Melissa

Spring, TX, USA

Erika Saucedo

Eric

Maine, USA

Lucie Spencer

Canada

Áine

Ireland

Sam Jackson

Nancy M

Kathleen

Lori

Washington, DC

Hilary

Bridlington, UK

Cara

Belleville, ON, Canada

Simon

Heswall, United Kingdom

Linlithgow, United Kingdom

CyndyM

Dallas, TX

Bianca de Heer

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Omon .

Deb Mayo

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Joeji

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Sally Tully

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Candice

Portland, OR, USA

Discover how to take your thoughts less seriously and use experiential tools to find mental freedom.

Observe your thoughts as passing images or sounds and learn to detach from them with simple, effective tools.

Minding

As soon as the day starts, so does the mind going about its job. Thousands of thoughts a day, telling you things in words, showing you things in images. Sometimes it helps you work out exactly where you want to be and gets you there, giving you a sense of fulfillment. Sometimes, it stops you from what you really want to be doing, even though, deep down, you might really want to. It can even strip you of any sense of fulfillment, leaving you feeling jealous, bitter, unworthy or any other unwanted feeling. Guess what? This isn't just about you because you've taken an interest here in this course. This is about every single human being that has the capacity for language. We all have minds that judge, evaluate, analyze, compare, contrast all day, every day. Thoughts about ourselves, other people or anything else in the world. Sometimes we'd rather not tell anyone else about it, keep it secret to ourselves, because just imagine if they knew what you were thinking, says your mind, then what? Welcome to Day 1. My name is Reuben, founder of both Mindful Creation and our non-profit charity Act On It. This course is not just a meditation course. It may have more content than you're expecting, I recommend taking some notes. Help yourself to the insights and the tools that resonate with you. Let everything else go, because it's likely that if you find this course useful, you will come back to revisit some of these insights that you didn't consider the first time. Go easy on yourself, choose the things that resonate with you, you can discard the rest. Here's the quote for our first day. I used to think that the brain was the most wonderful organ in my body. Then I realized who was telling me this. Emo Phillips. This course, Never Mind Your Mind, is about not taking our thoughts so seriously. When we come to know the why our minds work this way, you may begin to notice a shift in how you relate to your mind, those pictures, streams of words, and sometimes like a sound recording in your head that hardly ever stops. But gaining knowledge from the insights in this course is not all. We need some tools for the job. This is where we turn knowledge into experience. So we'll be exploring a range of mini-exercises and easy-to-use tools to help you put this into practice. The result? If you put the practice in, it's my hope that you'll start to notice how certain thoughts that used to push you around or make you look at the world in a singular and serious way begin to lose their power. They start to neutralize. They become fleeting thoughts. Thoughts coming and going. Thoughts that we don't identify with as strongly when they come into our existence. I'm very passionate about this because this has been one of the most powerful gifts in my life. It's benefited me in so many ways. That's why I'm here doing this now. I remember reading the first chapter of a book called The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle. The title of the chapter was called You Are Not Your Mind. It made the hairs on my head go all tingly. It all seemed to fit together somehow. Along with the mentorship training that I was getting back in 2006 for acceptance and commitment therapy, we established the first ever Act for Addictions group in the UK whilst I worked for the National Health Service. My passion has continued, never waning. Thanks to the thousands of people that I have worked with, not just in my groups but also with my online courses. By having these insights, exercises, tips and tools gently drip fed in an easy to understand and an easy to put into practice way, I've seen incredible shifts in the people I work with. The result? A significant impact upon their lives, allowing them to come to know at that deeper, beautiful level that you are not your mind. As they take their thoughts less seriously. As they choose to not mind their mind, in other words, not mind their thoughts. And instead, they start to make space for their thoughts. Thoughts as thoughts. Just as thoughts. But first off, let's step back a bit. Because we tend not to see our thoughts for what they are. Just thoughts. The reason we don't see our thoughts for what they really are is because we get caught up in minding. Most dictionaries have well over a dozen meanings for the word mind. When we say to another person, mind what you say, or never mind about that, we are usually referring to being, or not being, cautious or concerned about something. To take something seriously. Welcome to being human. Humans are cautious. Humans get concerned. Humans mind. From day two onwards, we will explore the functions of our mind. We'll come to find that it's not our thoughts that are the problem. It's the relationship to our thoughts that's the problem. It's the relationship to our thoughts that's the problem? What is he talking about? I certainly don't expect you to take this at face value right now. It's going to take a gentle working through this course to grasp this. It's part of the human condition to mind. There's nothing wrong with doing so. It's just nowadays, our minds tend to trip us up. This is because, most of the time, our automatic thoughts are not helpful. Whether you're using these tools for yourself, or for someone else that you want to share this with, not taking our thoughts so seriously is a much-needed gift we can all benefit from to make the world a better place. My slogan at Mindful Creation is, be part of the change. Be part of the change. You are part of this change. Not taking our thoughts so seriously is one way that we can do this. So as I like to say in my live events, there's a positive change going on in the world. It just depends where we focus our attention. And so this course is about the fact that, by learning simple insights here, and then putting into practice some of the tools and exercises of your choosing, you will begin to recognise that some of your thoughts that you found a little painful, that coloured your perception of reality, or maybe even pushed you around a little bit, start to lose their grip. They have more space to come and go. There are many words and descriptions for not minding our minds. Below is a list of synonyms. These all mean the same thing. See which ones resonate with you. Unhook, to unhook from. I was hooked by that thought. To unhook. Make space, to make space for. I was caught up in that thought. Now I'm making space for it. Allow, to allow. I was caught up in that thought. Now I allow it to be there. Detach, to detach from. I am not attached to that thought. I have detached. Distance, to distance from. I was close up to that thought. Now there is distance between me and that thought. Neutralise, to neutralise. I was taking that thought seriously. It's just a thought. And seeing it as just a thought, it is now neutral. Look at, to look at. I was looking at the world from this thought. Now I am looking at this thought. Diffuse, to diffuse from. Diffusion is an official term used in contextual psychology for taking our thoughts seriously. I was fused with that thought. Then I diffused from it. So, as stated above, it's important to remember that these are words to describe the same thing. All of these above are what we do to not mind our minds as much. To help you get a little distance between you and your thoughts. One or two of these may resonate with you more than the others. Throughout this course I'll be using some of the above interchangeably. So here we are, at the start of our adventure. Now is a great time to get experiential in a way that gets us to be the witness to our mind. Becoming familiar with the three ways our thoughts tend to present themselves. Sit back, relax and close your eyes if you're comfortable with that. Here you are in this moment. Gently becoming aware of how you are holding your body. The angles of your arms and legs. Feeling the pulling sensation from gravity as it gently holds you in this position. Hello body, you've been here all my life, thank you. Turn on your noticing switch, click. Noticing what it's like to be here now. The present moment happens as it will. You being the awareness that absorbs everything in this moment like a sponge to water. Noticing whether your mind is active or not so active or somewhere in between. And now that you are here, allowing everything to happen. Our thoughts present themselves in three different ways. Images, streams of words or like a recording in our heads, a sound that plays out in our heads. So in this moment you can just gently say to your mind, okay mind, I'm going to sit back gently and notice how these thoughts present themselves. Are they more like pictures, streams of words or like sounds? And then it won't take long before you are distracted by a thought that pulls you in. When you notice this, come back again saying to your mind, okay you can do what you will, I'm just going to be curious. Noticing what these thoughts are like. Are they more like pictures, streams of words or like a sound recording in my head? When we do this, we're noticing the form of our thoughts, how they present themselves. Staying with this, noticing how your mind may want to sabotage this experience and say, what is this about? This doesn't make sense. Allow all of that to happen and be curious. Some people are more visual, some people are less visual. What's the tapestry like? What's the mixture like? Pictures, streams of words or sounds? And now as you get a sense of this, see what it's like to notice the location of where these thoughts seem to come from. There's no right or wrong way of experiencing this. Sometimes they can appear right in front of us, sometimes from behind, sometimes from the side. Here you are, noticing switch on, click. Allowing your mind to do what it will, noticing pictures, words and sounds and the location of where they seem to come from. Automatic thoughts just happen. Here's the experience of this. So easy to be pulled into distraction. When you are, very gently for these last few moments, coming back again, noticing switch on and saying to your mind, okay, do what you will. I am here. I am witnessing this, witnessing these thoughts. I am the watcher of these thoughts. Now that we're drawing to an end, the main points for today are as follows. Human's mind. This is because our mind's mind. And if we take these thoughts seriously, we get caught up in minding our mind. Our thoughts present themselves like pictures, streams of words or like sounds in our heads. And there are many different ways of describing how we can not mind our minds as much, how we can not take our thoughts so seriously. Over the next 24 hours. Step number one, go through the list of synonyms again. Choose one or two of the terms that you resonate with. You may well have done this already. Step number two, bring this into your vocabulary. For instance, I was fused. I am diffusing. I was hooked. I unhooked from that thought. And step number three, allow this sentence to be absorbed. What I am the witness to, I cannot be. What I am the witness to, I cannot be. So the quote for today was. I used to think that the brain was the most wonderful organ in my body. Then I realized who was telling me this. Emo Phillips. How does this quote sit with you right now? In day two, we will explore more on why we mind. We'll also look at some interesting stats relating to these automatic thinking patterns that arise the way they do. This is to lay the foundations of knowledge and insight to begin the process of letting go of taking our thoughts so seriously. What is your main takeaway from today? An insight that resonates with you? By posting in the comments section, this will solidify your learning. You may like to start the sentence with. For today, my main takeaway is. And of course, if you have any comments or questions whatsoever, right now is the time to post. I usually respond within 24 hours. For today, my main takeaway is. And of course, if you have any comments or questions whatsoever, right now is the time to post. See you in day two.

Explore the difference between thoughts and awareness to unhook from unhelpful mental patterns.

