STWDM 17 - Winning the Mind Games

Day 17 Message:  Because one is content with oneself, one doesn’t need others’ approval. Because one accepts oneself, the whole world accepts him or her.  - Lao Tzu

The mind game consists of the tricks your mind plays on you, making you see reality according to old memories, fears, wounds, prejudices, outworn beliefs, second-hand opinions, and early conditioning. When you are aware your mind is filtering your reality based on the past, you can change it with that awareness. In fact, awareness is the change.

O:  Every morning I take the time, whether it’s 2 minutes, or 20 minutes, to get quiet, be still and connect with the energy that I know is greater than myself.  To connect to Source with a capital S.  I feel I owe that to myself and my calling here on earth, to connect to that from which I’ve come.  So I go to a place that is centered and calm within myself.  That exercise gives me strength and a sense of peace every single day. And I use that morning oasis to help myself all day long.  I can tell you for sure that coming from a centered space throughout the day allows me to pause in any difficult situation and realize that the situation itself is different from my response or reaction to it.  I don’t need to let the challenge or the difficulty – whether its a craving for food, or a complex situation at work – I don’t have to let that control me.  If I don’t create the space to be centered, I become unconscious and ruled by outside forces that weigh me down.  So when we create space in our minds and spirits, we can pause, accept each moment and take charge of how we choose to respond.  With ease the pressure, the heaviness, the hunger of a difficult moment gets diffused. 

 The more centered and accepting we are in each moment, the more creative and positive the energy we bring to it.  We inherently co-create change  Habits, burdens, and heaviness no longer control us. We control our reactions and therefore control the moment.  We arrive very easily at an uplifted place.

D:  As you restore yourself to the creator you truly are, cravings diminish and habits lose their power  to weigh you down.  As we’ve learned, that is how the hunger dilemma is solved.  When the hunger dilemma is over, there is still the mind game to deal with.  The mind game consists of the tricks your mind plays on you – making you see reality according to old memories, fears, prejudices and early conditioning.  Instead of following your old mental habits, focus on the fact that you can be the conscious agent of change.  Imagine two people who arrive at the airport to discover their flight has been cancelled.  One accepts the news with a sigh, goes to the bookstore and gets immersed in a fascinating book.  The other passenger grumbles, yells at the ticket agent and sits in a chair, steaming with anger.  The same event doesn’t produce the same reflection.  This is important to realize because without being able to instantly produce a jet to take you where you want to go, you can create a positive reaction simply through the power of awareness.  Any trick of the mind can be defeated by becoming aware of the trick.  What you’re aware of, you can change, in fact awareness is the change.

Return now to the airport and the cancelled flight.  The passenger who got angry could, at any moment, look at the situation and say, ‘this is me choosing to be mad about a situation I can’t change – the choice is mine’.  There is no better way to use awareness than to direct your intention into a better outcome for yourself  in any situation.  When you face a crisis, challenge or setback, tell yourself that.    When you face crisis, challenge or setback, tell yourself the same thing – this is me reacting.  The situation is just a blank canvas.  It has no meaning until you personalize it.  So take charge of how you react, doing the best you can to support where you want the story to go.  Let’s say you are assigned an uninteresting work task.  Instead of tagging it as boring, just say, this is where I find myself right now – that is all it is. When you accept where you are without judgement, what happens?  You relax and gain an open perspective.  This is how we win the mind game.

When you feel relaxed enough, you are centered, engaged and receptive.  Time, itself, dissolves.  You aren’t wasting time anymore because you experience being here, nothing more, nothing less.  Centered and at peace, your position to create any response you desire and from there, any outer reflection is possible.

Journal Ideas:  1)  Reflect on a fear or anxiety that you have had for a long time. Describe how it began, then make a note of any benefit you have gained from this negative feeling. For example, did it make you feel safer or protect you from harm?  2)  Describe any drawbacks you have experienced from this same fear or anxiety. For example, did it keep you in worry or create even more fears?  3) Write about what you have discovered in this exercise and how you now see this fear or anxiety in a new light. This is what winning the mind game means – shining the light of awareness into your unconscious habits. You can also apply the same method to any old wounds, traumas, and problems that have persisted for years without change.