Have you realized that there are those moments when thoughts just pop into your mind without your permission? This is because you probably don’t have control of your mind and thoughts. The fact that you can think, reflect on the past, imagine the future and even be conscious of your own consciousness is what basically distinguishes human beings from any other animal out there.
Thoughts can actually be your best friend or your worst enemy depending on different circumstances. When people reflect the past, many times are when they have regrets and when it comes to the future, there are some fears of uncertainty instilled in us. Until you correct your mind, how you perceive and experience the world around you will just be a mere reflection of it.
In other words, you should not perceive the world around you as an unfriendly, hateful, scary and judgment-filled place. Remember it is you and everyone else who creates the world you live in. If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at will also change. As much as this is true, the problem comes because most people don’t know how to change their negative thinking.
Do you want to learn how to control your mind and thoughts? This will guarantee you good health since you will be stress-free, bring true happiness to your loved ones and family and in fact, bring peace to the world. All these can be achieved with discipline and control of your mind. Maybe you have already tried to control your thoughts at some point in life. Could it have worked for a while? If you did and sooner or later found yourself back at the starting level, you don’t have to curse yourself because you are not alone. This is something that happens to a lot of people around the world. Furthermore, there is another way to approach these situations.
Controlling your mind and thoughts by letting go
The point is, the more you let go, the more you gain control with your mind and begin to feel whole again. You will forget the many years of feeling lost. Getting more grasp on something is not a guarantee that you will control it just the way you like. It is just like holding on a cliff on the fear of falling down. The obsession humans have with the past and future is what makes them believe that the more they think about these things the more they can control them.
What humans fail to realize is that it is the mind that plays tricks on the body by making them believe there is an impending disaster in the future. If you hold onto your emotion, you won’t get control of your mind. It is very important to realize that letting go doesn’t mean giving up control but it is about gaining control.
When you get to go, your thoughts won’t overpower and control you. You will now control your thoughts and by controlling your thoughts, it means you are in control of your mind. Don’t be too hard on yourself. All humans have an insatiable appetite for fear of the unknown and what can probably go wrong.
The good news is that once you become aware of your thoughts you will be able to control them. Try this, next time you face a difficult emotion, just allow it to be, feel it and experience it. There are times when a feeling just needs to be felt and it will disappear.
You can also use this difficult emotion to your advantage and improve your life in one way or another. When you allow the feeling, just let go of the harmful thoughts by replacing them with compassion and non-judgment. When will you stop repeating those horrible stories over and over again in your mind? When you do, you will have stopped hurting yourself and replaced that with peace and love. Come to think of it, what do you want your mind to be filled with? Good or bad thoughts? It is your mind; you choose how to control your mind.
There are several methods and their success depends on your personality. Check out these two options and choose the one that best suits you.
How to control your mind – Method 1
Step 1: Listen and acknowledge
Just like the way a good leader listens to the grievances of the employees and gives them the necessary attention they require, that is the same attention you need to grant your mind. Minds can also relax and let go when they are heard and understood. You should always remember to thank your mind for its heavy contribution in your life. Imagine your mind is the only body part that reminds you of what are the consequences if you don’t perform your duties as you are expected. The mind is also your guide to making the right decisions in life. It reminds you to take advantage of every good opportunity that comes your way.
The mind will also let you know that past experiences are a good platform to learn from so that you don’t keep on repeating such mistakes in the future.
Step 2: Encourage a peaceful mind
This is something you need to train yourself. Making peace with your mind is a major step when it comes to controlling your mind. Chances are, you may not like the way your mind conducts itself. Have you seen what happens to two nations who engage themselves in battles? Both of them lack peace and time to rebuild their nations. This is what happens to your body when you fight the negative thoughts.
Accepting that those negative thoughts will be there can give you an opportunity to focus on your actions in the present so that you can move on with life and achieve your most important goals. In fact, that doesn’t mean that you liked or agreed with the negative thoughts, this is just a way of letting them take the back seat as you move on with your life.
Step 3: Observe your thoughts
Did you know your thoughts are just thoughts? Realizing this is very important in your life. You don’t have to judge them but rather observe them. Many are times when a thought pops into your mind and instantly you jump into judgment mode. You may feel at fault especially if you were thinking of something negative about your colleague at work, your spouse or even another close person to you.
A good way of dealing with unwanted thoughts wouldn’t be necessarily dismissing them very fast. You can start from the premise that thoughts are neither right nor wrong. They just are and more so, what you do with the thoughts will determine if they are right or wrong. Be the observer of your thoughts including the ones that frighten you.
Exercising your body is very important, in the same way, observing your mind is equally important and rewarding. If you will notice when your mind wonders and be able to gently bring it back to the focus on the conscious things such as walking, breathing, eating or working.
Step 4: Train yourself to observe the mind
Most people are terrified when the idea of emptying their mind is mentioned. This happens ideally because people think they are their thoughts. From today henceforth, you should know you are not your thoughts. By the way, even though you are much closer to being an observer of your thoughts, the fact is you are not as well.
This is important so that you are able to get control of your thoughts and manage the mind. Who doesn’t want that? If you don’t, you may not experience happiness in the present moments. Remember that controlling the feelings you have may not be possible but you can control how you relate with those feelings. How about you show yourself some compassion? If you learn to let go, you will be controlling the direction your mind takes.
How to control your mind – Method 2
Step 1: Come up with a plan
There is nothing in this life that doesn’t require a plan for it to succeed. Creating a plan for your life is very key. This means you have a clear path of the exact things you want in life. This may even prevent you from temptation that could hurt you in the future. Ensure you clearly outline the major things you want to achieve in your life. You have to set the bar too high so that you don’t fail and end up demotivated. When you set big goals, break them into smaller achievable goals so that along the way, you can be able to see tangible results and get encouraged to accomplish more.
Step 2: Be happy
Just be happy. Try to smile even when you feel not like it. That is because negative feelings can take a toll on your self-control making it more difficult for you to control your mind. A simple way to counteract negative feeling is through a smile. In fact, the facial feedback as a result of a smile hypothesis suggests that smiling can actually make someone feel happy.
Step 3: Spending on others
A research revealed that spending on others, be it the time or even money can increase happiness and your well-being. This in return can reduce negative feelings and enable you to achieve self-control. Those you spend your time and money on find it helping and valuable and that is what matters to you.
Step 4: Create obstacles for your mind
This is another way to control your mind by making it more difficult to get what it wants. Since your mind is less likely to win, it won’t influence your behavior in return. For example, if you find yourself snoozing your phone alarm every morning instead of waking up, you can place your phone at a far distance so that you get out of the bed to turn it off. That way, you will have controlled the part of your mind that doesn’t want to get up in the morning.
Step 5: Reward your every little success
This is very important and the best part as well. Appreciate the efforts you have been making so far with a good reward like a bar of chocolate or a day out. This will encourage you to continue to do so even in the future. However, be careful not to over-reward yourself which can make you lose control and go back to square one where you started.
The bottom line
There is a very deep connection between the mind and the body. It is therefore correct to say that the mind can make the body to be stressed. The mind, on the other hand, can feel stressed if the body is experiencing the physiological stress. Having this in mind, it is wise to reduce stress so as to conserve self-control energy.