Minding The Mind

Never mind your mind. Welcome to day two, minding the mind. Do you have a pen and paper to get scribbling? Remember, you don't need to resonate with everything here. Go with what you like the sound of. It's so much easier to learn this way. Here's what we've covered so far. Humans mind because our minds mind. Thoughts just happen and what you are the witness to you cannot be. Today we're going to explore what is a mind as well as looking at some of the stats around patterns of thought that we all have. The quote for today. It's not so much that you use your mind wrongly. You usually don't use it at all. It uses you. Eckhart Tolle So what is a mind? Have you ever reflected for a moment upon what a mind is? In this context, when I talk about the mind, I mean thoughts. That is to say, a process of information within us. This is simple, but we do need to be clear here. The reason we need to be clear in this course is because other definitions of the mind can be different. In many spiritual and psychological schools of thought, the mind includes your thoughts and the awareness that notices all your experiences. The mind is often viewed, therefore, as the entire intelligence of who you are. So this definition of the mind includes awareness. For example, you'll hear sometimes in guided meditations, focus your mind upon the sounds around you, focus your mind upon the breath or something similar. So here's where we're going to be different. Here, we'll view the mind as simply an ongoing process of information. In psychology, the term for thoughts is cognitions. Cognitions just means thoughts. So the mind being a process of information, meaning the thoughts that pass through our heads. However, from this perspective, because our awareness can observe these thoughts that pass through our heads, then our awareness is not our thoughts. So there's thoughts, which is your mind, and there's the awareness of thoughts, which is not your mind. Put simply, thoughts and awareness of thoughts. Also, just to note, it's not that this definition is right and the other one is wrong. It's simply to help us not get so caught up in our thoughts, to not take them so seriously, to not mind them as much. This distinction between, number one, my mind, and number two, my awareness, helps with this. It helps with making space for our thoughts. Eckhart Tolle's teachings are congruent with this definition of the mind being a process of thinking, and our awareness being something separate. And this is similar too in a branch of psychology called contextual psychology, where I have been influenced with the work that I do. As you go through this course, the essence of what you'll be experiencing more and more will be something along the lines of, This is what my mind is saying, but what about what I want? This is what my mind is saying, and I am noticing this. I am the observer of my thoughts. I am not my thoughts unless I choose them. See for yourself, or should I say, experience for yourself as you do this course. Just like we did yesterday, noticing the pictures, the streams of words, the sounds in our heads, being the witness to these experiences. It's more effective to unhook from our unhelpful thoughts if we can experience this observing self, the noticing self, which notices the mind as something separate from the mind. Because as I said yesterday, when you are the witness to something, you cannot be it. Now, there are many descriptions of our awareness. I mentioned some just a few seconds ago. And just like yesterday with the synonyms for not minding our mind as much, here are some more synonyms for that part of us that is aware. See which one or two resonate with you. The silent witness. The observing self. The noticing self. Essence. Consciousness. Pure awareness. In this context, all of these mean the same thing. This part of us that holds the space for all our experiences. Experiencing the five senses of sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell. But there's more too. It also experiences our feelings, our intuitions, and the very thoughts that pass through our minds. When I am witnessing a thought, I cannot be it. When I am observing a thought, I cannot be it. When I am noticing a thought, I cannot be it. I am essence. The space that holds all my experiences, thoughts included. I am consciousness. The space that holds all my experiences, thoughts included. I am pure awareness. The space that holds all my experiences, thoughts included. Which of these sentences do you resonate with? Maybe you can make your own, chop them up a bit, and see how you go. As I said yesterday, our mind's mind. This means that we're constantly popping in and out of being the awareness of our thoughts, to being our thoughts, caught up, identified with them. Day by day, moment by moment, being the witness to our thoughts, then being caught up in them, being the witness to our thoughts, then being caught up in them, and so on. When we look from our thoughts, we take them seriously. We're minding them. When we look at our thoughts, we see them for what they are. Just thoughts. Not taking them so seriously. We're not minding them. They start to lose their power. They don't have as much impact upon us. So, there we go. I hope this introduction has been simple and effective at giving you the foundations to start this course. Go with the words that resonate with you, the descriptions that resonate with you, the names that resonate with you. Now we're ready to explore some interesting insights into the human mind. This is the first important start in not minding our mind as much. Being more able to unhook from our thoughts, letting them come and go, in a way where they feel neutral. The automatic thoughts that pop through our heads can, of course, be great for predicting the future, learning from the past, planning, and creating. When we put our minds to use, we can create, plan, and rationalize in amazing ways for the creation of something incredible. And also, for some of the everyday ways, just like planning a holiday or having a game of Scrabble. However, as the quote for the day states, it's not so much that we use our mind wrongly, we usually don't use it at all. It uses us. Automatic thoughts concerning what happened in the past, what may happen in the future, or commenting on the present moment dominate our awareness. And when we take our thoughts seriously, we mind our mind. When we mind our mind, we get caught up in these automatic thoughts and lose out on connecting to the things in our present moment that really matter. But we pick up these little bits of pictures, streams of words, and sounds from the outside world. We don't come out of the womb as a baby, thinking the thought, I'm not good enough, or they're not grateful enough. When we pick up these thoughts, they become part of a program that pops up automatically and plays out in our heads. As we touched on in day one, mind's mind, that's their job. Due to thousands of years of evolution, our brains have been trained to be active and on guard from anything perceived as a potential threat or problem. Minds are excellent don't-get-killed devices, or problem-finding devices. Minds will judge, evaluate, analyse, compare, contrast, anything and everything. One of the ways our ancestors remained safe was to be part of the tribe. There was safety in numbers. This meant that being part of the hierarchy was essential. Where am I supposed to fit in? Am I good enough? Am I doing enough not to die? Our ancestors had to take these thoughts seriously and act upon them. However, today, what we view as negative thinking can make sense if we look at it from this evolutionary standpoint. We're going to cover this in more detail tomorrow in day three, Minding the Stone Age Mind. In the Western world today, we live in different times. However, we still experience similar patterns of thought to our ancestors. This means even though things have evolved so rapidly in the Western world with the advance in the Industrial Revolution, the thinking patterns of our minds have not. They are still minding potential threats and asking the same questions. Do I fit in? How do I compare to them? What if something bad happens? And so, almost all of us live with this. Some more than others, depending upon the environment and how we've been brought up. For some people, how they look is never okay. For others, who they are is never good enough. And for some people, how others look is not okay. And for others, how people act is almost always a problem. Thus, the list goes on. As we start to look at this, we can see that so-called negative thinking is a normal part of being human. This isn't to be morbid. It's to help us recognize that these thoughts are supposed to be like this. When we start to recognize this, we come to find too that we are not our thoughts. Our thoughts are part of a program. Bits of stories in images, streams of words, and like a sound recording in our heads. And so, to repeat that title of chapter one from The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle once more. You are not your mind. Or, as I often like to say, you are not your thoughts unless you choose them. A 2020 brain imaging study from Queen's University estimated that we have around 6,200 distinct thoughts per day. That is, the ones we're consciously aware of. You may have also heard claims that we have 12,000 to 60,000 thoughts per day, a popular figure in self-help and online circles. These larger numbers often rely on looser definitions of what counts as a thought, including fleeting sensations, unnoticed impulses, or mental fragments. So, while we may not be aware of 60,000 thoughts a day, the brain is certainly active. In contextual psychology, the model of acceptance and commitment therapy, thoughts as forms of human language, inner speech, judgments, and mental symbols. In cognitive psychology, a thought is broader and includes all mental events, images, memories, and more. While exact numbers vary, what's clear is that the mind often leans negative. Research confirms a strong negativity bias, and the brain's default mode network, active when we're on autopilot, tends to generate repetitive, persistent, and problem-focused content, as we will explore further in Day 4. In The Happiness Trap, author Russ Harris suggests that up to 80% of our thoughts may be negative or pessimistic. While this isn't drawn from a formal study, it reflects a deeper truth. Left unexamined, the mind tends to replay unhelpful thinking patterns. Welcome to the human condition. Being lost in the automatic thoughts that pass through our heads, even though most of them are unhelpful in today's world. These figures may seem far-fetched, but it's my hope that, as you work through this course, this will become clearer. Then the foundations will be set for using specific tips and tools to help you unhook from the thoughts that don't serve you. Now that we're drawing to an end, the main points for today are as follows. With our minds analysing, judging, and evaluating everything, other people, ourselves, the world around us, we can often believe that we are bad or have a problem with how we think. What we are going to continue to explore is that these thoughts are bad. These thoughts are normal, even if they tell you they're not. This is a beautiful thing, because now we're starting to recognise the common humanity in all of us. Over the next 24 hours, reflect upon this statement. I am not my thoughts, unless I choose them. Notice what your mind does as it grapples with this. By the end of this course, it's my hope that the questions it raises will be answered. I am not my thoughts, unless I choose them. And so the quote of today was, It's not so much that you use your mind wrongly. You usually don't use it at all. It uses you. Eckhart Tolle How does this quote sit with you? In day three, we will explore how our minds haven't yet adapted to this modern world. We still get stuck in stone age mind thinking patterns. What is your main takeaway from today? An insight that resonates with you. By posting in the comments section, this will solidify your learning. You may like to start the sentence with, For today, my main takeaway is... And of course, if you have any comments or questions whatsoever, right now is the time to post. I usually respond within 24 hours. For today, my main takeaway is... See you in day three.

Identify your brain's ancient survival patterns and learn to thank your mind for its protective thoughts.

Minding The Stone Age Mind

Never mind your mind. Welcome to day three, minding the stone age mind. Remember, you don't need to resonate with everything here. Go with what you like the sound of. Cherry pick the insights that resonate with you. It's so much easier to learn this way. Here's what we covered yesterday. What is a mind? The distinction between the mind as a process of information, pictures, streams of words, sounds and our awareness of the mind. Our awareness of all of the experiences that we have. When you are the witness to something, you cannot be it. And we looked at some stats on the amount of thoughts that we have per day, and how most of these are from a negative or unhelpful bias. That's why we tend to mind our minds. Today, we're going to explore how our brains have evolved to get our minds to mind. Let's do this. The quote for today. The brain is like Velcro for negative experiences and Teflon for positive ones. Rick Hansen. I use this quote often. Rick Hansen is a neuroscientist who likes to get real about the human condition, as well as to highlight the amazing capacity we have to change and grow. In the context of this quote, acknowledging the tendency for our automatic thoughts to be searching for and clinging to the negative experiences that we perceive, and to mostly ignore the positive ones. He likes to use the analogy of having an amazing morning, having nine really positive things happen, but then one negative thing does, such as a minor altercation with someone. What are we most likely to dwell upon? One of the nine positive experiences, or the one negative one? Welcome to the Stone Age Mind. In fact, I don't need to welcome you. You are already experiencing these Stone Age automatic thinking patterns. You experience these day after day. And so do I. So do we all. This is where things that are a problem are treated like they are a problem. Problems that are negative. Problems that are bad. Problems that need to be gone, or to be fixed. As we touched on yesterday, the human mind is incessant. It hardly ever stops. We don't even have a choice as to whether we want these automatic thinking patterns in our heads. To add insult to injury, most of the time, these problems in our heads don't even exist in reality. We also briefly looked at how our amazing brains have evolved in a particular way. Safety first. And despite the advancement of this modern world being much safer than it was years ago, our minds still operate in a particular way. Our minds have been designed for two reasons. Number one, to keep us safe. Number two, keeping us from pain or discomfort. This means keeping us from anything even perceived as a threat. And keeping us from even the slightest amount of discomfort. A potential threat such as ruminating on whether a particular work colleague you had a falling out with may be at a social event or not. The slightest amount of discomfort, such as an underlying anxiety about something, or even just the feeling when we have to do something that involves a little bit of effort. So, the human mind churning out these thoughts is the sharpest for both. Number one, keeping us safe. And number two, keeping us from pain or the slightest amount of discomfort. And both these reasons are a problem. And when things are a problem, we tend to mind them. While it's generally agreed that our ancestors are thought to have been around for about six million years, the first modern humans are thought to have evolved around 200,000 to 300,000 years ago. The capacity for language is thought to have developed about 50,000 years ago. The modern age is a period in human history which spans from the 20th century, beginning with the period after the First World War and ending with the advent of the digital revolution, and the so-called postmodern age followed on from there up until now. As I mentioned before, our minds haven't yet caught up with the modern world. But here you are doing this course right now. Things are changing. You are part of this change. Doing this is sculpting a more modern mind for this modern age. And your brain is growing and adapting to accommodate for this. So, coming back to the Stone Age, this was a broad prehistoric period during which stone was widely used to make tools with an edge or a point. This period is thought to have lasted for over 2.5 million years and is thought to have ended between 4000 and 2000 BCE, with the beginning of metalworking. Remember, the Stone Age brain was geared towards safety first and avoiding discomfort. This meant avoiding potential threats, protecting from harm, preparing for future dangers, making sure to not get cut off from the tribe, and more. Early humans that didn't have the sharpest minds for all of the above didn't survive. Those with the sharpest minds for spotting, predicting and avoiding danger did. This process of finding any potential problems was absolutely essential for us as humans to find solutions to those very problems that may have or may have not existed. But here's where the problem comes in. Because of the above, we have inherited this safety first approach from our ancient ancestors that were around way before language was thought to have developed. So much so that this safety first approach still plays out in our modern minds for this modern world. As I also mentioned earlier, the big crunch is that our modern minds have not caught up with this modern world. This means we have thinking patterns in this modern world that can be likened to the Stone Age mind thinking patterns, as we touched on yesterday in Day 2. However, in today's world, where things are almost always pretty safe, this is not necessary. Russ Harris is a psychologist and a well-known teacher in acceptance commitment therapy. He has given examples of the typical Stone Age mindset years ago and then compared it to what our thoughts are like for modern times in this modern world. Let's explore these eight examples, starting with a Stone Age mind example and comparing it with a modern age mind example. Stone Age mind example number one. Watch out. That shadow on the horizon, that could be an enemy from another clan. You could get speared. In today's modern world, it means catastrophize, predict the worst, avoid anything that scares us. This is our mind trying to protect us. Stone Age mind example number two. Watch out. There was a saber-toothed tiger on that hill last week. It might come back. In today's modern world, it means we project the painful past into a scary future. It happened before, so it may happen again. This is our mind trying to protect us. Stone Age mind example number three. You survive an encounter with a bear or a wolf, so it's useful to replay this, to go over the events in your mind and remember what you did to survive, so that you are better prepared for next time. In today's modern world, it means we go over and over painful memories, reliving them, even when there's nothing useful to learn, or the lesson has been well and truly learnt. This is our mind trying to protect us. Stone Age mind example number four. As a Stone Age person, you have to fit in with the group. If you are alone, you soon die. The wolves will eat you for breakfast, and if you survive past breakfast, the bears will get you for lunch. So, your mind compares you to others in the group. Am I fitting in? Am I contributing enough? Am I following the rules well enough? Am I doing anything that might get me thrown out? In today's modern world, it means that we compare ourselves to others, judgments about ourself, fear of negative evaluation from others, fear of judgment and rejection from others. This is our mind trying to protect us. Stone Age mind example number five. When encountering real physical threats, like dangerous animals, bad weather, treacherous terrain, rival tribes, watch out, you might get hurt, stay away, take cover. In today's modern world, it means when we are encountering anything that gives rise to discomfort, we respond to it the same way as a Stone Age mind responds to real physical threats. So, our minds start making excuses, coming up with all the reasons why I can't do it, I shouldn't do it, I shouldn't have to do it. This is our mind trying to protect us. Stone Age mind example number six. The Stone Age mind told us to conserve physical resources as it's vitally important. If this task or challenge involves significant expenditure of time and energy, and there's a good chance of failure, then it's safer not to undertake this. In today's modern world, it means our modern minds love to conjure up fear of failure, and they readily generate hopelessness, there's no point, I'll only fail, especially if there have been past failures. It also shows up as our minds telling us to give up if we're not getting quick or easy results. This is our mind trying to protect us. Stone Age mind example number seven. The Stone Age mind told us you need more food, you need more water, better weapons, better shelter. The Stone Age people who thought this way lived longer, had more offspring. In today's modern world, it means we experience greed, dissatisfaction, craving, wanting, it's never enough, I need more, more, more. This is our mind trying to protect us. And finally, Stone Age mind example number eight. Told us to avoid physical threats like bears and wolves, this keeps us safe. In today's modern world, it means we treat painful thoughts and feelings the same way as we would bears and wolves. This is our mind trying to protect us. We are going to explore this very last point in detail on day five with the negative thought narrative. It's absolutely paramount. When fully explored, this insight is fundamental to not minding our mind as much. But for now, here's a little something to do to consolidate these eight examples above. You should be able to relate to all or most of these, but there will be one or two that you get caught up with more often than not. So here's the exercise. Step one. Listen to the list again and take note of which of the examples stand out to you. Step two. As you go about your day, they may come into your awareness. And as they do, you will be like, aha, there's that Stone Age mind thinking pattern at work. There's my mind doing its job. Step number three. This step is optional. You might like to choose one particular thinking pattern that is familiar. You could give this a name. For instance, example number four, before with the social comparisons, could be called the fitting-in-with-the-tribe thought. Or the self-comparison thought. Or the us-and-them thought. And maybe, just maybe, from this perspective, you could even thank your mind for doing its job. Thank you, mind, for trying to protect me. For trying to keep me from any potential discomfort or threat. But it's okay. My surroundings here are what nurtures me. Actually, I want to share with you my own experience here. Sometimes when I get caught up in the darkness of judgements about self or other people and the world, I sometimes stop where I am. Put my hand on my heart and say something like, Thank you, mind, for these thoughts. They help me understand the human condition. And without these, I wouldn't be able to do the work I do. Could that potentially be something that you could do? See these thoughts as an opportunity for you to grow through them. To see them as happening for you instead of happening to you. This is an example of one of the tools that we will cover in more detail towards the end of the course. And very shortly, we'll do something similar for our experiment over the next 24 hours. Now that we're drawing to an end, the main points for today are as follows. Our ancestors that survived had to have minds that were incessant and revolved around keeping us safe and keeping us from any sort of discomfort. Thank you very much, ancestors. You survived. And as a result of this, you've given me this life. But you've also given me this brain that has manifested these Stone Age thinking patterns. Can I still be grateful for these? If I am, then that's a win. Over the next 24 hours. Every time you have a thought that you may deem as negative, unhelpful, derogatory, unkind, etc. Say to yourself, thank you for helping me understand the human condition. And so the quote for today was, The brain is like Velcro for negative experiences and Teflon for positive ones. Rick Hansen How does this quote sit with you now? In day four, we will continue with this theme of what our minds are like and why. And we are going to explore a framework which helps us understand and normalise these thinking patterns we all have even more. What is your main takeaway from today? An insight that resonates with you. By posting in the comments section, this will solidify your learning. You may like to start the sentence with, For today, my main takeaway is... And of course, if you have any comments or questions whatsoever, right now is the time to post. I usually respond within 24 hours. For today, my main takeaway is... See you in day four.

