Power within – 12 Strategies – Part 9 MIND: COMFORT ZONE

In general, conditioned mind is trained to pull you in the comfort zone. Here, you live and do things which are familiar to you. This way your safety is ensured. Security is of primarily significant for the survival. It is pretty much etched in our DNAs.

Monotony is established when we start to live in the comfort zone for a prolonged period of time. This is because, we perform the same actions and lead the same kind of life that we lived a month/year before. We stagnate and that we don’t establish a path for our growth.

Step out:

To see growth, it is important to recondition the conditioned mind. Or otherwise, it is important to come out the conditioned mind to see our own pattern of the conditioned mind. Yes!! Stepping out the conditioned mind gives us an opportunity to see our own construct of the conditioned mind. After all, the conditioned mind operates based on the already stored database that has been accumulated by you as your experiences. It cannot think and act beyond this database.

We need to have new experiences & new learning to move forward. For this, step above the conditioned mind.

Awareness:

Awareness plays a key role in reconditioning the conditioned mind. Once the reconditioning has happened, the mind starts to work in your favour for your own growth. Yes, the same mind that pulled you in the comfort zone earlier now pushes you to the discomfort zone.

In other words, to win this game, it is important to keep the strength of your awareness far bigger than the strength of the conditioned mind. If the strength of our awareness is bigger & stronger then it gives an opportunity to mindfully step into the unknown zone. There is always a risk to move here and this is where many fail to develop the gradient in progressing through this zone. If you take a wide step then you will be thrown back to your start point because you exceed your resource capability. If you take a small step then that is not good enough to take you to your higher level. Mindful moderate steps are the key for the success and that can be achieved by heightening your awareness level.

Summary: Mind is a protective mechanism that keeps you in your comfort zone by default. Growth means stepping into your discomfort zone.

Simple Strategy: To see growth in our life, we may need to work against our conditioned mind & mindfully step into our discomfort zone.

Power within – 12 Strategies – Part 8 THOUGHTS:EFFECTS

THOUGHTS:EFFECTS

"BODY IS A CHEMICAL FACTORY.SANITISE THE BODY BY GENERATING THOUGHTS BASED ON THE POSITIVE EMOTIONS”

Energy:

 Every thought is a form of energy. In fact, modern science has proved beyond doubt that thought generates electrical impulse. This energy can be utilised productively or else it may get wasted. So, what do you think right now? It does matter a lot!!

Feeling:

Thought generates an associated feeling. Positive thought generates a positive feeling & negative thought generates a negative feeling. The emotion associated with a feeling creates a physical reaction in the body. One may experiences this as a bodily sensation. Also, every thought, every feeling and every associated reaction has a form of chemical reaction in the body.

Chemical reaction:

 A thought that generates anger has an acidic effect in the body. This chemical reaction pumps up your heart beat & increases the blood pressure. In the extreme case, it creates even ulcer, an extreme acidic nature of the body. A serene thought with an associated positive emotion changes the chemical reaction in such a way that improves the immunity system of the body.

Balance:

 PH is the balance of the alkalinity to the acidic nature of the body. The thought & the associated feeling changes the balance of the system. Thoughts based on fear, worries, frustration enhance the acidity of the body. Thoughts based on joy, love, compassion, happiness set your body in the alkalinity. So, it important to maintain the PH balance of the body. our body becomes the breeding ground for many diseases when it is dominated by its acidic nature.

Factors:

There are obviously many other factors such the food, environment etc that determine the body chemical composition. But, the way we think about ourselves as well as our perception of our surroundings play a major role in deciding the balanced chemical composition for a healthy body.

So, remember that the body is simply and purely a chemical factory. Do not pollute with the thoughts that have negative emotions. Instead, sanitise the body by generating the positive thoughts with the positive emotions.

Summary : Thought generates physical reaction in the body. Thought generates emotional response as well. Simple strategy: Choose your thoughts to change your chemical reactions in the body. Thoughts based on the negative emotions addup toxin in the body

Power within – 12 Strategies – Part 7 MIND: WANDERING

"TO STOP THE WANDERING MIND, SET THE RIGHT LIFE GOALS KNITTED WITH THE POSITIVE EMOTIONS”

Thought & physical reality:

Today, we enjoy & experience in the physical reality many such things as mobile phone, house, car etc. Earlier, these were then just in the form of thoughts or imaginations in someone mind. Our thoughts or imaginations that we have in this present time will manifest physically as things or products in near future. An intense thought or an idea in the mind will turn into an innovative product in future. Such is the power of thoughts from the mind.

