“Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.”
— George Bernard Shaw
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How do you build a wall?
It’s simple really. Brick by brick – all in the same line.
How do you walk up a mountain?
Same, same. Step by step – all heading up to the top.
How do you change your mind from something negative, harsh, whiny, worried and limited to a force for good in your life?
Well, it’s exactly the same. It's simple, but it doesn’t happen all at once.
So many people try for a week, a day, an hour, a second, and give up at the first setback. But Rome was not built in a day, and neither are you.
The journey takes place with the individual small steps, taken in the moment you can take them.
How do you create a better future? That’s right. Make a better now.
Just now.
Doesn’t have to be huge, just make a small change right now; and these changes – these bricks – quickly add up.
Be aware of what is happening between your ears and what you do or don’t do, what you say or don’t say, the kind of attitude you’re presenting, whether you're present or not – and course correct as needed.
Choice by choice, thought by thought, moment by moment – all in an ever increasingly mindful, positive, uplifting, presence filled and life enhancing direction …
That’s how you change your mind.
Okay?
Brick by brick, choice by choice.
Sometimes you fall into a state of grace where you show up as the best version of you, but don’t rely on grace. Practice so grace becomes you; be consistent with making a life force and an outward representation of that life force that you want.
It’s an important point, one I was asked just yesterday:
You will forget, you’ll fall on your face, you’ll fall into negativity and reaction and all the rest.
No deal.
But practice now, while the going is good, while the going is easy, so when you hit harder, tougher times, you have some spiritual, mindful “fitness”.
You’ll have the ability to come through so much more gracefully. Practice while life is relatively simple and smooth and you’ll be so much better when life is tough. You might even surprise yourself how easy you make the tough things.
Now.
Here’s the interesting, even metaphysical, fact about you and your mind –
You don’t even need to change your mind.
You need to step back from it, and in the space that’s created, choose to respond to life how you wish – not blindly and reactively. But you don’t need to change your mind.
You do need to see it, be mindful of what happens when you get lost in its negative and limited programming, but you don’t have to make it do anything.
They are handy phrases: “change your mind” or even “master your mind”, but the reality is that you don’t. You step back and free yourself from the mind, but you don’t fundamentally alter it directly.
Spend a little time in any mindful practice of self-reflection, and you’re going to find that the voice in your head that says you’re incredible is the exact same voice that says you’re a loser.
When you try and change your mind on the level of the mind, the results won’t be as fruitful as changing the game completely. Ultimately, trying to make your mind to do anything is a little like trying to shape the wind. Impossible.
The best strategy is to go beyond the mind. Now that is a whole new game!
It’s easier than you think. With the right tools and guidance, it can be quick and smooth, and exciting too.
When you discover what is beyond the mind – through mindful enquiry and directed awareness – the mind stops being the master of you and starts being a very useful servant.
It follows like a faithful sheepdog. The negativity and insecurity of unconscious programming falls away and what is left is something that is willing to help, and appreciate, and be truly present and productive.
Do you see the point?
So often people object, saying they’re too busy getting things done to worry about “doing nothing” and meditating for a few minutes a day.
Well, hopefully you see the practical use of having something you can rely on between the ears. But consider that the world has been created on a mind, ego level.
If you want to make a difference in your world, you have to find a different level of consciousness from that which created the problems in the first place, as Einstein said.
Your practice, done right, will align you with a different level of consciousness: one that helps you, and helps you help others.
Take the time to change your mind. Or not, as the case may be. You want it, the world wants it.
If I can help with that, I would love to be of service. Just ask.
Go well!
Arjuna