Mind-FULL-ness HACKS
Published in The Curious Mind, Medium – July 2018
Our minds these days seem to be perpetually full. Full of our to do lists, full of our expectations and full of our judgments of everyone and everything; including ourselves.
This uncontrolled ‘monkey-mind’ often creates dis-ease within our life’s and generates stress chemicals in our bodies. Chemicals such as adrenaline and cortisol, if allowed to run riot in our systems for long enough, stop certain key health functions from happening – such as memory enhancement, cell & bone repair and the detoxification of our blood and organs. I don’t need to point out the long-term effects of this in our lives do I? Do you ever wonder why we are living in the modern age of stress related epidemics? Our physical health is directly related to our mental and emotional wellbeing. Therefore, our thoughts influence how we experience, and indeed create, the ‘things’ in our lives through the choices and decisions we make.
The way most of us allow our mind to run the show of our conscious experience gets in the way of almost everything we want. Yes, I’m sure you have heard this a million times from different mouths in different ways. So why haven’t you done anything about it yet? Do you like having your mind running a million miles an hour chewing over future scenarios of paranoia and anxiety?
‘What might happen if…’
‘I can’t do that because’…
‘This happened before so it might happen again….’
I thought not – so why don’t you change this? What is blocking you from changing your thought patterns and self talk?
These mental movies you replay over and over of a fearful future seem to attack all of us these days, fuelled by a media system based on difference and separation. It is rare to find someone who enjoys living like this. So what is stopping us from changing our inner stories?
One word: HABIT.
Let’s talk quantum physics for a moment (at a very simple level). New science now tells us from a variety of experiments and sources that the inner thoughts and expectations we have create the experiences we end up living in the outer world. These experiences form neurological patterns in our brains that create, maintain and enhance the stories that we tell. The stories that we tell over and over again become our habits that determine the ongoing state of our minds and therefore our experiences over and over and over and over again.
The stories we choose to tell ourselves with our mind can be used for both the creation and destruction of our:
- Time
- Health
- Wealth
- Love
- Presence
- Success
You think it – you create it. The ancient power of the word that expresses the thought, creates your reality.
To hack our mental habits we must fully see, accept and understand how our thoughts create our stories and how to make different choices that affect the synapse habits of our brains. Neuroscience calls this ‘restorying’ of our brain chemistry and plasticity. No matter how old or set in your habits you find yourself, you have the ability to dissolve your old stories and pick new ones that serve you better.
If you are not happy with the stories you find yourself living in, then only you can take self-responsibility for hacking your mental habits and changing them.
No more excuses. No one else to blame.
After all – who else apart from you has private access to your mind?
You can learn to create new neurological connections for mental habits that generate peace and positive growth. You don’t need to meditate in the lotus position for 20 minutes daily to achieve this, although I am a strong advocate of Mind-LESS-ness. Moments of Silence, Peace, Clarity, and Love transcend our monkey mind habits and bring us into a clear space of CHOICE.
When we feel a challenging emotion such as fear, loneliness or anger, we have an opportunity to follow its trail back inside us, to the thought/thinking that originally created it, and choose a different mental movie. No matter how devastating, severe or intense the experience, it is our choice as to the story and meaning we create about it. There are many inspiring people who have lived through extreme trauma and come out the other side stronger and more resilient by restoring their mental habits.
What habits are you settling for in your life because you have created a mental story that you can’t change them?
Where are you a victim of your own narratives?
Where would you like to change? What belief patterns to you have around this area?
The power lies with you – in your mind, thoughts and belief systems – to change your reality.
