Mental Strength Column in DER YBBSTALER: “The Power of Thought”.
Since November 2022, I have been writing a column about mental strength in the newspaper “Der Ybbstaler”.
Below I publish the text of the first column of 08.12.2022:
Edition 08.12.2022
Welcome to the mental toughness column. Here you will find tips and tricks to build their mental strength to better cope with the challenges in their daily lives and “recharge their batteries”.
Today we dedicate ourselves to the power of thoughts.
Our thoughts are more powerful than we often realize.
Many people are familiar with the placebo effect. A placebo is a drug without an active ingredient. If a patient receives a tablet for a headache, although it is a placebo, the pain sometimes disappears, simply because of the expectation and belief in the effect.
Thoughts can bring us to our goals or inhibit us, depending on what thoughts or beliefs we have.
As an example of this power of beliefs, I cite the Roger Bannister effect. This effect represents how a person can live his dreams with mental training, unconditional focus and firm belief in achieving his goals.
Roger Bannister became the first person to run 1 mile (=1.609km) under four minutes. Before that, the general opinion was that this was not possible. Medical experts also explained that it was anatomically impossible to run this distance faster. Roger Bannister ran this distance on May 6, 1954 in a time of 3min and 59.4 seconds, accomplishing the impossible. A few weeks later, this record was already beaten, as all other athletes now knew that the distance could also be run faster than previously assumed.
In our everyday lives, it is often beliefs such as “mathematics is not my thing” that inhibit us. They may simply have had teachers who could not teach them this subject in a way that suited you.
I show them how their thoughts can have an effect with the following exercise:
Imagine they are walking by a table. On this table is freshly prepared her favorite dish. You inhale and smell the fragrance of this food. They perceive the smell intensely and notice how appetizingly their favorite food is prepared. A small fragrant work of art. With the next breath you perceive the scent of this food again.
Now how did you experience this exercise? Many notice that their saliva in the mouth has become more.
Use the power of their thoughts! If they feel their thoughts are inhibiting them, keep the following tip from German comedian Heinz Erhardt in mind: “You mustn’t always believe everything you think!”
