‘kNOW Your Mind’ – Isn’t it time?
‘kNOW your Mind’ emphasises the ‘now’ because future guessing or past ruminating are connected to anxiety and depression.
Welcome to the ‘kNOW Your Mind‘ Series. So happy to have you here, giving yourself some precious time. You deserve it.
Each blog in the series will be different information but consistent in intention which is to support awareness around your thinking in ways that you may not have had before. I also want to offer resources, tool and techniques for you to kNOW your mind.
‘kNOW your Mind’ emphasises the ‘now’ because our Mind can often lead us in every direction other than the here and now. I am sure you already have the sense as to how this can be distracting, anxiety provoking, and detrimental. Future guessing or past ruminating are connected to both anxiety and depression.
I want to emphasise there are many ways (if we are paying attention and know what to look for) to get ourselves back in control of the steering wheel of our own rampaging thinking rather than just being taken for a ride.
Taking back control will always include an assessment of the present. Not the future, not the past – NOW.
Today’s topic is… Drum roll please…
Genius doesn’t exist in 98% – nowhere near it!
I have heard a number of statistics in relation to our repetitive thinking.
Some figures say 90% (but others up to 98%) of our thinking is simply a repeat of the same thoughts we had yesterday and the day before that and the day before that… and back into the beginning of time.
Can you image?
Some contest that up to 90% of our thoughts are simply a rehash of what we thought twelve months ago, two years ago, five years ago or sometimes lifetimes ago.
And we wonder why things don’t change. We wonder why we are still stuck and frustrated. We wonder why the same patterns keep repeating.
How can anything change when we are unaware of our existing thoughts? We need to be present enough to be aware of them before we can change them. We are capable of thinking different thoughts however it is an act of awareness and practiced consciousness.
I find it astonishing with the figures above that we ever progressed past the ‘rock as a weapon’ stage. Or, that there is any potential for spontaneity in our lives… maybe in exists in the 2 – 10% of our unusual thoughts?
So what can we do when we hit just another thinking ground hog day? When the same, addictive, angry, judgemental, critical, self-doubting, fearful, bored and procrastinating thoughts are just ‘normal’. So normal in fact we don’t even notice they are there?
What we need is a really big spoke in the wheel of our thinking!
But how would that look, and how difficult is it to do?
Our mind loves patterns and familiarity because anything that is recognisable to our nervous system (even if it is negative or detrimental to our self esteem) means at one point in time when we had the original thought it helped us survive (physically or emotionally). It helped us survive so our mind weighs it heavily in favour. Our mind is first and foremost interested in keeping us alive. Repetition means safety in the known. Our neurological pathways become more and more networked and reinforced to keep us doing and thinking the same thing. Everything is against change. Our fear of change, our lack of understanding how to successfully change, our dislike of uncertainty, our addictive thinking, our fight, flight and freeze responses. Getting off this ride is tricky.
What can we do to break free and liberate our capacity to move into the Now?
It is something that is embarrassingly simple. Something that we are told as little children might kill us. Something that I recommend is a lifelong pursuit.
What is it?
Like I said, it is simple.
It is…
CURIOSITY.
What?
Yes CURIOSITY.
For this reason: when we ask questions, when we challenge our current knowledge we are creating explosions of neural activity in areas of our brain that may have been latent for years. We are challenging the status quo by bringing in the new, the previously unknown or unimagined. We are invigorating our mind and our brain, stimulating synapses, creating connections and interrupting ground hog day. With anything new we EXPAND our thinking patterns with the introduction of new information.
So I encourage you head out, explore, get out of your queued thoughts and into the unexpected opportunities in the dynamic stimulation of your mind. Put a spoke in the wheel of your conditioned thinking by having some different experiences. These experiences should involve as many of the senses as possible. For example, you might have always been curious if you can dance. Learning to dance involves the visual, kinesthetic, auditory (and if it’s a hot night) olfactory senses. Not to mention the powerful emotional benefits of socialisation and the physical benefits of exercise.
Try it and notice how the simple act of engaging in your world with curiosity can transform your appreciation of our beautiful planet, your precious life, your magnificent mind. Write down your observations and celebrate them!
See how doing so can bring you back to a childlike amazement and wonder and short circuit the ‘already always knowing’ so you can firstly observe your thoughts and secondly challenge them.
Go on, I dare you…. Ask a question.
With curiosity.
Linda.
Dr Linda Wilson is a Mindflow Mentor, Author and Presenter. From neuroscience to energy psychology, habits change to emotional management – let’s have a chat about you, your team or your business. Are you looking to find your way through, around or over something? Are you in need of a course correction and need support.
Find out more about me at www.drlindawilson.com
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