Controlling Your Own Mind

Controlling Your Own Mind

You are what you think... Scientists are now saying that your mind creates your reality and that what you think about now will create itself and manifest in the future. Thinking about that is a scary thing for some people. However, if you are fully conscious of what you think about every moment of your waking day, you should be able to control what will manifest. Now, that may sound a bit 'out there', so to speak, and most people think that they are already fully conscious of their thoughts at any given time. Well, I'm here to tell you that you are not.

Try this simple exercise next time you're in the shower:

Think about each and every movement you make while washing your body, how the soap feels on your skin, the texture of your skin, feeling the water from the shower head on your back and head and how that feels. While doing this, count the number of times your mind wanders to another issue or topic that has nothing to do with you having a shower. You will be surprised.

Now this exercise will show you just how quickly and easily your mind gets away from the 'HERE and NOW' and starts to think about things of which you are almost unaware. How many times have you driven your car from point A to point B and been unable to remember how you got there, or at least part of the way?

I know this has happened to me many times. In fact, one day I was walking home from school; I remember walking out of the school gates, and then up the last little bit of the road leading to my home. I have, however, no memory at all of which way I took home or anything else along the way. Now that has stayed with me for over 40 years. It is also a good illustration of the mind, or rather the body, operating on autopilot, while the mind/brain is off somewhere else.

To stay totally in the moment of the Here and Now is extremely difficult and yet so very important. Considering we cannot change the past and have little if any real control of the future, the only thing we all have total control over is the HERE and NOW. What we do and think about right NOW is the only thing we really have full, 100% control over.

This concept is so important and yet so underestimated. Ask any smoker whether he or she is actually aware of taking a puff on their cigarette and if they're honest, most of the time, they are totally unaware of the physical aspect of smoking. In fact, some smokers will light and smoke a cigarette and not even be aware of having done so. It's so automatic that they don't think about it at all. I should know - I used to smoke.

This illustrates just how NOT in control of our mind we sometimes are and how the mind can wander off on a given path without consciously controlling where it goes.

Try this simple exercise. It takes only one minute.

Sitting down or lying down, take slow breaths in and then out. Each cycle should take about six seconds. Breathe in through your nose and out through your nose (not your mouth). Listen to the sound and feel the flow of air moving into and out of your lungs; feel your ribcage expanding and relaxing. Don't think of anything else other than breathing in and out and experience the changes in your chest.

As before, with the exercise under the shower, notice how many times your mind wants to wander off on to what you need to do later or forgot to do so far today. Each time your mind wants to go off on some tangent, refocus on your breath... in... and out... , listen to the air passing through the nose into your lungs and feel the expansion and contraction of your chest.

Over time, as you keep practicing this exercise daily, you'll find that your mind will start to wander less often and you'll notice more quickly when it does wander off. Eventually, you'll be able to keep your mind focused on exactly what you're doing for the whole minute. At this point, you are starting to be able to focus on the Here and Now. If you think this was difficult to achieve, try being that focused for a whole day... It's a work in progress for all of us, but it's achievable with practice.

The more proficient you get, the more focused you'll get, and your energy will not get as depleted as quickly. You will also become much better at assessing any given situation less emotionally and more calmly. Over time you will actually gain greater insight into any given situation because you will not be thinking about past failures or unrealistic future outcomes. You will be much more focused on the task or problem at hand and less scattered by the 'bad news' or whatever has just come up.

Obviously, this is not something that can be achieved overnight. It takes time, patience and practice, but if you keep in mind that the only thing you have control over is the Here and Now, then what really matters is what you think and how you react to any given issue now, right now.

Here's another exercise to practice being in the Here and Now. If you have access to a little place of nature, say your backyard or even just a pot plant, look at a flower and focus on it 100%. Do not let any other thoughts enter your mind. Focus on every little tiny detail of the flower. Immerse yourself in every detail of the flower you're focusing on. You will actually notice that you relax more and more as your focus becomes more intense. Try it.

If you don't think you can meditate, think again. By doing these simple exercises you are actually starting to meditate. Meditation is just an extension of the one-minute breathing exercise or the flower detail exercise. What you are learning in these exercises is to take control of your own mind, rather than letting your mind control you. And that's the key.