Explore the four default modes of minding and learn to observe your thoughts without being hooked by them.

The 4 Modes Of Minding

Never mind your mind. Welcome to day four, the four modes of minding. Here's what we covered yesterday. Our minds have been designed to do two things, to keep us safe and to avoid discomfort. A brief history of the stone age and into the modern age, with examples of a typical stone age mind years ago, and comparing this with our modern minds today, which haven't caught up with the modern world. Today, we continue with this theme of what our minds are like and why. We are going to explore a framework which helps us understand and continue to normalize these thinking patterns. Quote of the day. The mind is a wonderful servant, but a terrible master. And that's an old Asian proverb. Kelly McGonigal is a health psychologist and lecturer at Stanford University. She's done some fascinating work in researching the mind, particularly patterns of thought. When we take a rest, certain parts of the brain often become highly active. One way that this presents is like an inner chatter and a dissatisfaction from simply being where we are in those moments. The bottom line is, we might want peace of mind, but our mind never wants it, even if it says it does. When left to its own accord, Kelly has found that the mind has four categories of thought, four states of mind. Let's look at these four default activities of mind right now. Just before we do, it's worth noting that all of these four default thinking categories tend to be on the side of being number one, problem-focused, and number two, with persistence. So let's look at these four categories. Number one, commenting on the present moment. In other words, thoughts about the now. This includes a commentary about all our experiences in the present moment, what we are sensing directly with our five senses, and this of course includes what others are saying or doing. Comments on how things could be and should be, what is wrong or what could be improved. It should be like this. Oh my god, how weird, look at him. It's too hot. It shouldn't be like that. That's a beautiful sunset. Shame about the cloud coming over it. Listen to those birds. The irony. Number two, time travel. In other words, thoughts about the past and the future. Thoughts about things that we experienced in the past. We remember these past events and project them into an imagined future. We tend to plan, fantasize, worry, because there's an infinite amount of things that could happen in the future. But whether it's the past or the future, evidence shows that it's not as enjoyable as being connected to the present moment, no matter what type of fantasy this may be. We often, therefore, get transported to these scenarios, just like time traveling. Number three, self-referential processing. In other words, thoughts about self. A sense of self-processing, thinking patterns that constantly try to create a sense of who we are. I am the kind of person who... I like this. I like this aspect of me. I don't like this about me. I like to be associated with this look and these people. I have an important role and should be respected for it. Other people should treat me this way, and so on. When the mind is left to dwell in this mode of minding, it is constantly seeking ways to strengthen or reduce this sense of who we are. It is an ongoing process. The problem with this is that it tries to fix a sense of self from one environment to the other. But environments and the people in them are constantly changing, so it's no wonder that it's such an addictive thinking trap to fall into. Category number four, social cognition. In other words, thoughts about others. A stream of categorizations, comparisons and evaluations about others, and self in comparison to others. The mind constantly creates a separation from others so we can distinguish who we are and keep our sense of self intact. We wonder what people might be thinking about us. This includes how we think about others, putting people in categories. Friend, acquaintance, enemy. This person matters, this one doesn't. And also comparing ourselves in our relationship to others. I'm smarter, more attractive than her. I'm kinder, more tolerant, better educated than him. He is smarter, more attractive than me. They are kinder, more tolerant, better educated than me, etc. So these thinking patterns are about other people, how they might think about you, what you think about them, in a constant comparison by yourself to others. So let's pull this together by simplifying this, then we can highlight the relevance here in not minding our mind as much. Any time your mind wanders from the present moment, it will be going to one of these four default modes of mind. One, commenting on the present moment. In other words, thoughts about the now. Number two, time travel. In other words, thoughts about the future or past. Number three, self-referential processing. In other words, thoughts about a sense of who you are. And number four, social cognition. Thoughts about your relationship to other people. Put simply, thoughts about the now. Thoughts about the past or future. Thoughts about yourself. Thoughts about others. I contacted Kelly McGonigal about simplifying the names here for these four default modes of mind. She told me that I could indeed do this, but it's important to stress what I mentioned before. All of these four main thinking categories tend to be on the side of being number one, problem focused, and number two, with persistence. So there we go. Four categories of thought. Four states of mind in allowing our minds to do what they will. When you're brushing your teeth, taking a shower, getting some rest on the couch, or even meditating, it's all happening. You probably know what it's like to sit down and meditate with a gentle expectation of calm. It's easy to mind our mind, to get annoyed by it, because of the ridiculous dialogue that creates a lot of problem focused distraction and dissatisfaction. It's easy to get absorbed in thoughts such as, what's wrong with my brain? All these problem distractions. Why doesn't my mind cooperate? There's something incredibly powerful in exploring insights that help us come to understand and know why our minds operate like this. The quote from today was about the mind being a wonderful servant, but a terrible master. When left to its own devices, it can become that terrible master. Having said that, remember that some of these problem focused thoughts are helpful. As we explored in day two, minding the mind, but only about 20% of the time. This framework beautifully complements all of what we've covered so far. Why? Because these four default states of mind were essential for us years ago. They helped us survive. Today, they provide some benefit in the modern world we live in, but usually some of the time. The other 80% can actually be a big source of suffering in our lives, if we take them seriously and treat them as negative thoughts. We will cover more of this tomorrow in the Negative Thought Narrative. But for now, let's get experiential. We're going to do an exercise where you get to become the curious watcher of your thoughts. In a way where you can take note and become more and more familiar with these four categories. There will be fleeting thoughts coming and going. Then one of these will grab you. This is when you'll be hooked, carried away by the thoughts that got you. When you notice that you're distracted, you'll have a moment to acknowledge that for a few seconds. Then, once acknowledged, gently categorize this into one of the four categories. Commenting on the now, time travel, thoughts about self, thoughts about others. I'll guide you through this all the way to keep you on track. Are you ready? Close your eyes if you wish to. Allow yourself to gently let go of any unnecessary tension or resistance. You might like to say something to your mind along the lines of, Okay mind, show me or tell me whatever you want. I'm going to notice what you do. And turn on your noticing switch. Click. Become aware of whatever comes up. Then, after a little bit of time, you'll lose track of being the watcher. Being the noticer. And one of those thoughts will have hooked you, distracted you. When this happens, take three or four seconds to acknowledge it gently. To give it the attention that it asked for. And then gently categorize. Commenting on the now, time travel, thoughts about self, thoughts about others. And again. Coming back, noticing switch on. Click. I am the witness. I am the observer in this moment. And then, after a little bit of time, you'll lose track of this. You'll lose track of being the watcher. And one of those thoughts will have hooked you, distracted you once more. When this happens, take three or four seconds to acknowledge it. And gently categorize. Commenting on the now, time travel, thoughts about self, or thoughts about others. And just before we finish off, one thing that you might get benefit from is to visualize that you're at a movie theater. And the movie is called The Movie of My Mind. So, visualizing yourself at the movies. Settled. Content. And in the distance is this large blank screen in front of you, where your thoughts get projected. And when you get distracted, you'll know because the visualization of the movie theater disappears. Once you've got that thought that distracted you, spend three or four seconds. And then gently categorize. Commenting on the now, time travel, thoughts about self, or thoughts about others. And in this next period of silence, preparing yourself to come out of this exercise and back for the last few moments of this course today. Now that we're drawing to an end, the main points for today are as follows. We've come to know the science of what our thinking patterns are actually like. These default states of mind, and how when left to itself, these default states of the mind take over. So we can appreciate how it complements everything that we've covered so far. Over the next 24 hours. Every time you have a thought that you deem as negative, unhelpful, derogatory, unkind, etc. Step number one, pause. Step number two, notice how this may have affected you, how you feel. Step number three, acknowledge which of the four categories this falls into. It will fall into at least one of the normal default states of mind, meaning that this is a normal human experience. And so the quote of today was, The mind is a wonderful servant, but a terrible master. And that's an old Asian proverb. How does this quote sit with you right now? In day five, we will explore one major insight, the negative thought narrative. This narrative is what sets us up to be in the rigged game of minding our minds. What is your main takeaway from today? An insight that resonates with you. By posting in the comments section, this will solidify your learning. You may like to start the sentence with, For today, my main takeaway is... And of course, if you have any comments or questions whatsoever, right now is the time to post. I usually respond within 24 hours. For today, my main takeaway is... See you in day five.

Reframe your relationship with negative thoughts by categorizing them as helpful or unhelpful.

