Harnessing the Power of Your MIND
A dialogue about taking control of your thoughts and by extension the way you experience life.
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The Brain as distinct from the Mind
The Human Brain is akin to a super-computer with ultra-advanced code that ensures that all the systems of the body are working in tandem to give a person the ability to function in the world on auto-pilot. Without any conscious initiation from ourselves, the brain manages the pumping and timing of our heart beat and shepherds oxygen and nutrients throughout the body via the blood stream. We take for granted that we are beneficiaries of a massive symphony of processes that manufacture our experience of being Human. The Brain does it all, instructing the flow of messages to initiate speech, coordinate movement, orchestrate vision, hearing and ensuring that sensory messages of pain, pleasure, sound, heat and smell are all communicated into our awareness. Millisecond by millisecond, the Brain is hard at work facilitating neural connections that ensure a palpable experience of life.
With the brain doing all of the “heavy lifting”, the question that arises is; what is the Mind doing with all of the perceived “free time” that it has?
What is the Mind doing?
The Mind is also hard at work doing a different kind of job. A job that produces consciousness by creating a tailored experience of what it is like to be uniquely ourselves. Each person’s Mind presents thoughts as a set of occurrences making the experience of “being human” unique to each person’s collection of thoughts.
The distinction between thoughts and thinking:
It is important to characterize thoughts as distinct from thinking. Thinking suggests an examination, an application of reasoning to explore the validity of a thought, based on information that our Brain has stored for us. The Mind, however operates, free of thinking. For the most part, the Mind accommodates a multitude of thoughts that are presented in quick succession, likening itself to a film reel, giving us a constant stream of occurrences that make up what it is like to Be ourselves.
Thoughts are inherited from everywhere within our environments directly, indirectly or implied by an action or inaction of friends, family members, loved ones as well as from interactions with strangers in public spaces. Thoughts can also be inherited from the mainstream media, social media, movies or publications. Regardless of how we are exposed to them, thoughts enter the mind via our senses and become part of our psyche with different degrees of influence. Literally, the experiencing of being and feeling positively or negatively over time can be tracked directly to the nature of the thoughts that occur.
How can I tell if my thoughts are occurring for my benefit?
The frequency and division of positive/negative and helpful/unhelpful thoughts that occur for a person is directly related to how an individual experiences life. Naturally if a person is treated to a disproportionality high occurrence of positive and helpful thoughts they will align with their human experience as positive. Conversely, if there is a high frequency of negative thoughts then an individual would express their life experience as mostly negative. The indicator of the nature of a person’s thoughts can be derived by how a person communicates their experience of life along the continuum of blissful to miserable.
Reducing the occurrence of negative thoughts
There are two tried and true ways to reduce the occurrence of negative thoughts and increase the experience of well-being;
1. Reduce unsolicited access to you.
Because thoughts are inherited. Protecting what you are exposed to is paramount. Hence, cleaning up your news and social media feed is paramount to curating a digital environment that nurtures you positively. Unfollow and delete all content that does not produce a positive sense of wellbeing. Simultaneously, intentionally reduce or discontinue the interaction with people who spew unwelcome advice, thoughts and ideas that leave you feeling uneasy, destructive or negative.
2. Create daily affirmations that provide the mind with thoughts that are positive and helpful.
Occupy your mind with messages to increase positivity and optimism. The more that you read, write and expose yourself to content that inspires you, the more positively inspired you will feel. Provide the content and repeat the content so you source thoughts that will serve you by giving you the life experience of favor and joy .
In sum, control your thoughts and control your experience.
