Can You Use Mind Over Matter In Tough Or Scary Times?

A couple of weeks ago I did something that I knew would scare me and I had to use mind over matter to get through it.  Which reminds me, I was preparing for this “something” and chose to skip my bi-weekly blog, so my sincere apologies if you happened to notice.

I taught a 9 hour workshop on “Fulfilling Relationships” and knew that I would be up in front of the room in front of some people I had just met that morning speaking for an entire day.  That wasn’t what scared me the most though.

I had a few people I did know attending, two of which I knew I wanted to give some feedback to and one that I planned on doing some heavy duty work with and I knew that it would benefit that person greatly, but it made me quite nervous.

As a result of my nerves being turned up to high, I began getting a migraine (which is extremely rare for me) and my feet were killing me from walking around in heels.  I had to just mind over matter it because I knew in the end, if I did, I would be so grateful for the opportunity, learn a ton from it and that it would be easier next time.  The cool thing is I do want there to be a next time.

At the same time I was doing my workshop, my boyfriend was riding a 100 mile bike race in about 100 degree weather.  He has done quite a few of those in his life, but he too was having to use “mind over matter” during his ride and talked about the ways he had to talk himself out of stopping and how he was able to keep going through mind over matter despite any cramping or thinking he was going to have to quit at times.

Would you be willing to take on a challenge and come up with something that scares you or would push you to your edge and see if you could do it anyway?

I can’t say that I would ever be able to do a 100 mile bike ride, unless that was a huge goal of mine and I believe I could find a way to make it happen.  I do know though that I was able to get through something that I was afraid of doing by pushing through it knowing that the people in that room came to learn something and I wanted them to get what they came for and I sure hope that they did.

Once it was over and I got plenty of rest, I was able to reflect and celebrate the joy of doing something that scared me.  And you know what?  I didn’t die.  I didn’t fall.  I didn’t stop.  I didn’t not know what I was doing, which has been a reoccurring fear of mine in the past.  And I didn’t have anyone walk out of the course (always a bonus ;)).  And most importantly, my two friends are still talking to me and I’m pretty sure still love me 😉

I did however realize I had way too much content and the course needed to be two days long!  So, what do you do?  You send material via email to the participants afterwards and note to self for next time to extend the time frame or to make it into two different courses. Had I not just done the course without having it all perfectly figured out, I may have never done the course.  And now I have the confidence to do another one.

Wishing you opportunities to learn and grow and the possibility of needing to use mind over matter to get yourself through a tough or scary time in your life in order to live your life to your fullest potential.

Until next time…

Photo credit, Hal Samples: www.halsamples.com