INSPIRED THINKING #16 – MASTERY OF MIND

Yesterday we spoke about viewpoint as being the single most vital key in leadership and self awareness. I encouraged you to look from the universal view so you can run the world in your chosen field. Today, we delve into there micro level of self-awareness and leadership with mind control.

Everything in this universe fits some part of a greater puzzle, everything has a purpose, everything fits. Trees fit, rocks fit, everything has a role to play in a bigger story. One could say they have a purpose. Certainly trees and rocks have a beginning and an end, they have an innate destiny, they begin in one form and end in another. In the seed of a tree is it’s destiny. And so too yours.

The choices the tree makes, such as growing around a rock or pushing higher for more sun or growing moss on its south side, all play into the daily ebb and flow that determines the tree’s success. One single decision to grow one single branch in the wrong direction can mean the difference between a long powerful life or a short one.

Birth, life death and the most vital things in between which make the tree fit into the puzzle of life, are by the very nature of the tree’s purpose in nature, well the universe actually, are prearranged. Yet, trees have evolved how they do it, even if the purpose of the tree has stayed constant.

You have a purpose. How you achieve it is in your hands. but there are things about you that are also prearranged. You have a musical talent, a sport expertise, balance, a capacity that others don’t. And you have a particular constitution.

It is important to know these things: what you can and what you are wise not to change. Your colour preferences, you approach to business, your preferred food and your attitude to change are all part of your constitution and although you can try to mimic the “right way” you cannot sustain certain modifications that are not in tune with your constitution.

You have many minds to manage. You have a soul. You have a subconscious mind. You have a conscious mind. You have the emotions and feelings that emanate from your ego mind. And you have your innate constitution. When you make a decision or have a reaction to something, you are wise to be aware of and label the source of the mind you are thinking with.

Lets say you are needing to grow your business team and you decide to hire 8 new staff. You hire recruitment – decision 1. Which part of your mind made the choice? Decision 2. The interviews. Are you operating in your ego in determining which person aligns with your values? Decision 3. The Hire. Which part of your thinking process is engaged in backing your choices? Decision 4. When they exceed expectations are you puffing your chest with pride? Can you see that all the different minds you have can play into your leadership and life reactions?

We know that our brains are endowed with the power to plan, to look ahead, to make provision for the future, and to investigate the problems of life and death. Thought is universal and it has a purpose greater than our short span of life.

With this in mind, mind power becomes vital. And, what can be seen here is how easily we can function from the lowest of them. It is a human irony that the loudest voice we have, the one that transcends all others when it screams is the emotional mind. It is accountable for all suicide, violence and attraction. The lowest mind has the loudest voice. And this is so in public as well. Terrorists, alcoholics and street rioters are of that lowest emotional mind.

But many leaders are of this emotional mind as well because when it is flying high there seems to be no better. However, the emotional mind is in the moment and can never predict accurately the future. Therefore we learn techniques to master the emotional mind in order to build and prepare for the future. In other words, create a sustainable future.

The subconscious mind is always passing judgement and holding those judgements without our knowing. It belongs to our heritage, experiences and stories of the past and these are never accurate. We must know when this mind is functioning in decision making and thinking because it will only lead us into the past.

The conscious mind is inaccurate at best. It bends information to feel right and can distort what it sees, hears and therefore thinks. The conscious mind can imagine wonderful things and therefore can create the images of the future, but it can also live in fantasy, become depressed, overwhelmed and therefore highly inaccurate. It is unwise for a leader and those looking for mastery of mind to trust this mind level in anything but its ability to imagine.

To distill the dilemma we can place a caveat on decision making and mind control for a leader.

  1. Do not base decisions on pleasure or pain, I.e remove emotion from all choices. It is highly inaccurate and short term.
  2. Do not base decisions on attraction or repulsion as both come from the subconscious and very flawed, mind.
  3. Unless pro’s and con’s add up to an ambivalence, do not trust what you think.
  4. Base all choices and decisions on their relevance to the imagined future you have, but document that future imagination to eliminate the potential of fantasy. (more pleasure than pain)
  5. Do not expect there to be half humans. That is the ego at play.

Nothing is missing it just changes in form. This means that no matter what choices you make there will be two sides to the outcome. Therefore, by understanding what you would love to create you are working from your highest imagined future regardless of the two sides. This becomes accurate.

Tomorrow I will share the four cornerstones of mind power.