The Negative Thought Narrative

Never mind your mind. Welcome to Day 5. The Negative Thought Narrative. Here's what we covered yesterday. There are four main default modes of mind when left to its own accord. Commenting on the now. Time travel. Self-referential processing. Social cognition. All of these four main categories of which our thoughts fall into tend to be on the side of looking through the lens of viewing things as a problem and with persistence. All of this reinforces the previous day's insights. These so-called negative thoughts are normal. Quote of the day. The mind judges, evaluates, analyzes, compares and contrasts anything and everything, even the very thoughts it created in the first place. This is something that I often say at my live events. So, we've been exploring the functions of our mind. I very briefly mentioned in Day 1 that it's not our thoughts that are the problem. It's the relationship to our thoughts that's the problem. It's the relationship to our thoughts that causes the problem. What is he talking about? I touched on this in Day 3, Minding the Stone Age Mind, with example number 8, which stated that we treat painful thoughts and feelings the same way we would bears and wolves. The negative thought narrative. Our thoughts have been programmed into us. Images and words that we can see and hear in the world get programmed into our internal world one way or another. These come from other people, the media, the external world in general. This is how a negative thought narrative is programmed into us. Let's explore this negative thought narrative. On the surface, it seems that the categories of positive and negative are a helpful reference point for us to be able to distinguish our thoughts. Then we can choose which ones to give energy to. This is a negative thought. This is a positive thought. Which one should I give my energy to? However, using this positive-negative dichotomy can cause us a problem. This depends on how strongly we cling on to these labels. The negative thought narrative is nice and simple. It's when we deem our thoughts as negative, meaning they're bad, something we shouldn't be experiencing, something we need to get rid of. These so-called negative thoughts don't have to be a problem, but our minds tell us that they are. That's correct. As a gentle reminder, our minds can reject the very thoughts they give us in the first place. Rejecting our thoughts is a normal response given how we've evolved. We need to be able to do this sometimes so as to make way for other thoughts that are more helpful for us. But when we strongly reject our thoughts, it sets us up for a struggle with them. When we believe our thoughts are negative, it can set us up to buy into this negative thought narrative that tells us that the thoughts we're experiencing are not okay. They are not normal. They're bad. We shouldn't have them. And like I said earlier, something that should go away. This is a negative thought. This is a bad thought. I shouldn't be thinking like this. I am a judgmental person. I am a bad person. Blah, blah, blah. I'm just giving you an example here of how things can perpetuate if we stay in our minds taking these thoughts seriously. Buying into this negative thought narrative, as I said earlier, means we can set ourselves up for a struggle. If this is negative, then it's a problem. Simply speaking, if we treat our negative thoughts like they are a problem, then they become a problem. And we will treat our thoughts like this, like they're a problem, only if we buy into those thoughts that say they are a problem. We're buying into that negative thought narrative. So the main takeaway from all of this is that it's not our so-called negative thoughts that are the problem. It's what we do with them that causes the problem. If we allow our mind to mind those thoughts by judging them and buying into those judgments, then that causes the problem. How about getting out of that hamster wheel? It's like this. It's not your thoughts that are the problem. It's your relationship to them that is the problem. My thoughts are not the problem. It's what I do with them that causes the problem. From what we covered in Day 3, Minding the Stone Age Mind, this perspective can help us recognise that these thoughts we have in the modern world that we can view as negative are in fact normal. And on Day 4 with Kelly McGonigal's model, we covered the four modes of minding, which I'm hoping will have helped complement this even further. Thoughts just happen. They are not your fault. They are part of a programme. Boycotting the negative thought narrative is a great start. But this means reframing our so-called negative thoughts in a different way, just like we've been doing in the previous days. We get so much more fulfilment in our lives by letting go of the negative thought narrative. One way of doing this is to transform the popular categories of positive and negative thinking into something lighter, kinder, fairer for us. Positive thinking is great. It usually makes us feel good, and we might take action on things in our lives that fulfil us. As long as we don't hold too tightly onto the notion of having to experience positive thoughts all of the time, positive thinking serves us well. If we do cling tightly onto the notion of having such positive thoughts, then we will naturally struggle with any of the other so-called negative thoughts that show up, or any of the other not-so-positive thoughts that show up. And of course, as stated earlier, when we believe our thoughts are negative, we buy into this negative thought narrative that the thoughts we're experiencing are not normal. So, how about this? Let's keep the benefits of positive thinking. That makes sense. And let's hold the not-so-positive thoughts more lightly, to not mind them as much. What can help us is shifting from the positive-negative categories to the helpful-unhelpful categories. Staying with two categories, but shifting this perspective slightly to complement what we've explored so far, helpful versus unhelpful. Is this thought helping me? Is this thought helping me be the type of person I want to be in this moment? If it's helpful, then spend energy on it. If it's not helpful, then don't waste your energy on it. You don't deserve it. And even if your mind says that you do deserve it, well, that's just an example of what was a so-called negative thought, now transformed into an unhelpful one instead. And in the very notion of shifting this perspective, we move away from the unfair and toxic negative thought narrative. Now that we're drawing to an end, the main points for today are as follows. If we buy into the negative thought narrative, it means we set ourselves up for buying into a narrative that the thoughts we're experiencing are not normal, not okay, something that we shouldn't have. If we buy into this negative thought narrative, we will keep up the old agenda of believing them, disputing them, challenging them, etc. Then nothing will change. This thought is a negative thought. You are not negative. You are merely investing in a story. A story is a narrative made up of pictures and words. So let's boycott the positive versus negative categories and use the helpful versus unhelpful categories. It's an excellent reference point for not minding our mind, as well as getting a sense of what's important to you in those moments. Is this thought helping me be the type of person I want to be or not? Over the next 24 hours, start to become more familiar with the helpful versus unhelpful categories of thought. Bring it into your experience and notice what happens. And so the quote of the day was, The mind judges, evaluates, analyzes, compares and contrasts anything and everything, even the very thoughts it created in the first place. How does this quote sit with you right now? In day six, we will explore, through an experiential exercise, one major insight here that can help us drop the struggle with trying not to have certain thoughts that we don't want. Now that we're getting into this course, what is making sense to you? By posting in the comments section, this will solidify your learning. The more these insights are solidified, the less seriously you will take your thoughts, unless, of course, they are helpful. You can start this with, For today, my main takeaway is... Maybe there's something from today that you want to try out. By typing this out in the comments section, you're more likely to actually carry this out. And of course, if you have any comments or questions whatsoever, right now is the time to post. Posting in the comments section, with my reply, can help other people too that may read it. I usually respond within 24 hours. For today, my main takeaway is... See you in day six.

Discover why suppressing thoughts fails and learn to allow them space through an experiential exercise.

Don't Think About It

Never mind your mind. Welcome to day six. Don't think about it. How are you doing? You're halfway through. We haven't even started to properly get into the actual tools yet. Maybe you've noticed a difference here and there just from absorbing the insights that we've already explored. Here's what we covered yesterday. If we buy into the negative thought narrative, it sets us up to buy into a narrative that what we're experiencing is not normal. If we keep up the old agenda of disputing, challenging, changing them, then nothing will change. This means when those or similar thoughts return, we'll do the same thing again and again. And it doesn't work. So, do we really want to keep up that agenda or try something new and less combative? Quote of the day. If you always do what you've always done, then you'll always get what you've always got. Henry Ford. Today is going to be a little bit different. Now that we're well into laying the foundations for the why we mind our minds, this next part helps us with a key insight here through experiential learning. All animals, including humans, have a tendency to move towards things that will give pleasant experiences and move away from things that give unpleasant experiences. This makes sense, doesn't it? But, due to how we've been programmed by the negative thought narrative, we treat certain thoughts as though they're bad and we need to get rid of them. When we have difficult thoughts, we sometimes try to control them in the ways that I've already mentioned yesterday and at the start of today. Sometimes it's as simple as us trying to not think about it. The next short and simple exercise gives us this very experiential learning. So let's set the scene here. The question is, can we control our unhelpful thoughts? Trying not to think about certain thoughts is another way that we can try to control them, try to get rid of them. So this little exercise below helps give us this experiential learning. This is about having the experience of what it's like to really try hard not to think about something. Don't skip ahead as though you know this already. Pink elephants come to mind for me. Pink elephants. And also a saying comes to mind. There's an elephant in the room. Well, maybe there is now, in your mind, a pink one. Think about this pink elephant. Where is it more pink? What does the skin look like? Are the eyes pink? Pink elephants. Pink elephants. Please spend one minute in silence trying hard not to think about this pink elephant. This doesn't mean drifting off into a daydream or a meditation. That's not the aim of the exercise. It means trying hard not to think about it so you can have the experience of what this is like. Are you ready? Let's start. I'll be back shortly. Okay, how did you go? Did the elephant keep coming back? Did it disappear? There are no right or wrong answers here. But if you really tried hard not to think about this pink elephant you may have noticed your struggle in doing so. You may have thought of other things instead. Or maybe you thought of other colours other than pink. Whatever the case, you're still doing it to try to not think about the pink elephant. And this means that the pink elephant is always there whether it's in the foreground or the background. This exercise highlights how trying hard not to think a thought doesn't usually work for us in the longer term. When we have difficult thoughts, as we've explored we sometimes try to control them by challenging, suppressing, avoiding or denying. For example, distracting ourselves so we don't think a particular way. This can sometimes work for us but if our tendency to do this is very strong it may have the opposite effect. Trying not to think our thoughts is another way we try to get rid of them. And, like I said before, if the tendency is strong by trying hard not to, just like in this exercise then it may well backfire. It may well work for us in the short term but in the long term it doesn't. It comes back at some point and then we'll do the same thing again, what we've taught ourselves to do. Distracting, suppressing, challenging, avoiding, denying, trying not to think about it. If we always do what we've always done then we'll always get what we always got, as today's quote states. So, this depends on the relationship we have with our thoughts. Here's three of my favourite quotes to highlight just how futile this inner struggle can be. What you fight, you strengthen. What you cannot be with, will not let you be. What you resist, persists. What you fight, you strengthen. What you cannot be with, will not let you be. What you resist, persists. Carl Jung One way that we mind our mind is when we push away on our unhelpful thoughts. But by trying hard not to think about them, we actually direct energy towards them. This gives them more power and often results in them coming back, and in some cases, coming back stronger. And so again, reinforcing what I said just a moment ago, as the quote for today suggests. If you always do what you've always done, then you'll always get what you always got. So, what's the alternative? Recognising the rigged game here. The insanity of battling with our thoughts. The insanity of battling with the negative thought narrative. This programming tells us to challenge, suppress, deny, avoid, change. As I said at the start of the day, when I mentioned that animals, humans included, have a tendency to move towards things that are pleasant and away from things that are unpleasant. This makes sense in terms of trying to move away from something undesirable, unpleasant. Some of those thoughts that pop into our heads. But, it doesn't usually work in the long term. And what does your experience tell you from past encounters? What did your experience tell you from this encounter in doing this exercise? In practising the tools within this course that resonate with you, you're getting better at allowing. Which means you're getting better at making space for thoughts, or not minding your mind as much. In doing this, those unhelpful thoughts lose their energy and we become much less concerned with them. Input only. Now, to build on from this last experiential exercise, we are ready to have the final insight for today. If we took this insight at face value, without setting the scene here for the learning insights we've explored in all the previous days, this very insight could be seen as negative, instead of something that helps empower us, helps us to not mind our minds. The nervous system is a network of nerve cells that transmit impulses between different parts of the body. This network includes the thoughts in our minds. The nervous system works with the action of an input only function. What does this mean? Simple. There is no delete button for thoughts. This input only insight complements these foundations of insights we've been building over the last few days. If we don't truly come to recognise this, we may continue to play that rigged game, where we will keep fighting our thoughts when, as this insight teaches us, they never completely go away. There's no delete button for thoughts. That sucks. But coming to know this does help us pivot in the direction of non-resistance, allowing, making space for these inner experiences that have nowhere else to go. Then, over time, you may start to notice that you aren't minding your mind as much. Some of those thoughts that used to get in the way of your life don't have as much power over you. They have started to neutralise. The more we do this, the more space we have to focus on things that matter to us. Please spend one minute in silence, just allowing yourself to be. Allowing whatever comes to mind, allowing whatever experiences are absorbed. If the pink elephant comes back, that's okay. Basically, whatever you notice, whether in body, mind or world, is where it's at, this moment, right now. This is it. Are you ready? Let's start. I'll be back shortly. Turn on your noticing switch. Click. Okay, how did you go? You may have found that, despite me mentioning the pink elephant, because you were in a state of allowing, it didn't really show up that much, or not at all. Why? Because you weren't trying hard to get rid of that pink elephant this time. You were quite okay to allow the present moment to unfold in that one minute that you heard. And the present moment is not just the external world as it unfolds, but our internal world as it unfolds. Now that we're drawing to an end, the main points for today are as follows. Trying hard not to think our thoughts gives them the very energy to continue bouncing back. It may work in the short term, but in the longer term, they come back, and sometimes even stronger. As our thoughts have this input-only function, then does it really make sense to dispute, challenge, change, or try not to think them, so as to make them go away? They're going to come back, and as I just said, maybe even stronger. So if we keep up this old agenda, then nothing will change. And whenever they return, we'll just do the same thing again. Over the next 24 hours. Take the time to consolidate this input-only function. How can you use this in your day when those old thinking patterns return to suck you in? Step number one. Stop and notice. Step number two. Gently allow the following affirmation to be absorbed. Minding my mind merely strengthens those thoughts, so I choose to allow them to be. Minding my mind merely strengthens those thoughts, so I choose to allow them to be. Minding my mind merely strengthens those thoughts, so I choose to allow them to be. Minding my mind merely strengthens those thoughts, so I choose to allow them to be. And the quote for today was, If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got. Henry Ford How does this quote sit with you right now? In day seven, we will explore how the brain is making associations between an experience and our thoughts. This is a simple yet profound insight that helps us become even wiser to our minds so we don't mind them as much. Is there one thing that has resonated with you today? Just one thing. By posting in the comments section, this will solidify your learning. The more these insights are solidified over time, the less seriously you will take your thoughts. Unless, of course, they're helpful. Just like the other days, if you like, you can start this post with, For today, my main takeaway is... Maybe there's something from today that you want to try out. By typing this out in the comments section, you're more likely to actually carry this out. And of course, if you have any comments or questions whatsoever, right now is the time to post. I usually respond within 24 hours, as you know. For today, my main takeaway is... is... See you in Day 7.

Explore how your brain forms associations and learn to view your thoughts as automatic, impersonal events.

