Power of the Mind
Your mind is a tool but not who you truly are
Problems in life, like ripple effects, where do they truly come from? And is there a way to understand more so we can stop them? I think yes is the answer to that question, now let me ask you, do you know where most problems arise?
“Our life is the creation of our mind” — Buddha
Imagine for a moment the world is just what it is, the world. Now imagine this world inhabits life just like ours does. Now looking down at the world, taking all our rooted beliefs, impressions, learned perspectives of how things are or should be in life, take all that out of the picture. What do we get? Life as it should be, living in the present moment. Now, things tend to get a bit complicated when our mind gets in the way of everything.
One of the biggest issues I have seen is that over time we start believing that our mind is who we truly are. How could the one observing a thought be the thought itself? But rather, you are the one aware of that thought, so therefore not the thought itself. But I think a lot of us get stuck in believing our thoughts are who we are.
“You have power over your mind, not outside events. Realize this and you will find strength” — Marcus Aurelius
You see, you have power over the mind, not the other way around. When negative feelings come from thoughts and positive feelings come from thoughts, then understanding that what you are feeling is due to a thought you had and not YOU, the one aware of it.
If you were your thoughts or feelings, then when they disappeared wouldn’t you as well? No, you don’t disappear because who you truly are is the awareness that is aware of the thought and feelings. When you start to understand that, it gets much easier to change your thoughts and in turn, start to see changes in the environment around you.
“Change your thoughts and you change the world“ — Norman Vincent Peale
Thoughts and feelings come from experience. Your brain doesn’t run in the now and if you think about it, your brain can only actually ever be in the past or the future. If I asked you to use your mind to think of the present moment, you couldn’t, your brain can only come up with thoughts that have already occurred or haven’t occurred yet. It cannot be in the present moment, because to think about the present would mean it had then already passed.
I guess the final point that I would be trying to make is that your brain is a tool, if you use it correctly and understand it more it can help you immensely and aid in changing your life around for the better. Don’t let it be the one to tell you who you truly are.