Imagine the thoughts are not cohesive in nature? We all have this experience in our daily life. No one is an exception to this experience. Only, the time & duration of this experience vary from person to person. When the thoughts are not cohesive and random in nature then we call that experience as “mind wandering”. If you open up the books of neuroscience, this is referred to as “Default network” of the brain.

Reason:

 Why we switch to this random mode? Let us understand the characteristics of the mind. Mind always revolve around a centre point which is nothing but your important, interesting and significant idea. When you don’t have this, your mind loses its centre point. You can always witness this behaviour of the mind especially in a scenario where you have nothing important to do. This is a right opportunity for the mind to roam around.

Random thoughts:

Every thought is an electric impulse in the brain. Now, the technology has evolved to an extent where one can able to read this signal from the brain. So, thought is a form of energy. If we generate random thoughts then we waste our energy. In fact, brain alone consumes 20% of the total energy.

Organised thoughts:

Organised thoughts occur when there is a strong presence of the centre point. If the centre point is based on negative emotions such as fear and worries then the thoughts are organised but work in a negative way. When the centre point is based on the positive emotion then the thoughts are again organised but work in a positive way.

So, it is not only important to have a centre point but make sure that it has a positive emotion attached to it. Future can be imagined and planned as it is yet to happen. So, we have the liberty.to think. It is our choice. We have the choice to imagine positively. When we set our goal knitted with the positive emotions, mind gets organised & work towards the goal.

So, here is my message!! Mind wanders in the absence of the direction. Direction can be set by the goals.

Simple strategy:

Goals when knitted with the positive emotions give direction to the mind. Single stream of thoughts set by the goal is contemplation

Power within – 12 Strategies – Part 6 MIND: PERSISTENCE

"FOCUS ON "WHAT YOU WANT" IN LIFE INSTEAD OF FOCUSING ON "WHAT YOU DON'T WANT" IN LIFE”

Persistence:

Two simple questions!!  What do you want? What you don’t want in life? Whatever the answers to both these questions, the answers persist in your mind. The persistence is much stronger and deeper for the negative question. Considering an example of building a new relationship. Now, you may say to yourself that you want to build a relationship with someone or you don’t want to build a relationship with that person. Both these ideas persist in your mind.

Direction:

 When the answer is positive such as “I want to build a relationship” then you have set a direction. Mind works in tune with direction. It gives all the possibilities for you to take actions and whatever actions that you take will lead you in this set direction. So, there is a progress. But, when the answer is negative such as “I don’t want to build a relationship”, mind still gives all the possibilities for you to take the actions. But, you will be thrown with number of other alternatives too. Should you need to build relationship with yet another person? Should you be satisfied with the existing relationship? Should you need to strengthen the current relationship? Or simply think of something about your profession. So, the direction is lost here & hence, there is no progress.

Strength:

What you resist persists. I don’t want to see my boss very often. A very nature of a thought such as this creates a situation where you are forced to meet your boss very often. Instead, focus on “what you want “in life. You may want to meet the client who will help in assigning an order or you may want to meet your colleague who will help in your project. When, such thoughts become stronger then the situations created will work in your favour.

Deeper Mind:

Negative connotation has a different meaning at the deeper level of the mind.  A thought such as “I don’t want to meet my boss” will be translated as “I want to meet my boss” at the subconscious level of the mind. So, focus on “What you want” in life instead of focussing on “what you don’t want” in life. By doing so, your direction is set.

Summary:

Mind: what you resist persists.

Resistance: I don't want to see my boss,I don't want this project, I don't want this relationship... a wrong strategy.

Right strategy: I want this project; I want this relationship... strategy that gives direction to your mind.

Power within – 12 Strategies – Part 5 MIND : CENTRE POINT

"CHANGE YOUR PRIORITY FOR GREATER GOODNESS AND CHANGE THE DIRECTION OF THE MIND”

Centre Point:

Consider the following two scenarios. When I am on an important task, naturally my mind revolves around that particular task. My thoughts at that moment are all related to the task in my hand. In a different scenario, when two persons are in a conversation and if one does not pay attention to the conversation, it is clear that this person mind is occupied with something which has higher importance than the conversation. In the above two examples, you may notice that the mind works on the priority or what is considered significant. Thought patterns are related to the event/action which is considered important.

Emotional association:

Mind revolves around the centre point which is nothing but our set priority or interest. This priority has an emotional component associated with it. The highest priority has a motivation to do the action because there is a strong bonding of emotion attached to it. This emotion could be the positive type of emotions such as joy, love, happiness etc or negative type of emotions such as fear, worry, doubt etc.

Thoughts:

We prepare the action because we worry/fear about something or we have some motivation such as reward that generates happiness. So, the mind is simple equipment that aids in generating the thoughts related to the important task in hand. Imagine a scenario in a situation where there is no demand for an action with higher importance. This is the time; the mind is free to roam around with no centre point. The mind wanders when there is no pressing need.

