There are a number of ways the mind will stumble directly into the path of us living a contented, fulfilled life, halting our progress by erecting barriers.
🚧
And bigging itself up—making itself seemingly indispensable, when we’re trying to get a bit of distance from its endless commentary—has to be close to the top of the list.
It comes out fighting.
🤺
I was having a conversation with someone fairly new to the Daily Reminders, and they’d got a bit stuck. The mind was busy stating its case:
“But look, here’s what I don’t get. My mind’s been quite helpful recently. And you’re telling me I should ignore it? That doesn’t make sense. It’s useful!”
Ah, there it is. Hello my friend.
Are you worried that you’ll be out of a job?
🤔
Firstly, putting my Giles Ego Construct Pedantry Pants 📦🩲on here for a moment (‘pedantry pants’ are very much a thing in the Croft household BTW – if you get caught wearing them, it will likely be called out), I would highlight the ‘should’ (🚩) in that sentence.
I honestly don’t give a monkey’s what you do or don’t do. There’s no ‘should’ to any of it – that’s the language of the left brain.
I’m just going to point you towards some basic facts about how the mind works and you’re free to do whatever you want with that.
(The fact you’re still here suggests to me that there are some nuggets in that pointing, that stirs your soul ✨)
So let’s throw the mind a bone here and instead of laying down the law (minds don’t like that), let’s get curious and explore some suggestions about how this scenario—i.e. a mind that really looks like it’s ‘being quite helpful’—could be viewed differently.
Nice and gentle. Soft, softly catchy monkey…
🐒
Observing. And Commentating.
So imagine for a moment, that what a mind does is observes life and then commentates on it.
How would that be? What might we expect to see?
Let’s say things are going ‘well’ – we feel like we’re really ‘on it’ at the moment. We’re not overthinking stuff, but rather we’re responding with a general sense of ease to life’s happenstance.
Our authentic desires, that contribute to the whole, are being realised. Fresh new ideas are landing, from ‘out of the blue’ – stuff we’d not thought of before. It’s brilliant! We’re being ourselves and things are flowing.
You with me?
Now, what’s a mind likely to say about all that? Once it’s observed that, how do you think it might commentate on it?
Is there any chance that it might have a few positive things to say?
Is there any chance that it might take credit for any of that?
Might it say,
🤔
Or let’s imagine you’re reading the Daily Reminders, or a book, or listening to a podcast or something and you suddenly have a bit of a realisation.
Insight lands 💡
The veil is lifted—however briefly—and you see something you’d not really seen before; or you see something a lot deeper than you had, up to this point. Another bit of the jigsaw falls into place.
Oh! Yes!
The hairs stand up on the back of your neck. Time slows. You can’t really put words to the feeling you’re in, but you know you’re likely to remember this moment because of how it felt. ‘Right,’ somehow. Peaceful. All your previous concerns melted away for a moment and you were just kind of… there.
And again, let’s imagine what a mind might make of that. Once it’s observed that, how do you think it might interpret it? How is it likely to commentate?
In spite of the fact that what’s happened has happened precisely because it’s NOT there in that moment, blibber-blabbering away at you, is there any chance—just the teeniest, tiniest smidgen of a chance—that it might try and take credit for that insight?
Might it say,
🤔
What d’you reckon?
I can’t tell you what’s going on so that you ‘believe me’—that’s not what any of this is about—I can only point in a particular direction and let you come to your own conclusions.
So what if it’s only ever observing, and commentating?
💟
Giles