Never Mind Associations

Never Mind Your Mind Welcome to day 7, Never Mind Associations. Here's what we covered yesterday. Trying hard not to think our thoughts gives them the very energy to continue bouncing back, as our thoughts have this input only function. Then does it really make sense to dispute, challenge, change them, or try not to think them so as to make them go away? They're going to come back, and sometimes even stronger. It may work in the short term, but in the longer term, it doesn't work. If we keep up this old agenda, then nothing will change, and whenever they return, we'll just do the same thing again. Quote for today. In my experience, we don't make thoughts appear, they just appear. One day, I noticed that their appearance just wasn't personal. Thoughts are like the breeze, or the leaves on the trees, or the raindrops falling. They appear like that. Would you argue with a raindrop? Raindrops aren't personal, and neither are your thoughts. Byron Katie Let's get straight into associations. An association is a relationship between two things. In psychology, it refers to a mental connection between concepts, events, people, the environment in general, basically anything we can experience. This means these associations are created from basically anything that we can experience, and are directly connected to our thoughts and feelings. For example, when we smell something that we haven't smelt for years, and it evokes an associated memory or feeling with this. Creating a new association means it makes a new relationship, a new connection, and we are doing this all the time. Why? Because associations are fundamental to learning. They were particularly helpful for the functions of survival too. Imagine back in the Stone Age, somebody walking out on the savannah. They walk down an unfamiliar rocky track. They notice a large rock in the distance. At that very moment, a huge saber-toothed tiger jumps out from behind it. Those fight-or-flight instincts kick in as a huge surge of adrenaline floods their body. But this person is lucky, they manage to run away unharmed. What do you think this person may think if they were to see a similar rock from before? Thoughts about another saber-toothed tiger being behind this new rock are likely. These thoughts of saber-toothed tiger are now associated with similar-sized rocks. Let alone the feelings of fear that come up. Also associated from that scary past encounter. So why does this happen? This is because associations like this serve the function of survival. Now this Stone Age person's programming shows them that large rocks are potentially dangerous because saber-toothed tigers hide behind them. Even if 999 out of 1000 large rocks are not hiding places for threats, it doesn't matter. This type of programming by association helped our ancestors survive. Those whose adrenaline kicked in and those whose brains were designed to look for things to be fearful of were the ones who survived. Evolution would rather you be in a state of fear for the 999 rocks that are perfectly safe as long as you survive. Now let's apply this to the modern world today. A beautiful but uncomfortable sunrise. You go to hospital to see a dying relative. Someone you're very close to. Early that morning on your travels you witness a beautiful sunrise. As you spend a few moments watching this, you carry an overwhelming sadness within you. Two months have now passed and you're set for a trip to the gym. Unbeknown to you, there's a similar sunrise to the one you saw that very morning you went to hospital. However, you're not really aware of that sunrise on this particular morning because your smartphone has distracted you from it. But your brain is. Because of the similarities of these two sunrises, your brain associates this sunrise with the previous sunrise from your hospital visit before to see your dying relative. And so your brain makes an association between this sunrise and the experience of what it was like to see your dying relative. Those experiences of sadness. Remember, this is subconscious. You're not even aware that this is going on. Now, because of this association, the same feelings of sadness from that morning of the hospital trip are evoked within you on your way to the gym. You experience this feeling of sadness and don't know why. Your mind goes into problem-solving mode and concludes that there's a problem. You should go to the GP because you have no logical reason for feeling this way. Thoughts along the lines of, what's wrong with me? This came out of nowhere. Why am I feeling and thinking like this? Do I need to go to the doctor? This process happens to us all, whether it's feeling, thinking or both feeling and thinking. So this beautiful but uncomfortable sunrise example explores how sometimes an association is made that triggers an unhelpful thought and we are oblivious to the association because it's out of our conscious memory. So it's therefore essential to remember that our brains are constantly making associations, these connections, between anything that we can experience and our thoughts and feelings. And this means that the thoughts and feelings we experience are evoked, sometimes predictably, but mostly unpredictably. Take the example of someone with a drinking problem. We'll call him David. David makes a commitment to himself to abstain from drinking alcohol. Previously, on walking by the bottle shop, it was common for him to have the thought, I want to have a drink. In the past, he'd follow that thought and head straight in. But now there's been six weeks with no drinking. David wakes up feeling happy and content. However, when he passes by a similar bottle shop one day, he has the thought, I want to have a drink. The old familiar thinking pattern returns, which is perfectly associated with the bottle shop. And so it should. This is an excellent example of how well his mind is working. In this example, however, it doesn't actually mean that David wants to have a drink. It's simply the association made with the bottle shop and that old classic thought, I want to have a drink. Isn't that interesting? It doesn't actually mean that David wants to have a drink. It's just an association. Now, without this insight, a problem occurs when we take our thoughts seriously, when we mind our mind. And so imagine David does mind his mind. He does mind having that thought, I want to have a drink. Of course, that thought previously got him into trouble before. So he buys into his mind's judgments about how he should try not to think that thought to continue to be well. What do you think may happen? David could go into a state of inner resistance, into a panic, fearing the stories his mind may tell him about returning to his old ways. This then becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy as he returns to the drink once more. But if David knew how thoughts get evoked due to associations, it would help him not mind his mind. He may be able to relate to his thoughts as though they were completely normal, not threatening, just an association, which of course, in this instance, they are. I now want to give you a little example of my own, of a particular thought getting evoked through an association, and it's completely random. One day, my friend came over to see me at my mother's house. He came in and started to talk to mum whilst I was upstairs. He's got a very loud and distinctive laugh. Just before I went downstairs to see him, I turned off the light in the room that I was in. In the very moment I did this, my friend laughed out loud from the conversation he was having with mum downstairs. This is the end of the story. But it's one that plays out in my head again and again. Whenever I go to turn off that same light switch, I hear his ridiculously loud laugh in that very moment. It's just like the Stone Age person and the rock, isn't it? But there's no danger with my story. There's no sense of fear. It's neutral. Here's the thing. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter that there's no danger to this story. This is an example of how pointless our programming can be sometimes. Will it save my life? Not this time. This is just to show you how arbitrary our thoughts can be. So, in this very case, random? Completely. Helpful? Not in the slightest. And yet, this is just what our minds do. Let's throw something else in here as well. Just imagine that I hated the fact that I had this laugh as a tape recording in my head every time I flipped that switch. What do you think may happen to this experience as it gets triggered in my head each time? When I was eight years old, I spelt the word servant wrong. It was a very strict primary school. My teacher came up to me, pointed at me and shouted in front of the whole class, You are stupid. Now, that could have become a program that I took with me into adult life and let it colour my perception of reality. As it is, now knowing how the brain makes associations between one experience and another, it's not. It's just an association. Just a stream of words getting evoked due to an association that I may never be able to work out. Why? Because, most of the time, these associations are out of our conscious mind. Now that we're drawing to an end, Creating a new association means it makes a new relationship, a new connection. And we're doing this all the time. Why? Because associations are fundamental to learning. They were particularly helpful for the functions of survival too. But we can see where the problem lies. When it comes to associations and thoughts getting evoked, it's not in the thought itself that's the problem. That's just a program having been evoked perfectly through an association of some sort. An association that we may be able to work out. Why? But most of the time we won't because it's out of our awareness. It's how we relate to the thought, the relationship with it. This relates to you because it relates to every single human being that has the capacity for language. It could be a particular experience, like a colour or a smell that brings a particular thought to mind. The list of triggers is endless and, as I've just been saying, most of these we're not even conscious of. Knowing this can help with normalising our thoughts even when we can't work out where the association came from. When we normalise our thoughts, we allow them to be just thoughts. Seeing them merely as an automatic process. A process that's often pointless to try and work out why it's there. This means that the thoughts and feelings we experience are evoked sometimes predictably, but mostly unpredictably. And mostly at random. So here's a question for you. Do you really want to turn your life over to something that can be so random and arbitrary? Over the next 24 hours. Given this random and arbitrary nature of our minds, allow yourself to toy with that question I just asked. Do you really want to turn your life over to a mind, something that is capable of being so random and arbitrary, does it make sense to take it as seriously as we do? So the quote for today was, In my experience, we don't make thoughts appear. They just appear. One day I noticed that their appearance just wasn't personal. Thoughts are like the breeze, or the leaves on the trees, or the raindrops falling. They appear like that. Would you argue with a raindrop? Raindrops aren't personal, and neither are your thoughts. Byron Katie How does this quote sit with you right now? In day eight, we will explore four main metaphors for not minding our minds as much, and you get to choose which one you prefer. What is your main takeaway from today? An insight that resonates with you. By posting in the comments section, this will solidify your learning. You may like to start the sentence with, For today, my main takeaway is... See you in day eight.

Explore powerful metaphors to gain perspective on your thoughts and stop struggling with your inner dialogue.

Never Mind Metaphors

Never mind your mind Welcome to day 8. Never mind metaphors Here's what we covered yesterday. Associations are fundamental to learning. They were particularly helpful for the functions of survival too. Our brains associate certain experiences we have with our thoughts and feelings. Knowing that thoughts get evoked in this way helps us see what's playing out. Just a program. An association that's working perfectly well, despite being random or completely unhelpful. Quote for the day. If our thoughts are like pieces on a chessboard, then in being the chessboard, we needn't spend our energy caught up in a battle with our thoughts. A battle that we can never win. An example of a metaphor is, you are my sunshine. If you were to say this to one of your family members, it would mean just like the sun brings warmth and happiness to someone's life, your loved one does the same, by bringing warmth and happiness to your day. So, a metaphor is a comparison between two things that share a common characteristic. One thing feels equal to another because it has this characteristic. Metaphors give us perspective. They are central to how we understand the world. They help us to reason and understand what's around us. They're also illuminating, helping us to see things in a more helpful way. They provide new insight and can change the way we relate to certain things. So, in the context of our minds and making space for our thoughts, using metaphors is no exception here. Providing a new insight on our thoughts and changing the way we relate to them is just what the doctor ordered. We're now going to explore four metaphors. Choose which one you resonate with the most. Metaphor number one. Billboard advertisements. Billboard advertisements is a metaphor that I wrote to illuminate the enticing nature of our thoughts and how they tend to pull us in. That is, despite whether these thoughts are helpful or unhelpful, they are so enticing. Depending on where you are in the world, you'll experience driving along a freeway or a motorway or a highway, basically any large road that carries cars along it. And when there are large roads, there are usually huge billboards. All adverts are designed to capture our attention, including these billboard advertisements that we see along these busy main roads. The mind is very skilled at enticing us into being identified with our thoughts. That's its job. It's designed to be that way. Our thoughts are like billboard advertisements along the side of the road as you're driving along in the direction that you want your life to be going in. Look at me. Try me. Buy me. But, as you are driving towards your destination, do you give energy to all of those products that they are advertising to you? Do you get sucked into them and take them seriously most of the time? No. So why should we buy these automatic thoughts that are designed by our mind like billboard advertisements, so much so that they can even control our lives? So, as you're driving along the road of life, towards something important, a good question to ask yourself is, who's in control of my life right now? Me, in this direction I'm driving in, or this billboard advertisement? You might like to press pause now if you need some time to reflect on this. Metaphor number two, Hands as Thoughts, by Russ Harris. The Hands as Thoughts metaphor is a combination of both metaphor and an exercise. It's an active depiction of being caught up by our thoughts and then seeing them for what they are, just thoughts. Imagine for a moment that your hands are thoughts. Hold your hands together, palms open, as if they're pages of an open book. Then, slowly and steadily, raise your hands up towards your face. Keep going until they are covering your eyes. Now take a few moments to look at the world around you through the gaps between your fingers and notice how this affects your view of the world. What would it be like going around all day with your hands covering your eyes in this manner? How much would it limit you? How much would you miss out on? How would it reduce your ability to respond to the world around you? This is like fusion. We become so caught up in our thoughts that we lose contact with many aspects of our here and now experience. And our thoughts have such a huge influence over what we do that our ability to act effectively is significantly reduced. Now, once again, cover your eyes with your hands. Look at the world again through the gaps in your fingers, but this time lower them from your face very, very slowly. As your hands slowly descend beneath your eyes, notice how much easier it is to connect with the world around you. Wiggle your fingers. There are your thoughts. There's more distance between you and your thoughts. Your thoughts don't disappear, but getting some separation allows you to engage more fully and flexibly, freeing you up to choose to do things and fully appreciate these things that are important to you. So again, feel free to press pause if you need to reflect on this. Metaphor number three. Fly-fishing by Richard Whitney. The fly-fishing metaphor helps us get some perspective on this tendency we have to get hooked, then unhooked by our thoughts. It also exemplifies to us the problems that arise when we struggle with our thoughts and feelings. Have you heard of fly-fishing? A good fly-fisher knows exactly what the trout are feeding on and ties up flies that imitate those insects. They are so good at this that the trout can't tell the difference. The fly gets cast onto the stream right in front of the trout and the trout sees it floating by, believing the fly is real, bites it and gets hooked. Our minds can be like really skilled fly-fishers. Our thoughts and feelings are like highly specific flies that the mind designs, just the ones that we'll bite on. The mind casts them out into the stream and they seem so real that we bite them and get hooked. Once we're hooked, the more we struggle, the more we act in ways that drive the hook in deeper and keep us on the line. As we swim in the stream of life, there are flies floating by on the surface all the time. As we get better at spotting flies and recognising that we don't have to bite on them, we get less hooked less often and have more flexibility to swim in the direction of what's important to us. So again, feel free to press pause if you need to reflect on this. Our final metaphor. Metaphor number four. The chessboard metaphor. Steve Hayes. The chessboard metaphor gives us an understanding of what it's like to be the observer of our thoughts, particularly as we tend to battle our thoughts that we don't want. It helps us recognise the futile nature of doing so. Imagine a chessboard where on one side are all your positive thoughts and feelings and on the other side are all your negative ones. Here you get to go through life trying to battle the negative pieces across and in doing so fighting to wipe off all the negative pieces from the board. But there are two problems. Number one. There are an infinite number of positive and negative pieces ready. No matter how many negative pieces you wipe off, more will appear. Number two. The positive pieces actually attract the negative pieces. So it's like having a game of chess. You move forward the positive piece called I am a good person and it immediately attracts the negative piece. No you're not. What about the way you handled that situation yesterday? You move forward the positive piece called I love myself and it immediately attracts the negative piece. No you don't. What about the way you talk about yourself usually? So we can go through life wasting a lot of time and energy trying to win this battle that can never be won. But what if we could be like the chessboard? The board is in intimate contact with all the chess pieces. It makes space for all the pieces but it's not involved in the battle. If we can learn how to be more like the chessboard, to step back and observe our thoughts and feelings, allowing them to come and go, to make space for them without getting caught up in a conflict with them, that enables us to step out of the battle and give them plenty of space to move around. Being the chessboard means that we do just this. Then we needn't spend our energy caught up in a battle that we can never win. So we can invest our energy in things that matter to us. Feel free to press pause if you need some time to reflect. Now that we're drawing to an end, the main points really for today are as follows. Metaphors can be an incredibly effective way of helping us make space for our unhelpful thoughts. They help us take perspective. It's that very perspective that changes the way we relate to them. This perspective helps us see thoughts for what they are. Just thoughts. I'm hoping you can relate to at least one of the metaphors for today. Over the next 24 hours, go over this metaphor that you've chosen. Have it in your mind. Maybe even embellish it a little bit so it's even more vivid. See how and when it pops up. Notice what happens. So the quote for today was, if our thoughts are like pieces on a chessboard, then in being the chessboard, we needn't spend our energy caught up in a battle with our thoughts. A battle that we can never win. Steve Hayes. How does this quote sit with you now? Now we're ready. In day nine, we dive straight into some specific tools to help us not mind our mind as much. What is your main takeaway from today? An insight that resonates with you. For today, my main takeaway is. For today, my main takeaway is. See you in day nine.

