There are not a few times when our minds go crazy. It often convinces us that the thoughts we have are facts and that we have an indisputable reason to be sad, frustrated, anxious, angry, with the range of emotions going on indefinitely. Of course, its main intention is to guide and protect us. However, it often takes this role very seriously, offering us feedback or guidance, even in situations where we would rather it didn’t.
The human brain is an incredible organ that we can rely on. An organ that, as we said, often has the role of a guide and/or protector. When we learn to appreciate these functions of the mind and accept the roles it is often called upon to play, our mind can become our ally and good friend in life. There are occasions when we find our minds to be overly suspicious or overly directive, to the extent that our thoughts about people and things limit our movements or even experience feelings of fear and anxiety. What do we do in cases where the feedback of the mind comes to us unbidden? And how can we use our own thoughts to reprogram or balance any hasty opinions?
If you often find yourself comparing yourself to others, it might help you to know that comparison is the way our minds help us assess whether we are “okay” in comparison to others. The point is, of course, that there will always be someone who is smarter, better, and more successful than us. Therefore, we often end up mocking ourselves for not being “that good” or not being “good enough” as we would like to be. What can you do in this case? To begin, notice where your focus is, return to yourself without judging, and ask “How can I be my best self, what are my goals, my desires and my personal needs?”
Along the way, listen to what he has to say with understanding and acceptance.
In case you tend to focus on what is “wrong” with you or what did not go as you had originally expected, first acknowledge to yourself that as humans we are all imperfect. It is possible that your mind is leading you to believe that you “must” overcome your imperfections and any flaws and this is because the mind often presets more “unruly love tactics” in order to motivate us. And while there are more than a few who work well in this scheme, for others these tactics are deeply discouraging and mobilise feelings of hopelessness. If you belong to the latter category, the following exercise will probably be useful to you. Notice and note when you focus mainly on the “negative” characteristics or the characteristics that make you uncomfortable and try to expand your area of focus by creating space to recognize and appreciate your more favorable and positive characteristics.
Don’t dwell on the past and also don’t cling to the future. The mind wants in every way to prevent us from repeating past mistakes to protect us from future failures. For this reason, he often clings to past experiences in an attempt to predict and control what is to come. It is possible, for example, to burden you with a certain experience of sadness that you experienced in the past in order to limit as much as possible the chances of the same feeling recurring in the future. In this way, however, you may often feel that you are missing the experience of the current moment, because your mind may be flooded with sadness and sudden anxiety. At these times, if you can deliberately commit your attention to what is happening here and now, it is more likely that your mind will soon respond to the new practice. You just need a little practice. Try focusing on what you are doing at any given time, being present in your daily activities and meetings. You can do this by slowing down or meditating.
