Are you in control of what you think? What is the danger of not taking control of your thinking?
These are questions posed by this interesting TED Talk by Albert Hobohm.
Albert shares his experience of living with a distracted mind. One that wandered and was unfocused. Something we can all relate to from the overstimulated world we live in. This then plays out in the lifestyles we lead.
Many of us meander through life unconsciously; constantly impacted by external events, circumstances, perceptions, or beliefs.
Ultimately leading to emotional states such as stress, fear, and anger. Would you rather be calm, peaceful and in control of your thinking?
There is a danger in not creating enough space for your mind to find its own function.
“Thoughts become perception, perception becomes reality. Alter your thoughts, alter your reality.”
William James
So how do you take control of your thinking to move from thought to reality? Albert shares 2 methods:
Meditation
A quick search finds endless information on the benefits of meditation. But an interesting question is ‘what is the ultimate outcome of meditation?’. It is to start observing the mind objectively.
It’s a way you can observe the pathways your thoughts take and the outcomes that come off the back of those. And over time being able to guide and re-configure those pathways away from the destructive pathways to the constructive ones.
Restrain mental and physical input
Albert aligns this with the saying, “you are what you eat”. The same applies to control of your thinking. If you take in poor quality information or overload it, you can become mentally fatigued or mentally obese. You become addicted to the information and stimulus.
He therefore suggests feeding our minds with selected inputs. And choosing your media very carefully. Rarely is news provided just to convey information nowadays. It’s designed to grab attention. Get the clicks and likes. Negativity sells and as a result we get bombarded with it.
By being selective of better quality information, there could even be less of a need for as much information. Ultimately giving your mind more space and ability to be in control.
Watch the full 15-minute TED Talk here to learn more:
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