THE AWESOME POWER OF THE MIND

The mind is a strange thing. What we see or hear can be indeterminently altered by a "state of mind". I say to my nine year old grandson, "Hey, baby." I say this with all the love, affection and respect of an adoring grandmother. But what does my grandson hear? His response. "I'M NOT A BABY!" I see a strange man standing at my door, ringing my doorbell. I'm frightened. I don't know this person, nor do I know what business he has being at my front door. When I open the door to this stranger, he announces that he was driving through the neighborhood and noticed that a brush fire is spreading in my backyard and wanted to alert me. My mind told me his intentions before he ever had the opportunity to state his intentions. The mind is a strange and wonderful phenomenon.

The following has passed around on forwarded emails for some time now, but it never ceases to amaze me. Read on.

fi yuo cna raed tihs, yuo hvae a sgtrane mnid. Cna uyo raed tihs? i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!

Another forwarded post that continues to amuse me has to do with the differences between the stereotypical male and the female mind.

The mind can manipulate the person just as the person can manipulate the mind.

It is important to be aware that the mind can play tricks on us. It pays to take a second look. Stop, look, listen.

My mother used to quote the following, and I find it most helpful:

"Belieive nothing you hear, and only half of what you see."