Let’s say you had a favourite pastime, that you did 999 times, completely joyfully.
And then that one time, through no fault of your own, it goes badly wrong. Physical consequences.
What d’you think the mind’s going to do, the next time you step up to your favourite pastime?
That’s right. It’s going to remember the 0.1% because it’s protective.
It’s going to really want to stop you from doing it. It might even come up with some of the same symptoms from that one time it went wrong.
It might feel like it’s erased the 999 times completely.
That one time ruined it.
😞
We can try overcoming this with willpower, or by reasoning with it…
Or we can be damned grateful that the mind does this for us.
If we're to ever do that thing again, we need to know—like, really know—that it’s just a story, so that we can make an ‘informed’ decision.
It's easy when we're encouraging kids to ‘get straight back on the horse’ after hurting themselves, but when we're in the thick of it ourselves—recovering from sickness, injury or even a broken heart—seeing through those tricks of the mind is a bit more difficult – it all seems so real and true!
But see through them we shall. Every time another Daily Reminder lands.
💌
I think this is my favourite aspect of the inside-out understanding: the way it opens up your life for you.
Without knowing what's going on, our options feel limited.
Genuinely. Innocently. Understandably.
The mind presents us with its narrow menu of choices, making out like that's it, there are no more options… but only because it’s ignorant of everything else; of life.
So if you happen to have ‘fallen off the horse’ because of ‘that one time’, just spot the mind, up to its tricks.
Be kind to it – it's doing its best.
It's informed decision time: do you want this?
Then you can go!
🚀
Giles
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Giles P Croft