Learn four ACT techniques to unhook from unhelpful thoughts and strengthen your role as the observer.

Tools To Never Mind - Part 1

Never mind your mind. Welcome to day nine. Tools to never mind part one. Here's what we covered yesterday. We explored four metaphors. Billboard advertisements, Hans' thoughts, fly fishing, and the chessboard. This was solely for you to choose what you preferred. Metaphors help us to reason and understand what's around us. They're also illuminating. Helping us to see things in a different way. They provide new insight and can change the way we relate to certain things. They help us take perspective, and taking perspective helps us change the way we relate to our thoughts. Here's the quote for today. What a liberation to realize that the voice inside my head is not who I am. Who am I then? The one who sees that. Eka Tolle Now, I really hope you haven't skipped forward to get to the juicy part of this course. I can't emphasize this enough. You absolutely need to have the foundations, understand these foundations, so as to then move into using these tools, some of which can actually sound a little crazy, without the context that we've covered in these previous days. Maybe you've found that having a basic understanding into the foundations of the mind, and coming to know it more intimately, coming from a place of wisdom, that you may have already started to notice a difference, a difference in the way you're responding, not minding your mind as much. Those little golden moments that we can notice are not little. When you notice these, it's an indicator of your own self-growth. This is huge. Today, we explore the first four tools for you to experiment with. These tools are some of the classics that are used in ACT, which stands for Acceptance Commitment Therapy. The co-founders of ACT are Steve Hayes, whose metaphor we heard yesterday, the chessboard metaphor, Kirk Strozal, and Kelly Wilson. These tools are specifically for helping people diffuse, as the term is called in ACT, meaning to unhook or make space for our thoughts. Then we are not strongly identified with them. We have a bit more distance from them. Warning! Seemingly contrived tools and strategies ahead. Notice any judgments that your mind may make as we work through these, and gently inquire, could this work for me? Could this help me unhook? Let's get into these. Tool number one. Use this sentence to start with. I'm noticing the thought that... Silently insert the words, I'm noticing the thought that... before any unhelpful thought. For example, I'm an idiot becomes, I'm noticing the thought that I'm an idiot. Or, I don't like her becomes, I'm noticing the thought that I don't like her. This is a gentle prompt for us to get into that observer within us. The witness. The watcher of our thoughts. This can help us to see our thoughts as just thoughts. Not as absolute truth. Just like a stream of words. So let's do a little exercise. Close your eyes, and notice what it's like to see behind your closed eyes. The scope of what you can see behind your closed eyes. Now, let your mind do exactly what it will. You might want to say to your mind, Okay mind, give me all those pictures, streams of words, the sound recordings in my head. I'm just going to watch, observe, notice. Simply keep watch. If nothing appears, it soon will. It can be helpful to ask, What is my mind telling me or showing me in this moment? Is it showing you pictures? Or is it telling you words? Stay watching this. Notice whether it's a picture in your mind, or like words in your head. Once you've noticed what type of thought this is, describe it by saying, I'm noticing the thought that... Once you've described this, come back to letting your mind do what it will again. Once another thought has popped into existence, and you've noticed this, whether it's a picture in your mind, or like words in your head, describe it by saying, I'm noticing the thought that... Once you've named this, come back to letting your mind do what it will again. And do the same thing again and again. I'm noticing the thought that... This little exercise has come to an end. Does this resonate with you? Do you think it could help? This isn't supposed to evoke more conversing in our heads. It's supposed to act as a prompt for us to notice and allow. The more we do this, the better we get at it. It's also worth noting that in times of distress, something like this may not help at all. When we are extremely overwhelmed, very little benefit may come from using this tool, or any of the others. This is when we need to take care of ourselves. An example is when we are extremely overwhelmed and we need to soothe the nervous system first. Tool number two. Say it again. Have you ever repeated the same word over and over again to find that, after a while, it loses its meaning? This is based on a 100-year-old technique by a psychologist called Tichner. He found that if we keep saying something repeatedly, about 50 to 100 times over, he found that not only can this make thoughts lose their meaning, it also makes them lose their power as well. This simple technique is an exercise we can call Say It Again. And it's as simple as that. We can use this to help us make space for our unhelpful thoughts, no matter how heavy or difficult the thought is when you start. If we put the practice in, it becomes absurd or even silly as you keep saying it. In doing so, the thought loses its power. So let's do this with an exercise right now. Maybe in the last couple of weeks, you will have had a thought that bothered you. It could have been the not-good-enough thought, or the what-if-this-happens thought, or perhaps something that made you feel uncomfortable. There are two simple steps for this process. Step number one. When you've got that thought, reduce it down to one or two words. This is very important. It needs to be short. Step number two. Take a moment to repeat this at least 50 to 100 times. Sooner or later, in doing this repeatedly, and staying committed to this so that it becomes a rhythm, this thought that you are using will lose its power because the meaning behind it disappears. The words just become sounds. Words that are so boring that over time you automatically stop listening. So let's have a space of silence here for you to put this into practice. Step number one. Choose a particular thought and reduce this down to one or two words. Step number two. Say this over and over again in a rhythm that keeps things going at least 50 to 100 times. Are you ready? I'll be back in a few moments. Ready? Go. Okay, so what did you notice? Did you start to hear the words as just a noise? Or maybe you could feel the way your mouth moved. What else did you notice? This is just another experiment and it can be used as a tool to help us take the meaning out of our unhelpful thoughts. Being a little more playful. When this happens, these thoughts lose their intensity. Then, in that space, we can focus our energy on something that matters to us. Maybe this could be something that you would like to use. This technique is certainly not without criticism. The main criticism of this particular technique is that it could actually make things worse. For example, someone with trauma attempting to do this to a thought associated with that trauma could make them feel worse. However, it does work for many people and is one of the many classic diffusion exercises in almost all of the original books of Acceptance Commitment Therapy. Please note, techniques like this only work effectively when we 1. Have a little insight into how and why our minds operate the way they do. 2. Have insight into the futility of denying, challenging or suppressing our thoughts, leaving us only with the workable alternative, which is simply allowing. 3. This tool needs to be done with a firm understanding of the above and a willingness to try it out, to give it a shot, to do it gently. So I really need to stress, this is not for everyone. It could potentially make someone feel worse. But, if the three points above are considered, it's likely that you may get some benefit. Tool number three. Say it silly. In the last tool, we explored how a psychologist called Titchener found that if we keep saying something over and over, about 50 to 100 times, we can temporarily make thoughts lose their meaning. This means they get neutralised. When they are neutral and have no meaning, there's more space for them. Then they lose their power over us. This is similar to the say it again exercise. But now imagine you were to say it silly. This means finding an unhelpful thought that you know very well. Then say it in a silly voice. Why? The same as before, so that it loses its power. The idea is to get these thoughts so that they seem overdone and a little silly themselves, exactly the same as before, to change the way you treat your unhelpful thoughts, so that you can break out of their grip. Do you know what Bugs Bunny sounds like? Try talking like Bugs Bunny in those unhelpful thoughts. Put on your best impersonation of your favourite cartoon character or movie star. It's difficult to take your thoughts seriously when they are coming from Bugs Bunny. This is the whole point. Do you have a favourite cartoon character? What about the voice of Peter from Family Guy? Try talking like that with the critical words that your mind gives you. Similar to a live coverage report, try talking like a news reporter would in those exact unhelpful thoughts that your mind gives you. You can neutralise certain thoughts so that they appear no more of a problem than the word colour, book or flower. It sounds crazy but it really is true. Number one with practice, number two by using a preferred tool and number three having a bit of fun experimenting. This technique is also not without criticism. Exactly the same as before. The main criticisms of this particular technique is that it could actually make things worse. Remember, use your intuition after having followed the three points I mentioned before and I'm going to mention again now because they are so important. We need to, number one, have insights into how and why our minds operate the way they do. Getting this as a firm foundation first. Just like the insights we've covered in this course already. Number two, have insight into the futility of denying, challenging or suppressing our thoughts. Leaving us only with the workable alternative which is allowing. And number three, this tool needs to be done with a firm understanding of the above and a willingness to try it out, to give it a shot, to do it gently. Tool number four, making room. Russ Harris has come up with a three-step approach for making room for our unhelpful thoughts. This has also been written in the context of feelings as well. Step number one, notice the difficult thought or feeling with curiosity. Focus your attention upon it. Step number two, name the difficult thought or feeling. For example, here is a difficult feeling. Here is a difficult thought about the past. I notice some sadness here. I notice here is a thought that I am weak. And step number three, allow. Allowing the painful feeling or thought to come and go like the weather. Instead of fighting with the thought or feeling, allow it to move through you. Just like the weather moves through the sky. If you are not fighting with the weather, then you will have more time and energy to engage with the world around you and do things that are important to you. Just like any other tool, do what works for you. Some people like the idea of a three-step process. Some people could criticise it for being contrived. It doesn't have to be a three-step process. The reason this can be helpful, though, is that three steps can increase that space between having an unhelpful thought and unhooking from it gently and in kindness. Now that we're drawing to an end, it could be that you've found that having a basic understanding into the foundations of the mind, coming to know it more intimately, that you may have already started to notice a difference. Those little moments. A difference in the way you're responding to your thoughts. Not minding your mind as much. Sometimes these insights within this course can be enough for us to have this experience. Sometimes, depending on the thoughts, it's necessary to have some tools for the job, just like we did today. Over the next 24 hours, reflect upon which tool has resonated with you the most. The important thing here is to remember that it's not needing to absorb and recall all of this stuff. Quite the opposite. It's about choosing one or two things that you really connect with and putting these into practice. So, the quote for today was, What a liberation to realize that the voice inside my head is not who I am. Who am I then? The one who sees that. Eckhart Tolle How does this quote sit with you now? In Day 10, we continue to explore some tools for the job, as well as some exercises to help us not mind our mind as much. Tools to Never Mind, Part 2. See you in Day 10.

Discover practical tools to unhook from unhelpful thoughts and thank your mind for its protective intent.

