How to Use Your Mind to Support Those You Love
Did you know there’s a biological effect that happens when you set an intention? In this post you'll learn what happens when you focus your mind to support those who matter and how group intention changes everything…
“At any moment of our lives, any one of the microscopic processes that make up our mental and physical existence can be influenced to take one of many paths.”
It can be tough understanding a topic as vast and vague as Intention. When you were born you had zero problems believing you could create anything you desired. You only began to lose your sense of self when those around you thought their plan for life was more valid than the impulses you felt deep within. The good news is you can still turn things around and strengthen your ability to connect to Intention.
In today’s post, we’re stepping into the mysterious realm of the biological effects of Intention. Here’s a taste of what you’ll learn:
1. The science behind being an influencer
2. Ways to increase your connection to Intention
3. Why connection to self and community is the healthiest choice you could make
There are quite a few studies mentioned throughout since biology and science kinda go hand in hand. My hope is you’ll feel inspired, filled with wonder, and ready to co-create more than you have before. First, let’s talk about a word you hear all the time: Influencer.
THERE’S SCIENCE BEHIND INFLUENCING
Numerous studies have shown that an intention goes beyond thought form. Not only does thought make a grouping of cells coherent and stronger but you can create a physical effect on the living cells of other organisms, including humans. But before we go big, let’s start small.
One of the most famous examples is explained in this video which shows how words change the molecular structure of water based on the energetic level of the word being spoken. The energetic level determined if the water looked chaotic and messy or ordered and beautiful.
In a different study, Dr. Bernard Grad wanted to test the ability of so-called “healers” to transmit energy. He decided to make plants ‘ill’ by soaking seeds in salty water to impede their growth. For one of the batches he had a healer lay hands on a container of salt water. What do you think happened? Sure enough, the batch using the salt water touched by the healer grew taller than the untouched salt water.
To be sure the effect he found was sound, Grad did the same test but in reverse. He had a man being treated for psychotic depression hold a container of ordinary water and used it for a batch of seeds. This was regular, unsalted water which should grow a plant just fine. What resulted was “the water that had been held by the depressed man suppressed growth.”
This says to me that energy affects expansion or contraction in living cells. Which brings me (and maybe you) to ask: Can this kind of influence work on humans? In The Field* by Lynne McTaggart she shares two studies that confirmed the influence humans can have on themselves and even for others.
MIND OVER MATTER
In one study researchers conducted two tests with two different groups of people: one considered calm and the other highly nervous. In one test, the researchers tried to calm the two groups down using various techniques. In the second test, they asked the participants to calm themselves down.
The results showed that there was only a slight difference in the effects of someone else trying to calm you down versus the effect of you calming yourself down. McTaggart says, “Letting someone else express a good intention for you was almost as good as using biofeedback on yourself.”
This made me do a double take. Humans have an apparent ability to influence other living beings on many levels like “muscle activity, motor activity, cellular changes, nervous system activity.” The crazy part is you don’t need to be considered a “healer” or someone with special abilities. You have the power to influence as the ‘you’ sitting there reading these words.
Another strange possibility suggested that the greatest influencing effects happen when “the people to be influenced really needed it. [That] [t]hose who required something - calming down, focusing attention - seemed more receptive to influence than others.”
McTaggart said that when two people “relax their bandwidth and attempt to establish some kind of deep connection their brain patterns become highly synchronized.” In this type of state, two brains would no longer only pick up their own feedback because they’ve become more receptive to the other. The cool part is the person with the most cohesive brain-wave pattern becomes the dominant influence. The stronger of the two and would convert the less cohesive brain-wave pattern.
Does this make you wonder about the importance of the idea that you should only have people who are for you in your life? If we can literally order and disorder one another’s brain patterns with our intentions then it stands to reason someone who secretly is against you would impact your ability to thrive. In next week’s post I’ll talk about how to block or prevent influences so stay tuned for that.
These types of studies add a new meaning to words like impact and influencer, right? I know “influencer” holds a certain stigma and sometimes icky image. You may think of the vapid and vain side of social media. Or the slick sales-y online personalities. But true influence is a deeper, much more profound idea than that.
Hopefully by this point you’re excited to get as aligned with Intention as possible. Not only can you impact your own well-being but you can physically influence those you love with almost the same exact intensity. You can reach others by elevating your energy and focusing on an intention. If you’re curious how you can zone in on Intention more then keep reading.
WAYS TO INCREASE SUCCESS WITH INTENTION
A few ways you can prime yourself to allow a stronger connection to Intention are techniques that are accessible and free. William Braud, a psychologist interested in consciousness, noticed patterns in those who were successful in influencing others. If you do some or most of these techniques you can open the door wider to igniting the power of Intention:
A relaxation technique like meditation or biofeedback. This opens the door of perception a little wider by removing resistance.
