The mind is everything. What we think, we become
- Buddha
Today’s quote touches on both the power and the slipperiness of the mind. Our minds constantly create stories, backstories and predicted outcomes. These stories can work for us, or work against us. Ahead of a presentation does your mind predict a calm engaging smooth presentation or a nervous presentation to a crowd of haters?
Both are true, but it is our mind that will create either a calm in-control mindset where you can deal with what arises or an anxious and panicky experience.
The mind also struggles to differentiate between ‘real’ and fake. In the practice of building gratitude, it is likely you just don’t ‘feel’ it for a while. However, after a while of practising a daily gratitude routine, it starts to become your default mode. Your mind believes you are grateful and lays the pathways for it to become more of your default mindset.
Man often becomes what he believes himself to be. If I keep on saying to myself that I cannot do a certain thing, it is possible that I may end by really becoming incapable of doing it – Ghandi
Top athletes often visualise the perfect throw, serve or catch. They don’t visualise the steps to make the perfect serve, simply what performing a perfect serve would look and feel like. Again the mind struggles to differentiate and over time that visualisation becomes its reality of the athlete’s performance. By making the feeling part of the visualisation any thoughts of doubt, nerves or anxiety are overridden by the feeling of flow, power and exuberance of that perfect performance.
So what is your story?