Tools To Never Mind - Part 2

Never Mind Your Mind Welcome to Day 10. Tools to Never Mind, Part 2 Yesterday, we explored four specific tools for not minding our mind as much. Tool number one, using the sentence, I'm noticing the thought that. Tool number two, say it again. Tool number three, say it silly. And tool number four, a three-step process for making room for our thoughts as well as our feelings. And as I said yesterday, I really hope you haven't skipped forward to get to this part of the course. I can't emphasize this enough. You absolutely need to have the foundations so as to understand these insights to then move into using these tools. Some of which can sound a little crazy without the context. Quote of the day, there is no peace of mind in your mind. So for today, we're going to have two more tools and then we're going to explore some classic questions for you to experiment with. These questions help us to take perspective on those thoughts our mind gives us. Warning, just like yesterday, seemingly contrived tools and strategies are ahead. Notice any judgments that your mind may make and gently inquire, could this work for me? Could this help me unhook? This is what matters. Remember, it's about dropping the old way of managing our unhelpful thoughts and trying something new that could actually work. Our first tool of the day is a three-step approach that I actually like to use myself, particularly when I get caught up in judgments about myself or others. This is similar to what I recommended you try in day three for the over-the-next-24-hours suggestion that we had. Tool number five, normalizing. I like to use my own three-step approach for making space for my unhelpful thoughts and there is an action that comes with this. A simple placing of the hand on the heart. I find this particularly helpful to increase that sacred pause from noticing and then refocusing again on what is actually happening around me. So, step number one, notice the unhelpful thought, bring some curiosity to it. Step number two, normalize. Now that we've covered the main insights within this course, you'll see where I'm going with this. I'm going to give you three examples here and you can choose one, improvise with one or even create your own one. So, with this step number two, normalizing, the hand on your heart is optional. If intuitively it feels right for you, then go with this. Here's these three examples. So, the first example, with normalizing, this is about self-talk, whether we do this out loud or to ourselves within our minds. Here's the first example. Thank you for this thought. Thank you for giving me this thought as an indicator to me that I can choose, choose to invest my energy in this or not. Here's the second example. Thank you for reminding me of the fact that this thought is something other people experience too. And now I have this reminder, I choose to hold myself lightly in a gentle wisdom with a gentle smile. This helps me have compassion for others and for myself too. So, thank you. And here's the third and final example for this normalizing component. May this unhelpful thought be something not that happens to me, but something that can happen for me, for me and my own self-growth. Every time I choose to hold this thought lightly, to not take it so seriously, to see it for what it is, merely a thinking pattern that worked very well in the Stone Age mind, every time I do this, I am evolving my consciousness. So, just as a recap, step number two is self-talk, normalizing. And I just gave you three examples. You might even want to improvise with these or choose your own. Step number three, gently form a half smile, just like the Mona Lisa. Nothing forced, but basically celebrating your mini win, celebrating the greater intelligence of who you are that has wisdom to these thinking patterns that used to dictate to you and maybe even push you around, but now not nearly as much. Similar to tool number four, this tool is not going to be for everyone. It doesn't have to be a three-step process. The reason this can be helpful though, is that three steps can increase the space between having an unhelpful thought and unhooking from it gently and in kindness, if possible. So, here's something for you. Maybe you want to improvise. Maybe you could mix and match tool number four with tool number five or tool number one with tool number three. See how it works for you. From my 16 years of experience in teaching this, when people create their own tool or improvise with the ones provided to create their own, then this is really effective. What could be yours? What works for you? Let me know in the comments section. I'll love hearing from you. Tool number six, thank your mind. If I was to have made this suggestion to thank your mind right at the start of this course, you may well have thought that I was crazy or that I was being invalidating. We've touched on this before here and there when getting introduced to the main insights for the first part of this course in the first few days. Now we're diving in deeper into why thanking our minds can make sense. First off, we need to explore a little more of how our minds are trying to protect us, despite the hard times that it gives us. Before you begin using this tool, which is as simple as saying thanks mind or something along the lines of this, it's essential to listen to the list below to see why our minds do what they do. And before listening to this list, it's necessary to think about an unhelpful thought that you have had, or maybe still have, and then you'll be ready to explore the reasons why. Here's this list of ways that our mind is trying to protect us when it gives us unhelpful thoughts. To get you to do nothing, so as to protect you from what it feels like to do something. To remind you of your bad points, to motivate you into taking action on things that matter. To scare you, so as to protect you from what it says is dangerous. To blame you, so as to motivate you to do something. To try and fix you, or make you perfect, to protect you from what it feels like to not be perfect. To tell you that you are a victim and helpless, to motivate you from being a victim and helpless. To tell you to avoid feelings, to protect you from feeling them. To tell you things are too risky, to protect you from feeling what it's like to take a healthy risk. To tell you that you are blameless, so as to protect you from feeling guilty. All of the above are very primal ways of protecting us. They rarely serve us in this modern world, but having these insights can show us that our minds are actually trying to protect us, even though this usually only works in the short term. In the longer term, we tend to get stuck. So, when these well-intentioned thoughts are not helping us, we can respond with a gentle, even light-hearted, thanks mind. Or, thanks mind, I know you're just doing your job. Just like all the other tools, this tool is not without criticism, especially at face value. This is mainly because it can seem counter-intuitive. Why on earth would I thank my mind for all these unhelpful thoughts? It's not until we have these insights, some of which we've discovered in this course, that we can start to open up in thanks for our mind. A mind that, most of the time, is ineffective, counterproductive, and with primitive ways, is, number one, trying to keep us safe, and number two, helping us avoid discomfort. Make your own tool. The tools we've covered so far are just a few of hundreds. Here's a comforting secret. Once you have practiced one or two of these, to a level where you don't mind your mind as much, then you won't need them anymore. But, for the meantime, it's helpful to have one or two in your toolkit, if you are willing. Here's another secret. Making your own can be really good fun. To make your own diffusion technique, your own technique for unhooking, all you need to do is to put your unhelpful thought in a new context, where you can see it, hear it, or both. So let me give you an example. One of my clients had a revelation. She loved the fact that any thought is like electricity. Any thought that takes place has a neural template for it, which requires electricity within the brain. Like nearly all complex machines, our brains run on electricity. Every time a neuron fires in order to communicate with another neuron, a little burst of electricity courses through the cell to power the message. So, back to my client. When her unhelpful thoughts got in the way, she found it incredibly effective to gently state to herself, it's just electricity. When I notice my unhelpful judgments, I particularly like gently reminding myself of the cave person thinking patterns. They nearly always seem to fit quite nicely into this category. Within the Act On It app, a free psychotherapy app for teenagers, funded through the charity that I formed, there is a suggested tool called Bounce It. And that's exactly what it suggests. Noticing a thought and visualizing that you're bouncing it. It's not for everyone. Some people love it, some people don't like it at all. Remember, it's not to get rid of, but to see it in a different context. And in doing this, an overlaying of a new neural template is formed. What could be yours? Let me know if you have one. I love hearing about them, or anything else that you may be resonating with in this course. Other people are going to like seeing your comments, your insights, and how you are benefiting from this as we all grow together. Choose from the following questions. Now we are going to explore some classic questions. Just like the previous statements that we explored, feel free to cherry-pick one or two that you feel could help you unhook from an unhelpful thought. Close your eyes if you wish to, just for this little exercise. Allow these words to wash over you as you listen. Notice what your mind tells you in words. Notice what it shows you in pictures. As you do this, it may hop over to what you're going to do tomorrow, or what happened yesterday, or maybe it's commenting on doing this exercise right now. Know that it's just doing its job. Notice how you can sit here now, in the same place, and your thoughts have been coming and going as you do. So, take a few seconds to recall a thought that your mind gives you that you don't like. Recognize that this thought is an old thought. You've heard it before. Notice how it makes you feel. Know that this is a normal human experience, and as you do this, gently reflect on the following questions. Is this thought helpful to me right now? Is this thought moving me towards or away from what is important to me? What is this thought trying to protect me from? Do I really need to buy this thought? If my friend was having this thought, what would I say to them? How much energy am I giving this thought? Am I willing to hold this thought lightly and do something that I enjoy at the same time? My mind is advertising this thought to me. Do I really need to spend energy on it? This thought was programmed into me just like all my thoughts. How old is this thought? Can I let my mind continue its chatter whilst I do something that is meaningful? Now that we're drawing to an end, remember that you only need to choose one or two of the things that have resonated with you today. This is not about overwhelming ourselves. You can always come back to these tips and tools. Over the next 24 hours, what is the most prominent thing that has resonated with you today? That's it. The quote for today was, there is no peace of mind in your mind. How does this sit with you now? In day 11, we will explore some essential points on how to reduce the likelihood of falling back into the trap of minding our minds. These tips have been positioned now that we've explored some tools and we're coming towards the end of the course. See you in day 11.

Learn to unhook from unhelpful thoughts and allow feelings to exist while you focus on what truly matters.

Never Mind Your Mind

Never mind your mind. Welcome to day 11, never mind your mind. Here's what we covered yesterday. We explored two more tools, normalizing, which was a three-step process, and thanking your mind. Then we examined some classic questions for you to experiment with when you're caught up minding your mind. These questions of course help us to take perspective. Today some essential points on how to reduce the likelihood of falling back into the trap of minding our minds. These tips are well positioned, now we're at the end of this course. This is because we've got the firm foundation from the insights here, and you have some tips and tools of your choosing. Then we'll be ready for this pull together, a summary of the entire course. The quote for today is... Our thoughts are just thoughts, not the truth of things, and certainly not accurate representations of who we really are. In being seen and known, they cannot but self-liberate, and we are, in that moment, liberated from them. John Kabat-Zinn Let's get straight into these essential points. Thoughts going away and feeling better. Here's a trap that we can very easily fall into, due to how we're conditioned about thinking positively and feeling positively. So here are two of the most common outcomes that we naturally hope for when we start to get into these practices for unhooking from our unhelpful thoughts. These are... Number one, my thoughts will go away. Number two, I will feel better. Point number one, my thoughts will go away. Of course we want our unhelpful thoughts to go away. We don't want to have them. When we make a little space for our thoughts, we get some distance from them. They may sometimes go away, but are they really gone for good? We know that the negative thought narrative in day five can set us up to struggle with our so-called negative thoughts. The nervous system works on an input-only function as we explored in day six. And what we fight, we strengthen. What we resist, persists. What we cannot be with, will not let us be. Now that we know this, the only effective option is to notice and allow them as normal human experiences, even when they come back. Then we can stay connected to the things that are meaningful to us. Remember, it's not our thoughts that are the problem. It's what we do with them, how we relate to them that causes a problem or not. If we do this to make them go away, then we're simply training ourselves to make them go away for whenever they return. And as we know, this is not a very effective relationship to have with our thoughts, ready at the beckoning call for when they return. Okay, so we've explored that first point, my thoughts will go away. Now let's explore point number two, I will feel better. As the quote of the day states, and we are, in that moment, liberated from them. The word liberate can imply a liberating, not just in our actions as we are unhooked from our thoughts, but also in our feelings. You may have even experienced this already at points throughout this course, a reduction in distress, sadness, anxiousness, whatever. But what we really need to remember here is that the metaphors, insights, exercises, tips and tools within this course are not about trying to control how we feel. If we are clinging on to the idea of feeling good, it means that when we experience any other emotion that is not so good, we naturally will struggle with it, because we're clinging on to the notion of feeling good. When we step back from our thoughts, it can feel liberating, maybe even just for a moment or two. But it's normal to not feel good from doing this sometimes. What matters here is about being less influenced by our thoughts. Then we can take action on the things that are helpful and are meaningful to us, no matter how small or insignificant these little steps may be in that moment. In getting some distance from our unhelpful thoughts, we see them for what they are. We see thoughts as thoughts. We hold them lightly, even when they're at the forefront of our minds. And stepping back in this way doesn't just open us up to make space for our thoughts, but all our normal human experiences, feelings included. So, sometimes we won't feel better having unhooked from a thought, particularly when that thought carries a bit of a punch to it. The question here is, can you allow these residual feelings to hang around? Can you allow them to linger in the periphery whilst you continue to focus on things that are important to you, as those thoughts also come and go in the background? If so, this is a massive win. It's an act of self-growth. You're processing your feelings in a really healthy way. Upping the Ante When toddlers go to a supermarket, they see toys and chocolate and want them then and there. Sugar is thought to be more addictive than cocaine, so it's no wonder why. What happens when the parent changes their mind and says no, no more chocolate? The toddler cries and demands even more. Then the parent says no again and sticks to their decision. The toddler then cries even more than before, so as to win their parent over. This is known as an extinction burst, if the parent can stick to that decision, putting up with the screaming and wailing until it eventually dies down. Parents have to go through experiencing that extinction burst so the child's behaviour can be changed. Now, back to our minds. Remember, our minds want to remain in charge, and they only know one way of going about it, getting us to take our thoughts seriously. So when we start to not mind our mind as much, what happens? It tries to pull a trick on us. It will up the ante, just like the toddler with the extinction burst. So, be on the outlook for your mind creating even more thoughts for you to get hooked by, simply to get you back to being overly absorbed in thinking again. Why would our minds do this? Because, many centuries ago, not taking our thoughts so seriously would have made us into dinner for saber-toothed tigers. So, our minds try their best to keep us strongly identified, and upping the ante can be a really effective technique that it uses. The thing is, our minds are just a little behind with the times, as we explored from day three, minding the Stone Age mind, because saber-toothed tigers aren't around anymore. So, as you begin to start using these tools, know that it's normal to have your mind up the ante. Can you bring some gentle persistence whilst using these tips and tools that you have learnt? Being on the outlook for the mind upping the ante, and in being prepared for that, continuing to allow those thoughts to come and go. When times are tough. When times are tough, it can feel like those saber-toothed tigers are around. Tough times come in the form of difficult interpersonal situations, someone saying something that pushes your buttons, getting up on the wrong side of bed, being overworked or stressed out for anything or everything. And this is important to know when considering our mind's tendency to up the ante. What this means is that our minds tend to give us more unhelpful thoughts when times are tough. So, when we can notice an increase in unhelpful judgements about self, other people or the external world, it can be helpful to recognise that this is a pattern. A pattern that happens especially when we are feeling agitated, angry, stressed etc. Interestingly, it's also worth noting that this can happen when we're feeling flat or low in mood. Pessimistic thinking also goes hand in hand with feeling like this. Those unhelpful thoughts are amplified due to the unwanted emotions that we're experiencing. Knowing that this is normal can help us realise that even our unhelpful thoughts in those moments of stress, anxiety or those moments of feeling low in mood are part and parcel of a normal human experience. As you go through tough times, rough times, low times, stressful times, whatever they may be, know that it's normal to have more pessimistic thoughts, presenting themselves as judgements about self, others, the world at large or even the very thoughts and feelings that you experience on the inside. Do what works. You may have noticed that all of the tips and tools here do not advocate challenging, changing, disputing or fighting our unhelpful thoughts. However, it is natural for us to do this in our everyday lives and it often works for us. We may change our mind about something that somebody has told us or we may dispute an unhelpful thought effectively without it becoming a problem. This is really important to acknowledge. Here's the bottom line. If it works, then do it. Like I said, we do this as we go about our everyday lives. This way of thinking can continue because it works, it's helpful. But this course has been about when we mind our minds and this is different. This is when we're looking at the world from an unhelpful thought and continuing to get caught up in those unhelpful thoughts. This doesn't work. It's not helpful. Clearly, despite all the emphasis on how unhelpful our mind is for this modern world, the automatic thoughts that pop through our heads are helpful, some of the time. And as I've mentioned before, our minds are quite incredible when we put them to use. Just look around you and see what the human race has created. Allow yourself to reflect on the meaningful connection that you've experienced as a result of the thoughts that have taken place in your mind. Give energy to those thoughts that are helpful and don't give energy to those thoughts that are not helpful. As I said in our very first day, minding means we are being cautious or concerned about something. It's my hope that this course has given you the insights, exercises, tips and tools to not mind your mind as much. Some days you'll experience this more than others. On those days, when times are tough, can it be okay to not be okay? Can you hold yourself lightly as you do? Over the next 24 hours, simply focus upon one insight here. One that resonates. You can always come back to any part of this course when you need to. And so the quote of today was, Our thoughts are just thoughts, not the truth of things and certainly not accurate representations of who we are. In being seen and known, they cannot but self-liberate and we are, in that moment, liberated from them. John Kabat-Zinn How does this quote sit with you today? In our final day, we explore a summary of the entire course, pulling everything together, and then a meditation to gently absorb the wisdom from all of the quotes that we've covered throughout this course. See you tomorrow in our final day.

