The mind is quite the mystery. On one hand, if you train it well enough, it can help you simplify your life and become your greatest servant. On the other hand, if untrained it can tailspin out of control quicker than you can blink.
Thus, the mind is a great servant but a wretched master.
The greatest minds in history have told us, “The mind is the most powerful thing in the world.”
Yes, this is true.
And as Spider Man wisely said, “With great power comes great responsibility.” It is the responsibility that many of us either thrive on or fall flat on our face.
Try this out.
Focus your mind on ONE task, just one.
It could be writing, like I am doing now. Block out all distractions, tabs, put your phone on airplane mode, put on your favorite music (preferably without words).
Yes, I know in the beginning there will be some resistance and your mind will wander but once you find your rhythm and are in flow, you will see that your mind is fixated on the present moment.
If you are writing about a topic you care and are passionate about, you will find that your mind is lasered in on just writing and the words just seem to flow onto the page.
It is uncanny and may feel supernatural or like you have some sort of superpower.
THAT is the power of the mind. It will bring you to heights you’ve never even imagined.
Another experience of mine is when I learned that my wife and I were going to have a baby boy.
As someone who has self proclaimed OCD, my OCD kicked into high gear. Every single thought I had in my day was about my Son.
One thing in particular, was my daily prayer to God and visualization of my Son just “being healthy, beautiful and normal.”
Now I know results are often out of our control. However, it was this daily prayer and visualization that allowed my mind to be at ease and allow me to perform my duties in my daily life. Had I had negative thoughts or visualizations in my head I would have had an altogether different experience – one that would be a living nightmare.
Albeit, there were negative thoughts, visualizations and emotions that would pop into my head but it was the daily prayer and visualization that ensured me that everything would be okay.
And, guess what?
Our baby boy came out healthy, beautiful & normal! Knock on wood! (another superstitious neurotic ocd habit of mine)
So, you see that when harnessed with focus and purpose, your mind will conspire with you to help you achieve your dreams and goals.
However, there is a dark side.
This dark side can strike at any moment. And I am all too aware of this, as I have been victim of this occurrence on many occasion.
The dark side that I am describing is one where you think a thought or have a weird feeling and that thought or feeling just governs your mind, almost as if it has taken over your mind hostage. You are now the prisoner.
How does this show up in real life situations?
Well for one, think back to a time when you had someone laugh at you, say a nasty comment toward you, or spread any type of hate toward you.
Did it upset you and make you think about them or what they said all day long? Sometimes for days, weeks, months and even years?
Yup, I sure have. And whether you like it or not they have got you.
As David Goggins says,
They are now living in your mind…rent free.
It’s like a virus or leech has entered into your mind. It can feel as though you have some sort of mental illness.
You are thinking about what the person said or him or her all day long. Sometimes the thought may flee temporarily but any small trigger, it comes roaring back like a hungry lion.
This my friend, is hell. Hell on Earth. I wish this upon no one.
But sad to say, many, if not all of us, at one point in our lives or another will have to face this demon, this purgatory of existence.
Which is precisely why we must constantly remind ourselves that the mind is a wonderful servant but a wretched master.
An example in my life of having a negative thought in my mind is the thought of death for my loved one or myself, which I’ve written about in, “Memento Mori“.
As a child, I would cry myself to sleep thinking about, “what will happen to us when we die“?
I envisioned a pitch black world for the rest of eternity. Never to return and never to see my family again.
I would get anxious and sometimes have panic attacks. The thought of death ruled my mind. I could not escape it.
Into my adulthood, as a Father and Husband, death plays in my mind a lot. From simple moments to life changing ones. Death is there. Screaming in my mind. Laughing with such evil and guile.
Specifically, with the pandemic upon us, if I touch something which I feel is dirty, or may be contaminated or may cause Covid I wash my hands three times. My mind tells me that 1 is not enough and we must wash three times just to be sure. On bad days, my mind tells me it’s still not clean enough, you must wash 9 times.
Another episode, is when I close the door to leave my apartment, if I have a bad thought I must hold and turn the knob again until I have a good thought. Same ritual occurs with my main door.
Unfortunately, this has caused the doorknob to come loose and I must tighten the screws every couple of weeks.
In a weird way, I am thankful that this occurred because it is a physical sign that my OCD habits are causing physical damage to objects which may result in damaged property, loss of money and the safety of my family if I loosen and damage the lock so terribly that it no longer works and simply unlocks every time you turn the knob.
Thus, I’ve made a promise to myself to only check if the doorknob is locked once.
And finally, “thinking” itself, also known as “intrusive thoughts“.
Intrusive thoughts are unwanted thoughts that can pop into our heads without warning, at any time. They’re often repetitive – with the same kind of thought cropping up again and again – and they can be disturbing or even distressing.
During the course of my day I’m often very busy and hard at work. But there are times when out of nowhere a negative thought enters my mind. I am, of course, surprised by this thought and I then wrestle with it to get it out of my mind.
I mean, it is said, that each of us have on average 30,000 thoughts on a daily basis, most of which are often negative thoughts for those of us who have’t reprogrammed our minds to think more positive thoughts.
Through, meditation, writing, exercise, and a healthy perspective on life, I have reprogrammed my mind to think mostly positive thoughts.
However, when those odd moments occur and I have a harmful or destructive thought, my mind takes control.
But, if we all realize that we will all die some day and that worrying about things or giving into OCD rituals are literally wasting our life we will come to the realization that we should relax and make better use of our thoughts and our time.
We should practice thinking positive thoughts, incorporating positive habits and become the masters of our mind.
When those negative thoughts do expose themselves, which they will, we can just laugh it off and say,
“Good try. You’re not fooling me this time.”
We can just let go. We can let go of trying to control our minds and “mind” our own business.
Let the mind do it’s thing and we’ll do ours.
Always remember, the mind is a great servant but a wretched master.