Reduced sensory input or physical activity. Elle from Stranger Things much? But really you don’t need a copper walled room. A modern interpretation is to allow stillness into your life. Have a morning routine, turn off the podcasts and tv shows, and let yourself have quiet time every day to commune with the power of Intention.
Dreams or other internal states and feelings. We talked about the effects dreams have on Intention in this post. It’s also important to be aware of your states of feeling and increase attracting thoughts.
Reliance on right-brain functioning. Right brain ascendance has been shown to put people into fluid, meditative like states. You can see a list of right brain activities in this article.
Altering your view of the world. In a safe, non drug induced way of course. Practices like meditation, writing, and gentle exercise are common ways to see everything as connected rather than separate. Even trying something outside of your comfort zone helps you achieve this.
Now that we know the power we have as an individual to influence ourselves and others what about groups of people? It seems logical that if one person could make an impact then having multiple people concentrate on the same thing would amplify the effect. And you would be right.
CONNECTION AND COMMUNITY
Before we jump into the power of community let’s see what happens when we isolate ourselves. This next sentence from The Field* hits a little close to home given our current social climate:
“It might even be that health and illness of individuals is, in a sense, collective. Certain epidemics might grip societies as a physical manifestation of a type of energetic hysteria. If intention creates health - that is, improved order - in another person, it would suggest that illness is a disturbance in the quantum fluctuations of an individual.”
Let’s talk about a common but often ignored type of illness. McTaggart says that numerous studies show that isolation in patients from “oneself, one’s community and one’s spirituality” is a greater contributor to disease than any other physical factor like high cholesterol. This shows how needed connection is! To yourself and to others.
Those who live the longest not only believe in a higher spiritual being but they have the strongest sense of community. Of belonging. Which is what The Good Space is about. You’re connecting to both when you’re a part of this community.
Lynne McTaggart ties up this illness beautifully when she says, “It could be that illness is isolation: a lack of connection with the collective health of The Field and the community.” Let’s move on to what happens when there is a collective intention. The studies briefly mentioned in this post, as well as others not mentioned, have led researchers to suggest “that intention on its own heals, but that healing is also a collective force.”
For example, one researcher asked a variety of healers to hold an intention of health and well-being for patients with end-stage AIDS one hour per day, for ten weeks, with alternate weeks off to rest. The methods the healers used varied from Native American pipe smoking to Christian prayer. The result? Zero patients from the healer’s group died and actually became healthier. Meanwhile 40% of the control group died.
The researcher repeated this same study on a larger scale and with even more rigid controls and the results yielded similar results. What they also found was “it didn’t seem to matter what method you used, so long as you held an intention for a patient to heal.” What I’m taking away from this is that connection with self and community could be the healthiest decision you make.
REAL TALK
If you want specific stories of Intention manifesting in my life I wrote them in this post. Today, I feel impressed to share an experience when a group intention healed someone. Years ago, someone from my church had a daughter who was diagnosed with a brain tumor and needed immediate surgery. The placement of the tumor made it very likely she would either lose her life or have a severe impact on her functioning. I’m not sure which but it was but the doctors were giving her a 99% chance of surviving overall.
Multiple congregations were asked to pray and to fast for her on a certain day. I remember when the day arrived, the energy I felt during the day was palpable. Powerful. A week or so later we were given the news that everything went miraculously well and she was healing at such a pace the doctors were baffled.
I’m sure this isn’t the first time you’re hearing a story like this. So many miraculous healings and shifts happen when a community of people are focused on the same intention. I believe we can make even more happen. I believe in the power of focusing your energy, feeling high energy emotions, and using your knowledge of Intention for the greater good.
Do you have any stories you’d like to share? Tell me in a comment below!
INTENTION
I choose to focus my intentions on total health and healing. I send super radiant light and love to my body, mind, and those I love most.
DO THIS TODAY
Think of one person who needs positive thoughts and healing light and send that intention to them. You can place your hand over your heart, close your eyes, and imagine a bright radiating light enveloping them.
WRITING PROMPT
What kind of intentions am I speaking into the Universe? In what way might I be blocking them from manifesting?
3 RESOURCES
Video (3 min): Water, Consciousness & Intent: Dr. Masaru Emoto
Book: The Field* by Lynne McTaggart
Book: The Power of Intention* by Dr. Wayne Dyer
*This is an affiliate link. Purchasing through affiliate links helps fund The Good Space at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting us!