Celebrate your progress, reflect on core insights, and relax into the stillness of being the observer.

Final Day - Celebrate & Unwind

Welcome to our final day. Celebrate and unwind. This is going to be a day for celebration. It's also going to be a day to relax and unwind. There's going to be two parts to this. Part one, a celebration of what we've covered in all of the previous days. Part two, we'll finish off with some final words from me. Having the space for reflection and contemplation as we gently absorb the wisdom from all of the quotes that we've covered throughout this course. Summary of the entire course. In day one, we set the scene. Humans mind because our minds mind. Thoughts just happen. They're not our fault. And what we are the witness to, we cannot be. In day two, we asked, what is a mind? The distinction between the mind and awareness of the mind. We explored some stats on the amount of thoughts that we have per day and how most of these are from a negative bias. Finally, we explored why we tend to mind our minds. In day three, we explored that our minds have been designed to do two things. To keep us safe and to help us avoid discomfort. We also drew comparisons of a stone age mindset with our modern age thinking patterns today. We touched on how our minds haven't yet caught up with the modern world. In day four, we explored the four main default modes of mind when left to its own accord. Commenting on the now, time travel, self-referential processing, social cognition. All of these four categories of which our thoughts fall into tend to be viewing things as though they're a problem and doing this persistently. These four modes of mind were to reinforce the previous day's insights. These so-called negative thoughts are normal. In day five, we explored that if we buy into the negative thought narrative, it sets us up to buy into a narrative that the thought we're experiencing is not normal. If we keep up the old agenda of disputing, challenging, changing our thoughts, then nothing will change. This means that when these or similar thoughts return, we'll do the same thing again and it doesn't work. So do we really want to keep up the agenda or try something new and less combative? In day six, we found that when we have difficult thoughts, we sometimes try to control them by challenging, suppressing, avoiding or denying them. For example, distracting ourselves so we don't think a particular way. This can sometimes work for us, but if our tendency to do this is very strong, it is likely to have the opposite effect. And because our thoughts have an input-only function, then does this really make sense to dispute, challenge, change them so that they will go away? They're going to come back, and sometimes even stronger. In day seven, we explored associations. Associations being fundamental to learning. They were particularly helpful for the functions of survival too. Our brains associate certain experiences we have with thoughts and feelings. Knowing that thoughts get evoked in this way helps us see what's playing out. Just a program. An association that's working perfectly well, despite being random or completely unhelpful. When we can know exactly how this works, how predictable and how arbitrary this can be, we become more wise to these thinking patterns, which in turn helps us to not take our thoughts so seriously. In day eight, we explored four metaphors. Billboard advertisements, Hans's thoughts, fly-fishing and the chessboard. This was solely for you to choose which of these you preferred. Metaphors are like tools. They are central to how we understand the world. They help us to reason and understand what's around us. They're also illuminating, helping us to see things in a different way. They provide new insight and can change the way we relate to certain things, thoughts included. In day nine, we explored four specific tools for not minding our mind as much. Tool number one, using the sentence, I'm noticing the thought that. Tool number two, say it again. Tool number three, say it silly. And tool number four, a three-step process called making room. In day 10, we continued with two more tools, another three-step process that I like to call normalizing, and thanking the mind. Then we explored some classic questions for you to experiment with. These questions help us to take perspective on the thoughts that our minds give us. And yesterday, in day 11, we looked at some important considerations that can arise when we get into becoming wiser to our minds. We explored thoughts going away and feeling better. We explored upping the ante. We continued with when times are tough. There was also a brief note about doing what works. This was to remind us that in our everyday lives, we often challenge, change and dispute our thoughts. And if this works for us, then that's perfectly okay. It's only when we get caught up in minding our minds that this becomes a problem for us. Creating a modern mind for this modern world. At first glance, these insights into the nature of our minds could appear bleak. Indeed, years ago, it was thought that when the human brain reached adulthood, there was no growth within our brains. Now we know that the brain is constantly changing and growing to accommodate for anything that we are doing. You are here now, having completed this course. You have been here, willing to learn. To put into practice some of these tips and tools to help you to not take your thoughts so seriously. Remember, our minds haven't yet caught up with the modern world. They still operate with a Stone Age attitude to life. But every time we notice this and embrace gently this human mind that we have, with all its wonders and pitfalls, we access a higher level of consciousness. The art of noticing, observing, being the witness to our thoughts. Every time we access this, we are transforming the conscious evolution of the planet. Bit by bit and moment by moment. And, as I just said, you are here for you, having taken part in this course. In choosing to do so, you are at the forefront of the positive change that's going on in the world right now. Not minding our minds as much is one of the many ways that we make little transformations on the inside that have a knock-on effect to the world outside. In taking action in this way, you're making a small change for the better. This is what changes the world, bit by bit, moment by moment. It's all about those little moments when we notice a difference in how we're responding to our thoughts. And maybe even going easy on ourselves when we give energy to those thoughts that tell us that we're not making a difference. Let's wind down now with that reflective meditation, so as to appreciate the wisdom from deep within these quotes that have been provided on each of these days. Relax, settle, give yourself the right to be here now. Allowing your awareness to notice how you are gently holding your body in this moment. Here I am, noticing this. Sometimes my mind tells me that it's just me. These thoughts. It tells me that they're not normal. That everybody else seems to have it all okay. But I'm recognizing more and more that this is not true. It's my mind that tells me otherwise. My mind tells me that these unhelpful thoughts are so important. But from the wisdom of deep within me, I know that my mind is just doing its job. And as I gently listen to these words, and gently notice the softness of my out-breath. How it speeds up, slows down, and comes to a pause. I come to know this wisdom even more. Minding our minds, being lost in our thoughts, is part and parcel of what brings suffering to the human condition. We're not taught to know about the human mind. How it's an amazing servant, but a terrible master. An amazing servant when we use it to plan, create, and act on things in life that matter to us. A terrible master because we don't usually use our mind. It uses us. And as I gently listen to these words, and gently notice the softness of my out-breath. Recognizing that I can apply the same level of softness to my breathing as my breathing is giving to me. I come to know this wisdom even more. The mind doesn't just judge, evaluate, analyze, compare ourselves. It does this to other people, as well as things in the external world. And it doesn't stop there. The mind also does this to the very thoughts it created in the first place. The brain is like a Velcro for negative experiences and Teflon for positive ones. But in being aware of this, I get to choose. I am empowered with this knowledge. I get to change my brain for the better by making conscious decisions that serve me. I choose to not mind my mind as much. I choose to notice. To observe. Thoughts as thoughts. Nothing more. Just thoughts. I choose to invest the energy in the thoughts that are helpful. And some of them are. They make me happy. They give me gratitude. They help me choose creative, loving, compassionate actions. Seeing them as serving a purpose years ago, but not as much today. For sure, there's the bad times. There's the bad days. But this is part of being human too. Every single human being struggles with their thoughts and feelings from time to time. And I know this now more than ever. And it helps me now more than ever. It liberates me knowing that this is my mind. And here I am much more than the automatic thoughts that pass through my head. They are a tiny fraction of the magnificence of what I can experience in my life. Thoughts get programmed into us from the external world. We weren't born with them. They are programs that manifest as stories. What I fight, I strengthen. What I cannot be with, will not let me be. What I resist, persists. There is no peace of mind inside my mind. I choose to notice more, allowing that higher level of consciousness to be activated. I choose to notice my mind upping the ante. And as it does, I hold it in kindness. I choose to see my unhelpful thoughts as something that is not happening to me, but is happening for me and my self-growth. My spiritual growth. I am not my thoughts unless I choose them, unless I give energy to them. I am the noticer of all my experiences. I am awareness. My consciousness is evolving every single time I notice an unhelpful thought and hold it lightly. I am truly grateful for the wisdom of knowing my mind a little more. I know it is helping me. I know that it can indirectly help others too. To be part of the change that's going on before us right now. I choose to be part of the change. Thank you so much for listening to this audio course, bringing parts of it into your life and ultimately being part of the change that's going on in the world right now. This is the foundational course that you've been listening to. There are other Never Mind Your Mind courses within this Never Mind Your Mind series. There's so much more to complement what you've done here in this foundational course. You can find all of these courses at my profile under the courses tab. Thank you for being here and thank you for being part of the change.

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English

This is an exploration into the science of thinking patterns, with simple yet practical tips, tools and metaphors to manage our unhelpful thoughts more effectively.

When you wake, it starts. Like a faulty radio inside your head.

Shifting from one channel to the next. Sometimes it gets stuck on one channel. Sometimes it's the inner critic. 
The channel that you really don’t want.

And because you really don’t want that channel, you become more and more caught up in it.

The mind. It can be helpful. But only sometimes.

When we buy into the automatic thoughts that pass through our heads, they can bring us into feelings of fear, inadequacy, frustration, and more. But the secret is, this is not just you. It’s about everybody!

Never Mind Your Mind is about being part of the change that’s going on in the world right now. One way of doing this is by taking our thoughts less seriously. 

My name is Reuben Lowe, I’m the founder of both Mindful Creation and our registered non-profit charity “ACT on it”. I also work as a mindfulness-based therapist in one of the largest health clinics in the Southern Hemisphere. 

It’s my hope that this course will give you some great insights. You’re likely to notice a shift in learning these. A shift in how you relate to your thoughts. Taking some of them less seriously. Not minding your mind as much.  

But, this course is not just about understanding these interesting insights. We learn by far the best through experience. And so that’s where this course gives you a new level of depth. Through experience. 

The tips and tools for the job. The tips and tools to not mind our mind as much.

So, let’s have fun. Let’s do this together. Learning these insights. Putting the tools into practice.

Thank you so much for listening, and in doing so, being part of the change that’s going on in the world right now.

An exploration into the science of thinking patterns, with simple yet practical tips, tools and metaphors to manage the inner-critic and unhook from unhelpful thoughts.

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When we wake, it starts, like a radio inside our heads, shifting from one channel to the next. Sometimes it gets stuck on one channel, the channel that you really don't want. And because you really don't want that channel, you become more and more caught up in it. When we buy into the automatic thoughts that pass through our heads, they can bring us into feelings of fear, inadequacy, frustration and more. But the secret is, this is not just you, it's about everybody. Never Mind Your Mind is about being part of the change that's going on in the world right now, and one way that we can be part of this change is taking our thoughts less seriously. My name's Reuben, I'm the founder of both Mindful Creation and our registered non-profit charity Act On It. I also work as a mindfulness-based therapist at one of the largest health clinics in the Southern Hemisphere. It's my hope that this course will give you some great insights. You're likely to notice a shift within yourself in learning these, a shift in how you relate to your thoughts, taking some of them less seriously, not minding your mind as much. But this course is not just about understanding these interesting insights. We learn most effectively through experience. And so, that's where this course gives you a new level of depth, through experience. The tips and tools for the job. The tips and tools to not mind our mind as much. So, let's have fun, let's do this together. Learning these insights, putting the tools into practice. Thank you so much for listening, and in doing so, being part of the change that's going on in the world right now.