The Wild Power of Your Mind
There are few things more powerful than the spiraling out of a mind fixated on worrying about what could go wrong.
As someone who once used to long over think every scenario in every type of situation in order to avoid getting made fun of, standing out for not doing it right (whatever “it” was), or being judged in any way, shape, or form, I can say with deep certainty that the over-thinking mind will kill your joy, your fun, and the vitality of your life faster than anyone else’s opinions of you ever will.
Think about it.
How many times have you stopped yourself from sharing something you created because you were afraid of what someone would say?
How many times have you decided not to go to an event because you were afraid that you’d be too shy, too awkward, too uncertain of how to fit in?
How many times have you begun the day in a good mood, only to watch it wither away with each passing breath because you started remembering your needlessly long to-do list or began anticipating needing to show up somewhere you didn’t really want to be?
Give a Mouse a Cookie…
The mind will take off in a million different directions if you let it. It will run like a wild child with the smallest inkling of displeasure, endlessly spewing it’s unlikely scenarios into the abyss of your being with every step it takes while sprinting along the descent into darkness.
I wish I was exaggerating here, but if you are human — you will know I’m not.
Most of us have, for far too long, allowed our minds to run the show, letting its whims sway the direction of our lives down paths which keep us from enjoying all that life is able to offer us, and then the same lot of us often wonder why life feels so hard, why we don’t seem to be where we want to be, or why we’re still stuck in the same place we were 5, 10, 15, 20 years ago.
Because that is thing — the mind is not interested in seeing you happy; it is interested in making sure that you survive. Which makes it not a stretch to say, then, that if we over-value what the mind is thinking, we will often find ourselves living to survive, instead of living to thrive.
It’s Always Been Within
The antidote? Learning to shift into the space of your heart.
Your heart, your physical connection to soul and to All that is, is the bridge we most often need when we are desiring a life that is bigger, brighter, and more full of life than the one we experience when we only live from the mind.
Your heart is an ever present source of comfort and love. It is your rock in a storm, your home away from home. It is the thing we have been given to help us navigate a world full of billions of over-thinking minds so that we may learn, grow, and evolve ever more into the loving beings we are so deeply capable of.
Like a Blossoming Flower
When you begin to shift, even if only a little, from the fears of the mind and into the trust of your heart, life begins to open up in ways previously unimagined.
What could go wrong turns into what could go right?
Worry and uncertainty turn into faith and knowing.
Unease about the future and regret about the past turn into curiosity about what could be and acceptance with what has been.
When we learn to see that an evolved life is one which has grown beyond the confines of mere survival, we finally understand the path to our greatest longing and unfolding lays in the power of a mind which has been summoned in service to the heart.
AUTHOR’S NOTE#100daysofwriting | This essay is the eighth in a series of 100 I am challenging myself to write before the end of the year 2022. As of today, 103 days remain. Will the essays be perfect? No. Will they be done? Yes. As a life-long recovering perfectionist who loves to write but fears subpar work, to write with such frequency and disregard for most standards except the one that asks, is it published? will be an adventure, to say the least.
Topics, I’m sure, will span the breadth of seriousness to silliness, will cover the grounds of spirituality to observations I may make in a nail salon, but truthfully, there are no promises in such a challenge, except to say that yes — they will be done.
You can keep up with my writing challenge by following me on Medium, or subscribing to my email list.