How To Develop the Powers of Your Mind

How To Develop the Powers of Your Mind




“We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking
we used when we created them!”
Albert Einstein


To develop the powers of your mind… start running!

There are so many methods of personal development that it’s always hard to choose one to help you make progress on the road to success and happiness. And yet, most of these methods fail when people try to put them into practice. It’s not that they aren’t good in theory, but the advice they give on paper doesn’t seem to provide satisfactory results when applied in real life.


To develop your mind you have to develop your body

One reason for their failure is that they don’t take the physical aspect of personal development into account, and concentrate only on the mental aspect. In other words, these methods ignore the fact that man is an ensemble of body – mind – and spirit, and that you can’t develop one (mind, for example) by neglecting the other (body). I won’t get into the aspect of the spirit here, which lends itself to polemics more than the other two.

It’s difficult to deny that we have a body and mind because we can see them at work every day. Our mind allows us to think, and our body is its support. The existence of the soul is harder to prove. Personally, I believe in it, but I don’t think it’s necessary to convince anyone else to think the way I do. Belief in the existence of the soul is a question of faith, while everyone can easily accept the existence of the body and mind. No one would question them. As for the soul, there are innumerable theories to choose from, but since this section is called “How To Develop Your Mind” and not your soul, we won’t discuss them here.


Stress can cause many illnesses

To get back to our subject...

Many methods designed to improve and develop your mind forget that the mind resides in a body, that the body has a huge influence on the way you think, and vice versa.

To understand this point of view, think about psychosomatic illnesses, which were rejected and ridiculed by official science for years, but which have now become the object of serious scientific study.

By definition, a psychosomatic illness is characterized by the influence of the mind (psyche) on the body (soma). In other words, many physical illnesses are caused by a negative state of mind: depression, stress, moodiness, etc. This cause-and-effect relationship is now officially recognized as by scientists around the globe.

Disorders like skin problems, hypertension, asthma, backache (to name just a few) are now often considered to be psychosomatic. The number of illnesses included in this category is steadily rising, and proof about the links between mind and body are accumulating.


Physical activity is life; inactivity the start of the end

The link can be seen not only in certain illnesses, but in our daily moods as well. People in good health are often happier and make more rapid progress on their quest for success than others. They have the mental vigor and physical strength they need to meet and overcome the challenges life presents.

Most of these people practice some kind of physical activity or sport. There are very few inactive billionaires, successful business people and celebrities, except if they’ve reached an advanced age and their fortunes are fairly secure.

Some celebrities let themselves go after attaining great wealth, thinking they have no more challenges to face. They stop taking part in sports or physical activities and fall prey to all kinds of abuse (alcohol, tobacco, drugs, sexual deviation, etc.). The result is a slow decline, a loss of cerebral capacity, weight gain, the appearance or worsening of illnesses linked to aging like high cholesterol and diabetes… eventually leading to a shortened lifespan and premature death.

Just read the newspapers and magazines, or watch TV. You’ll find many examples of celebrities who have succumbed to inactivity and become mired in excesses of all kinds. They abandon their stardom, their idol status, and keep spiraling downward until they come to a bad end.

Psychosomatic illnesses and the lapses suffered by celebrities are two striking examples of how the mind can influence the body, and vice versa. It’s often when people who are suffering from a psychosomatic illness regain control of their mind and body that their illness disappears.


Be happy and move!

If you really want to be happy and have a better and more enriching life, make sure to take care of your body with a healthy diet – remember, you are what you eat – and enough exercise.

You don’t have to be a top athlete to keep your body in shape. Find some sport or physical activity you like, and do it regularly. If you start something new after a long period of inactivity, go gradually, at your own pace, until the activity becomes a healthy habit in your everyday life.


Produce your own energy hormones!

Doing sports or physical exercise stimulates your organism to produce various hormones that help not only reinforce your body, but your mind as well. Physical activity generates endorphins and norepinephrines, among others. These substances have an extremely positive effect on your body and mind.

Endorphins are called the “hormone of pleasure” because they’re involved in keeping you in a good mood, and making your thoughts positive and optimistic, three ingredients that are indispensable for developing the powers of your mind rapidly and effectively.

Do you think it’s possible to experience happiness if you’re always full of anxiety, assailed by dark thoughts? Endorphins naturally provide you with an essential weapon on your quest for happiness, and norepinephrine helps fight depression, bad moods and pessimism, which are often obstacles to your access of happiness.


On your mark, get set, go!

You can generate these powerful substances yourself, in a totally natural way that’s also completely free, simply by doing some physical exercise. So don’t wait and get started! You can begin by running at your own speed for half an hour every day, gradually increasing it to an hour. If you can’t run, you can at least walk, so do some walking whenever the opportunity arises. If you can climb stairs instead of taking the elevator, go ahead! If you can walk to work, do it! Or at least cover the equivalent of a few metro or bus stops on foot.

You have to have a strong body to overcome the challenges life has to offer, and a strong mind to learn the lessons you need to learn from each step in your development, until you attain the life you desire.