Mental Resilience

Our minds are like a car engine, it seems that they are always running, always thinking about and ruminating over something. At night our conscious mind is in ‘neutral’ and when we wake, we put it into gear and off we go!

The problem is that just like a car our minds do have a steering wheel, but for some reason most people where never told about it, and they sit there, in the driving seat of their lives, with their hands firmly folded, and wonder why when they put their foot on the gas, they often end up in ditches, hitting trees, lampposts or heading over the edge of a cliff!? often screaming: “Why is this always happening to me?”

So what is the steering wheel in our mind and how do we grab hold of it and learn how to change the direction of our thoughts and focus?

Most people, find it difficult to believe that they can have any control of their own thoughts, often people feel more like victims of their thoughts than the director and originator of them. But you can, with practice, learn how to grab hold of that internal mental steering wheel and change what you are thinking about and emotionally focusing on.

Our thoughts and imagination are super powerful in shaping and effecting the direction of our lives and the quality of life, and it is our ability to take charge and control of our thoughts that determine whether we are a victim of out thoughts and end up in hitting every bump in the road or taking charge and directing our life towards the open road, towards an epic, glorious action packed adventure of a lifetime!

The problem is that for many people their minds are often full of negative, self-loathing and damaging self talk, and imaging the worst case scenarios. For others there mind might be full of noisy conflicting voices, images, feelings and thoughts, which makes the notion of taking charge of their own thoughts seem almost impossible.

 

The basic premise is that:

1. There is no one in your head apart from you!

2. You are the source and originator or all of the thoughts in your head.

3. You have the choice to think about or not to think about anything you want to.

 

When I first came across the idea that I was totally responsible and in control of my own thoughts, I found it counter-intuitive, and the opposite of my own internal experience of my own thoughts. For me at the time, thoughts existed somewhere else outside of me, or as a jumble of arguing voices fighting for attention.

The first thing to do, to learn to grab the steering wheel in your head is simply to see if you can focus on something for a minute.

Exercise 1. Focus On One Thing For One Minute.

For example you could choose an interesting object or anything and allow yourself to focus completely on that one object for a minute. You can think about where it comes from, what it’s made of etc… and just notice if you can do that, or if you find your mind wondering on to other things, like work or other random stuff?

If you can keep your attention on that object for a minute, then well done! that is you touching, and putting your hands on the steering wheel of your mind and ultimately the rudder of your life!

If you foun
d that difficult, there are a number of fun exercises that I’ve developed that have helped me to take complete control of all of my thoughts, and will help you learn how to take more control of your own mind and the main organ that determines the quality of your life.

Exercise 2. Play With the Internal Audio Dials.

You may think in any number of ways, people all think differently, some are more visual thinkers, others more auditory, but even so, there is something you can to to start to take control of your thoughts. If you are plagued by random negative thoughts, or a jumble of noisy voices in your head, then if you follow this you’ll be able to take more control:

If you imagine that there are two audio volume dials for the noise in your head, you can slowly turn down the volume of the rabble of thoughts in your head, and with the other audio volume you can turn up the volume of your own internal speaking voice.

You can do this so that eventually the main voice is your head is the one that you would normally speak with. This voice can become the main and dominant voice in your head.

 

Exercise 3. Record Your Random Stream of Consciousness.

All of the jumble of voices, images and thoughts in your head and heart, feel that they are really important, otherwise they wouldn’t randomly interrupt your work or other important stuff.

In this exercise you’ll need a pad and a pen, or equivalent. The idea is to direct all of your internal thoughts to line up in an orderly cue, inform them that each of them are important to you and you value them. You want to be able to record them for prosperity in a book, ask them to line up and one at a time, you’ll write them down, without judging them. This might get a little tricky as they are often inclined to push and shout, but just reassure them that everyone will get their turn and that if it’s super important they can, have another chance by getting to the back of the cue, once they have been written down.

So one by one, write down each of these random thoughts, don’t judge them, just write them down, once they have been written down ask them to go, simply go out into the universe, they have been witnessed and recorded, (like interview, if you feel they need more consideration you could invite them back, but for now say, good bye!).

This process of writing down all of your random thoughts might take a relatively long time, but if you get in a practice of doing this for 20 mins a day, after a few weeks, you’ll probably notice that there are a lot less random noisy voices in your head.

 

What I found, when I invented this exercises was that, after a while there was not that much in my head at all. Eventually there was only a pretty simple and boring poem. Don’t read too much into the random stuff that comes out of your brain, just let it be, and leave it recorded in your note pad, without re-reading it, unless it is amazing of course.

After practicing all of the above mind controlling exercises you’ll find that, after a few weeks your brain will be much quieter and distinctly calmer.

If you’d like to learn more about these and many other mental resilience exercises or learn how to do it in person simply book your Initial Consultation!