Personal Power

The average person, it is said, taps only a fraction of his total mental potential. Why is that? Why does a creature imbued with so much power at his command settle only for little?  

Experts say it’s a choice we make, whether consciously or not. We probably find it easier to be simply content with abilities that are already manifest and available. We don’t have to numb our brains figuring out what more we can be or have to toil harnessing what latent talents we may have. We won’t dare to risk searching for what may not be actually there.

The human mind reportedly only works a great deal on rare occasions – particularly when we are caught in an extremely difficult or threatening situation. Normally, we are comfortable in mediocre existence. We don’t want to tire ourselves or take risks.

Only few people have learned to use their full mental power. They are eager to explore more of their personal potentials, never cowed by whatever it may entail. These are the people that are able to devise technological innovations, start popular movements, or head the largest corporations, even governments. These special ones decide in which direction the whole world goes.

These people are more intelligent, no doubt. But, perhaps, it’s not really their innate superior intelligence that makes them special. Science has already established that the human intellect can be enhanced by training. The mental aptitude of an average person can be stretched considerably; his IQ – so far the standard gauge of human mental ability – may vary significantly from time to time, depending on the activities he subjects his mind to.

The slow learner in school, as we all know, will improve his or her performance with regular, diligent study. Of course it takes self-discipline and persistence, qualities that most people find difficult to cultivate in themselves. The mere thought of going outside one’s comfort zone can easily melt any casual resolve to try to do better. 

There’s a true story of a blind girl who was believed to be totally incapable of learning. But a compassionate nurse didn’t believe that any person was so unfortunate not to have hope, and persevered in teaching the doomed child. True enough, Nurse Annie was able to turn the girl into one of the world’s most celebrated inspirational authors. The girl’s name was Helen Keller.

There is mounting scientific proof that the human intellect can be enhanced. We can take control of our minds, and take steps to make this great source of personal power in us work to our best advantage.

Stocking up on useful information is a good way to start. Reading good books and keeping abreast with current events will improve our decision-making skills and our view of things. Books are a good source of ideas, often the ideas of great thinkers. Ideas are contagious; by reading about them, we transfer them from the author’s mind to ours. Likewise, knowledge of current happenings provides good education about how the world operates, and eventually widens our understanding of ourselves and of life in general. These, added to our own experience, equip us with what it takes to succeed and prosper, to have a full and satisfying life.

Positive self-talk is another good technique for training the mind. By always telling ourselves (even verbally doing so!) that we are capable and determined, the subconscious mind will soon take it in as fact. Our self-confidence will improve, and so will our actual performance.

This technique goes very well with positive imagery. As we do self-talk of good things about us, we may close our eyes and imagine ourselves being what our words describe. But a word of caution — this should be done only in private, or people will think we’ve gone cuckoo.

Mental training, while highly possible, is not magic, though. Some will find it very easy to do; others may have to expend more efforts at it. The fast learners may find it so simple that they may doubt if something this simple has value at all. On the other hand, the slow ones may find it so much trouble that they will wonder if it’s really worth the effort.

But mental training shall not be used to escape from reality. Mentally escaping from a harsh reality will not take the problem away. The point of mental training is to make us feel confident and capable of surmounting any life difficulty, because the truth is – we have the power!

Some people are of the view that prayer itself is a kind of mental training. When we pray we often have images going in our heads as we murmur our entreaties. And, time and again, it’s those among us who pray more fervently that usually get their wishes granted.

The power to bring forth our own reality has spiritual roots. It is said: “The body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.” So then God may actually be much closer than we think. God may be so close that perhaps we don’t even need to utter words to speak with Him.

And we have been promised: If we seek, we shall find; if we ask, we shall receive.