Harnessing Your Mind in a Distracted World
It’s a distraction-rich environment and having some control over your state of mind is now an important skill. We are bombarded on all sides of every conceivable medium with mass entertainment that simply fills our remaining hours, leaving us numbed and passive. But how does this affect our mental freedom and creativity? A mind, that was once used to explore and create is in danger of growing dim from the constant over stimulation. This blog is about why we should take the driver seat back into our minds instead of being hijacked by passive entertainment and enslavement inline with an open powered mind.
The Issue with Modern Entertainment
The emergence of present-day entertainment has markedly changed how we pass our free time. And instead of being the contemplative, creative and regenerative pocket in our day-to-day existence it has become an abyss into which pours a highly-flowing stream of media content. Whether it be sports or reality TV, we seem to prefer watching other people live their lives than living our own. Whilst this over-satiated form of sous-vide entertainment might seem benign, it is in fact sapping away our mental resources and deadening creativity. Every shuffling step, tick-tock clock in our ear is a moment to fill with noise – precious brain space that we no longer allow to settle on innovation. A mind needs time to roam, free-think and allow the brain to connect some dots from a million miles away. But as soon as every still period is saturated by the next episode or viral cat video, this vital mental process goes awry.
The Rise of Asymptomatic Idiots (AI)
In this Saurian age where Attention is the new currency, a whole new breed has recently evolved: asymptomatic idiots. Those who on the outside seem to function well without and look quite intelligent can be described with this term. These people are not in touch with what is happening around them and live in sci-fi-like bubble walls spinning their world on the screen than from species. And they have no words or thoughts folded up to get out for themselves. The Asymptomatic Idiot is someone who continues to press the call elevator button more vehemently thinking this would make it come quicker. It is an irrational, reflex action and not motivated by higher-functioning thought. The problem is that as we allow more people to live in this way there will be less room for free spirits — folk who engage directly and critically with the world around them—from found art galleries at Occupy, to Marcus Nannini.
Understanding Mind Control
In a world where we have so little control, our mind is one of the only things that functions with the grandest orders. We may not control our bodies, or the behavior of others and what happens to us — but we can take charge of the mind. We have found that the mind is a multipurpose vehicle with 4 main uses: start, stop, brake and accelerate.
Rationality: The minds eerie four wheel drive that helps us avoid irrational actions, after all it is the mindWeed Brake System. We can pause before we decide, count to ten in our heads and assess the alternatives with a cool head rather than acting on hemotions.
Emotional Resilience: Of course emotions provide the energy to our actions. They can help shortcut our path to the things we want more than anything with fervor and zeal, but they can also lead us far from where we really hope to go. The path of controlling the mind starts with Learning how to not just control our emotions but also channel them where it can cause an impact.
Willpower: The engine behind your actions. It is what drives us to weather the storms, walk much farther alone and keep going when getting there seems nearly impossible. Building WillPower is key to gaining mastery of the Mind.
Creativity: The GPS of the mind that guides us through unchartered territory to finding out new solutions. That’s how we are able to interpret, create and innovate, coming up with novel solutions.
The 4 Dimensions to Reframe the Power of the Mind
In order to take back control of your mind, you should let these dimensions enter into view. Start by practising mindfulness: being conscious of your thoughts, feelings and actions available now. Watch less passive entertainment, and do more stimulating things like reading/writing/working on hard problems. Plus, relinquishing control over things outside of you (i.e. accepting that there are some issues we simply can’t change) is a freeing experience as well. Instead of worrying about things you have no control over, focus your mental energy on what is within the realm of change: the way you think and how to manage it, or decisions/choices in regard to warnings (reactions).
Ending Remarks
In today’s world where the distractions are endless, mastering your mind is more necessary than ever. Once you have insight into the four dimensions which comprise human behavior—the rational, emotional, volitional and imaginative—you can start to engage them all simultaneously. Release the things in which you have no power over and place your mind on driving towards creativity, focus & true mental freedom. The more you can have that, the more of your mind — and thus life itself — you get back.