Your mind will believe anything you tell it; use it to your advantage.
The Human mind is impressive, and I have always been captivated by it. It has always been my belief, and you have a right to your opinion, but I have never believed that anyone human is better than another. It is our upbringing that defines who we are. I think that if a child has been roused and inspired, they can turn out the way you want them to be, a genius or a knucklehead.
I’ve heard many stories concerning children who were terrible at studies or had some learning disability turning their lives around after a teacher got involved.
Let’s take, for example, Grade 5 Teacher Cora Greenway. The author Robbins Sharma was a terrible student until Grade 5. His teacher, Ms. Greenway, saw potential in him. She spent extra time with him and told him he was a genius. Today because of that teacher, we have had the honor to read some fantastic books by the man. Just being told that he was a genius changed the trajectory of his life. 1
Another case is Ed Mylett, the millionaire entrepreneur with a similar story. He has stated multiple times that he would never have become the man he is today if it wasn’t for his Class 4 teacher, Mrs. Susan Smith. Mrs. Smith saw that Ed was struggling with his studies. She told the class that someone from the board was coming to take the state exam the following morning to get him to change. This test was a particular test for the most intelligent student. She told Ed (she used to call him little Eddy) that he was the one chosen from his class. The next day little Eddy was taken into a room for the staged test. However, it was enough to make Little Eddy believe in himself and become an achiever.2
It would have been improbable that both these men would have become Super successful if it wasn’t for these women.
Notice how it took just a few words, which were the seeds that inspired and changed the way they thought and behaved. I have heard many similar stories, and I want to share my own story.
I had a stutter that developed around the age of seven. Speaking was not easy for me, and the more I stuttered, the more conscious I got, which made it even worse, and by Grade 7, it had become appalling.
We used to have an English Comprehensive class in school, and I recall the students making fun of me. They would tell the teacher not to give me any reading as the class would come to an end even before a paragraph of reading was complete. Trust me, the comments hurt.
I was not too fond of their taunting, which would worsen my stuttering. In Grade 7, midway through the Academic Year, our English teacher quit, and the Vice-Principal became the substitute teacher.
Being the Vice Principal, everyone feared her, including me, but I became her pet project when she saw how I was treated because of my stuttering. She encouraged me to read, showed me techniques to reduce my stuttering, made me take additional classes to improve my reading, and got me to debate. Most importantly, she told me I was a confident young man who was a great reader and speaker. She put a level of confidence in me that no one else had, and it worked.
Today I speak professionally, and I conduct training and deliver talks at speaking engagements with the audience numbers ranging in the hundreds.
Today, my stuttering problem has disappeared. I feel it is there, but it is so minute that people cannot even tell. This was only possible because someone believed in me and said the right words to change how I thought.
The secret behind molding a person is only possible because our brains are malleable. Our brains being manipulable is a good thing because, if you think of it, we can manipulate the brain into believing what we want, which will ultimately result in achieving anything we want in life?
Throughout our lives, we have done things because we have been told that it is possible, and sometimes we do it ourselves without knowing it.
In his book “The Placebo Effect”, Dr Joe Dispenza explains how an American Surgeon, Henry Beecher, ran out of Morphine during World War II in his military field hospital and how he had to operate on a badly wounded soldier without any painkillers. 3
He gave the soldier a Saline injection (no painkiller), informed the soldier he was being given anesthesia, and conducted the Operation. The Operation was a success as the soldier behaved as if he was under anesthesia, and he only felt minor pain while being operated on. Isn’t that astounding?
After that, Dr Beecher instructed doctors to use Saline Injections as a substitute whenever the field hospital ran out of morphine. In 1955, Beecher made history when he authored a clinical review of 15 studies published in The Journal of the American Medical Association on the Placebo Effect.
So, If a man can be told that they are being injected with morphine and their mind tells them that it is true, their body also behaves as if it were true. The conclusion is that we can make our brains believe whatever we want them to believe.
Couldn’t we make it to believe that we are better in areas that we are not? Could we mold our brains into believing anything we want to achieve?
The answer is yes. You can try this simple experiment to show you the possibilities. Take your right arm and see how far towards the right and back it can go without moving your body.
Note how far it has gone. Go ahead and try it.
Now close your eyes and imagine you doing the same thing in your mind, but imagine that you have moved your arm 10–15% further. Once you have seen it in your mind’s eye, try it again. Go ahead and move your right arm the furthest you can. Did you observe the difference? That is the power of Visualization in action.
Do you understand the power we have in our hands? The possibilities are immense. There are multiple ways to do this, but two of the strongest are Affirmations and Visualizations that stand out the most.
Let’s do a quick review of both.
1. Affirmations: Start affirming to yourself the changes you want in your life. Start with ten positive statements of the changes you want to see in you (internal) or your life (external). Once you have written these down (as if you have achieved or become that person), you will need to read them aloud repeatedly but with Gratitude and Visualization.
What do I mean to repeat these with Gratitude and Visualization? When reading your affirmations, always be grateful for all you have in your life, and picture yourself (visualize yourself) when repeating your affirmations the way you want to be (as if it has already happened). Do your affirmations first thing in the morning and the last thing at night before sleeping.
I discovered a method that is amazing and works. There is an app called Thinkup (Home — ThinkUp AppThinkUp App | Positive Affirmations App), which I use for my affirmations. The app allows you to record your affirmations in your voice, and I have added binaural beats that also help bypass the conscious mind barriers. I listen to this recording throughout my day, which is more effective than just listening first thing in the morning and the last thing at night.
Although the app developers suggest the most effective time to start listening to the recording is 15 minutes before sleeping. I know that using an app (there are other apps on Playstore that are free) like Thinkup is extremely powerful to reprogram your brain and more effective and efficient than reading your affirmations.
2. Visualizations: You tried the arm exercise above and saw how powerful Visualization could be. To visualize, you will need to write a list of 10 Dreams in Present tense (as if your dreams have already been achieved).
Don’t only focus on long term dreams, and have short term ones too. Once your list is ready, the fun part comes — The Visualization.
Close your eyes and visualize all your dreams. Make them as vivid as possible. Use all your senses as you imagine and picture you have achieved all your dreams.
This is a powerful exercise, so do not take it for granted. Do this exercise in the morning and before going to bed.
Both Affirmations and Visualization are powerful and will be able to mould your mind and help you manifest all that you want in life.
If you want them to work, these practices need to become a way of life. You cannot expect to do them one day, miss a couple of days, and expect results. It is like going to the gym; you only see results once you are consistent.
I would love to hear if you use any other methods to trick your brain into achieving greater success for you. Please mention it in the comments area. It would help others in their journey as well.
References:
1. The Everyday Hero Manifesto by Robin S. Sharma ISBN1443465356 (ISBN13: 9781443465359)1
2. The Ed Mylett Podcast show, Episode with Robin Sharma. ((1943) Become The HERO Of Your Life & Unleash Your FULL POTENTIAL w/ Robin Sharma — YouTube)2
3. The Placebo Effect by Joe Dispenza, Original Title: You Are the Placebo ISBN1401944582 (ISBN13: 9781401944582)
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