books

Mind Over Matter

When i read the book The Alchemist, I felt a connection to the concepts/ideas presented in that book. The first concept is that of a personal legend – a path, a story that drives person’s life journey. Intertwined into this, paulo coelho’s hero – santiago – connects with various elements of nature as he wills the universe to guide/help him along his path. This is quite an interesting concept. The idea is that through your mind/soul you can connect with the elements of nature in a profound way that bends the laws of nature and time. This idea resonated with me quite a bit. Mind over Matter manifested not as creating things out thin air, but as communication with powers of the universe and results through that.

Now the idea is works very well with in the story. But, Is this real? I am sure a lot of parapsychology and/or metaphysics debates cover the validity or invalidity of these ideas in real world. I don’t have any expertise or knowledge in those topics. However, the idea about connecting with the universe and harmony with elements of nature resonates with me. I can look back in my life where i feel that some seemingly improbable things happened for no apparent logical reasons. I can only point to my faith, harmony i felt with nature and a energy i feel about myself and my life as the potential causes.

Personally, at one level all this seems hokey. All the indications i can see in my life as connecting with nature and achieving improbable results in my life can simply be attributed to chance. Other indications where i felt that i could see what’s coming is not really premonition, but simply an educated guess at what’s to come and some glitch in my brain synapses.

In any case, the idea of being in harmony with elements or people or situations around me, the idea of approaching life with a great positive energy and happiness and strength seems very appealing. It is hard for me not to have faith. Sure i can’t find a scientific explanation. But faith in this idea does resonate at a deep level with me.

Having said all this, I came across a new book – “The Secret“. The Alchemist presented these ideas as a story/fable and leaves it at that. Just a part of a story. The Secret however is more like the “Millionaire toolkit” that gets marketed on infomercials late at night. “I have this great system that can make you millions if not billions of dollars and all you have to do is spend $19.95 to get it. Of course, i am selling this system to make $19.95 instead of making the billions using the said system because the system doesn’t work. ”

The Secret, reveals the secret of people who seemingly have what they want, by just using your thoughts. It is a clear, simple, succinct, manual to think your way to great success. You can use your thought to get women, houses, money, jobs, promotions etc.
Of course, they recommend that you start with parking spaces

Despite the sleazy, money making toolkit like feel to this book, the core ideas presented here are very similar to that of paulo’s alchemist. There is a lot of wisdom presented in this book. Some simple ideas that i like are

  • Like attracts like. The concept that one negative thought leads to other and one positive thought leads to other. Choose to think positive when presented with unfavorable circumstances.
  • Meditate. Clear your mind. We are constantly bombarded with inputs to our brain all the time – work, email, tv, radio etc. Good resting focus time for brain helps.
  • Gratitude. Appreciate what you have in life. Appreciate your family, friends and everything you feel you have.
  • Focus on your goals. Too much time in life is spent just hanging out on the couch and wondering why one hasn’t achieved. We are all caught up in the daily grind doing things that we do and really thinking about goals and if we are actually doing things to get to our goals.
  • A lot of great ideas, a lot of great concepts. I find a lot of value in this book. I just have a hard time handling the format and tone of the book.