place their faith in the same purpose, all helps to further the task at hand. Christianity is not alone in the belief that, when 2 or more people pray for something, it has greater power than the one alone. Thus, the more people pray for a given outcome, the more likely is will be to come to pass. Here is where a validity can be seen in the power and truth of any organized religion: as Christianity teaches: “wWhenever two people agree and pray together, their prayer will be heard,” but Christianity is not the only religion to experience “miracles” of belief, and even miraculous revelations (though the cynic, non-believer, or believer of another faith may chop it down to a hallucination or meerly the results of drug abuse). My personal thought on the issue is that believing and praying, whether organized or individual, is most effective when for a selfless purpose.

Moving from the spiritual to the physical application of the power of belief, will power comes into play. We all have our addictions and our OCD tendancies, some of which we acknowledge and even embrace, and others we ignore and deny, and even allow to grow out of hand. Through my first semester of college, I was friends with a roughly even selection of smokers and non-smokers, and I continually insisted to myself that I would never allow myself to take up such a dirty habit. As stress mounted in second semester, I began experimenting with temporary fixes to remove us from the anxiety of school and life. (Don’t try this at home. I’m not a doctor; these are just reflections on my personal experiences.) I baught some clove cigarettes, promising myself to smoke only in moderation and to keep it under control. Dealing with an addictive substance is fine as long as YOU remain in control. the moment you allow control to slip to the side of the drug, the chemicals, the physical world, the addiction begins to set in.

My rules:

1. Moderation – if I smoked 3 yesterday, I won’t have a single one for several days thereafter.
2. Social Smoking – this allows for chain smoking when it suits you and those around you aren’t offended, but be careful.
3. Set Logical Limitations – make a rule not to smoke more than a pack in 2 weeks, or a month even.
4. Assessing Want vs Need – I only smoke when I want it, never when I “need” it. The second my body cries for more I go off it for 3 or more days at a time. These rules can easily apply to anything.

Now, I understand that there is such thing as chemical dependance, but if all individuals that ever pick up a cigarette become addicted, then why was I able to smoke lightly, off and on, for more than 3 years, and never experienced withdrawals or difficulty quitting cold turkey.

This is about self control, personal responsibility; it’s all in your head!

There are, however, addictions I acknowledge and embrace. If I haven’t had at least one soda’s worth of caffeine in a day, I’m generally worthless, mentally and physically. In theory, I could ween myself from the nector and eventually function effectively without it. However, the weening process would take over a week and the rehab would be more than another. I can’t afford to not think straight for that great of time while in school, my work would suffer too greatly. I very much plan on a full detox this summer, just to give my body a break.

Personal thoughts on self-destructive behavior:

1. Self-destruction is only fun until you actually succeed. Cynical, I know.
2. I only consume those things that are bad for me that taste good (soda, chocolate, cloves, anything with great quantities of fat or sugar)
3. All things in moderation.

Practice some self-control kids, it’s good for you.

By Crystal Nichols in Psychology on March 28, 2004