The direction of Mind:

So, it is good to have a centre point so that mind has a direction to work on. Setting a higher goal in life & making it important that permits the mind to work in a direction. A positive emotion is tagged to this goal that styles the mind to work in our favour.

In other words, if you see your life is not going the way that you always wanted then it is important to analyse those centre points. Eliminate those centre points based on worries & fears. Set the centre points with the goals based on the positive emotions for the greater goodness!!

Summary:

 If you see your life is not going the way that you always wanted then it is important to analyse those centre points. Eliminate those centre points based on worries & fears. Set the centre points with the goals based on the positive emotions for the greater goodness!!

Power within – 12 Strategies – Part4 MIND: PENDULUM

  MIND: PENDULUM

"LIVE IN THE PRESENT MOMENT HERE & NOW. FUTURE WILL BE FINE”

The mind is a powerful device gifted to the humankind by the evolutionary process. This device can be deployed for our own benefits provided we know preciously the method of handling of this device. The life experience becomes frantic & hectic when one fails to manage this device.

Pendulum:

Mind movement is like a pendulum. It swings between the two opposite sides from the neutral position. The two sides are the “past” and the “future” and the neutral position is the “present”. So, the entire time mind moves towards the past and future while crossing the neutral state momentarily. This is especially true when we don’t have an important task at hand. Watch the movement of your mind in the situations like driving a car, brushing your teeth!!  Naturally, mind dwells in the past or fantasizes the future.

Default Network:

In neuroscience, scientists call this pendulum action as the default network of the brain. Nearly 49% of the time, the brain stays in the default network. We know that each of our thought generates an electric impulse. Considering this fact, we spend half the time wasting our energy by random thoughts. We tend to worry when the mind thinks of the past experiences. We fancy our future which is yet to happen. But, there is a way to make this mind lot more productive that generates better life experience.

Leading a life:

We have choices!!  Either, we can think of our future life and compromise our present life or simply, lead the present life to the fullest. Most of us fall into the first category compromising this moment for the better future. But, the simple secret is that if we live and experience the present moment to its fullest, the future will be fine. This secret that I learned has directed my life for greater goodness.

Present moment:

What is the definition of living in the present moment? When I get involved in an activity or simply, when I experience a moment, the experience of space and time become void. This means that I would have spent thirty minutes experiencing an event but in my experience, it was like a minute. Remember those moments where you read your interesting book or watch movies for hours together but the hours fly in seconds. These are those “present moment” where you live in that moment. Future will be fine & very well secured for those who experience the present moment very often in life. It is simply because; how I live today that governs my future.

Summary: Mind always dwells in the past & future. The mind is like a pendulum that swings between past and future.By default, we live in the past or future. So, naturally, we tend to worry our past and fancy our future.

Power within – 12 Strategies – Part3 CONSISTENCY: SUCCESS

Our Definition:

An action when it is repeated on a regular basis becomes our habit. Our habit drives our behaviour. Our own definition is based on our behaviour. Such is the power of repetition and thus consistent actions when done on regular basis have the potential to give a new definition of you on the long run.

Wiring:

 We are automatically driven by our habits in an autopilot mode. It is subconsciously etched in our neural network and doesn’t require the association of our thinking brain. Habits are spontaneous & automatic. It is the easiest path in the neural network that can be activated without our conscious effort.

Problem:

Our own programming and hence our own definition is the net results of consistent repeated actions that were executed in the past knowingly or unknowingly. In fact, we are a slave to our own old habits. All our old habits work in our comfort zone. We strive for a comfortable life & hence, we tend to live in the comfort zone driven by the old habits.

It now becomes difficult to change the old habits or form a new habit as we are engulfed within the framework of the old habits. Your new actions that you want to follow have to be consistent. This is not going to be easy as we need to come out our own comfort zone and that requires effort & determination.

This is where practicing yoga, or going to the gym on regular basis becomes offstage activity. It is simply because it is a new neural network that we need to form but the stronger old network is called upon automatically and restraining us to stay within our comfort zone.

But, remember your consistency that shapes your new definition. If we need to change for good then we need to be consistent in our actions. 

Success pattern:

  The sole reason for not getting the desired result is the lack of the regularity in repeating an action. This is significantly true when it comes to the subject of lifestyle modification. Simple strategy: Constantly repeating a new action on regular basis creates a new habit. New good Habits create a NEW of you.

Summary: The sole reason for not getting the desired result is the lack of the regularity in repeating an action. This is significantly true when it comes to the subject of lifestyle modification.

Simple strategy: Constantly repeating a new action on regular basis creates a new habit. New good habits create a NEW of you.