You Are What You Think – Where to Go From There

Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash

In the world of mindfulness teaching, there’s a simple adage: Teach what is most alive in you.

Right now, what’s most alive in me… is thinking. Not just what we think, but how often we don’t even realize we’re thinking at all.

Let’s start with a familiar phrase: “You are what you eat.”

• Junk food? Sluggish, inflamed, depleted body.

• Nourishing food? Stronger, more resilient system.

We understand this when it comes to the body, even if we don’t always practice it.

But when it comes to the mind do we even consider the idea that we are what we think?

We often forget that we are consuming mental food all day long.  And depending on what we mentally consume it can change the way we feel from sluggish and depleted to strong and resilient.

The Mind Is Not Fixed

Modern neuroscience provides us with a powerful truth: the brain is not fixed, it’s changeable and adaptable. Through the lens of neuroplasticity, the brain is a bit like playdoh – moldable and responsive to how we use it.

There is a catch, like play-doh, it only changes when we actually “put our hands on it.” Meaning, when we pay attention. Paying attention in particular to:

• what we are feeding it

• what we are focusing on

• what thoughts we are rehearsing, again and again

• what assumptions and perspectives are quietly running in the background

Whether we realize it or not, what we mentally practice gets stronger. Do you know what you want to mentally strengthen?

The Water We’re Swimming In

Most of our thinking is so close to us, we can’t see it.

You can’t see your own nose unless you intentionally shift your focus or place a mirror in front of you.

Just as fish don’t recognize the water they’re swimming in we often don’t recognize the mental environment we’re living inside of.

There is constant commentary of assumptions, judgments, criticisms and subtle narratives running just beneath the surface of our awareness.

Who’s Driving?

I invite you to playfully consider this:  If your life were a bus, taking you on multiple journeys over the years, who or what is driving the bus of your life?

Is it conscious awareness or, to use a Buddhist phrase, is it “monkey mind”?  The monkey in your mind is chattering away deploying well-worn thought patterns, old habits, unquestioned beliefs, judgments, fear mongering, critical self-narratives, all of which create constant distractions and more.

Important reflective questions are - Is this monkey mind taking you where you actually want to go? Do you know where you want to go?

The Real Purpose of Mindfulness

There’s a common misperception about the practice of mindfulness. Those new to mindfulness often think the goal is to feel better, more calm, clear and at ease.  And yes, sometimes all that can happen.

But the deeper purpose is that the practice of mindfulness is to understand the nature of your own mind. To see clearly what’s happening in your internal environment, how it’s happening(with intention or by default) and the impact it’s having on you and that which you come in contact with.

Once you observe your own mind in action and choose not to be run by the monkey, you become intentional rather than accidental.

Awareness

As our awareness grows (that idea of seeing who or what is driving the bus of our life), so does our responsibility. We begin to notice how we interpret events, how we jump to conclusions, how we reinforce well-worn mental loops, how we beat ourselves up over the darnedest things. And then we realize maybe it’s time to become our own bus driver! Like the well-known children’s song advises, invite the monkey to “move on back, move on back.”

We may not be able to control everything life brings our way but with our hands now on the steering wheel of our life we can choose how we meet life’s stuff.

An Invitation

It’s important to know we’re not trying to fix anything because nothing is broken. The invitation is to see things as they are now.

Pause. Notice.

• What am I paying attention to right now?

• What thoughts keep repeating?

• What am I reinforcing without even realizing it?

No judgment, just curious interest. No need to fix or change anything. Quantum physics states that what we pay attention too changes, all by itself. All we have to do is pay attention.

PRACTICE: Noticing

Sometime today, pause for just a minute, nothing formal, just stop wherever you are. And inquire within:

• What’s in my mind right now?

• What thought keeps repeating like a skip in an old record?

Don’t try to change it or dissect it. Take a small step back and say “Ah-ha, thinking is happening.” “It’s just thinking.”

Noticing creates space and space is where we will find awareness waiting for us. And in that space of awareness is where we will find choices and agency.

In-joy the noticing.

Debbie