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You have power over your mind, not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.
– Marcus Aurelius
What is life? A series of random events tied together by your intellect in an attempt to make sense of the swirling dance around you? Is it a set of chemical reactions that cause you to feel and think a certain way based on their release via the neural pathways branching throughout your body? Maybe it’s the percolating phenomenon we call consciousness nestled somewhere deep within your mind. Most people are focused outward; however, you’ll need to dive inward to understand life and who you are. After all, the only way to go is in if you want to unlock inner growth for mindset mastery or mastery over life in general.
And why not go in? This is what all the sages of the past have done. It’s what all the sages of the present do and will be what all the future sages do, too.
When you understand that thoughts have power, that’s when you’re life begins to change. That’s when you realize that everything you do results from your thinking, even if you don’t know you’re thinking it.
Take needing a drink of water, for example.
How often do you say “I need some water” or “I need a drink” out loud?
Without a doubt, you’ve said something along those lines before. However, how often have you thought about needing a drink without being fully conscious of the thought?
You feel the need or desire to drink because your body sends out a signal that lets you know it needs additional fluid.
In most instances, you feel the need to drink, so you go to the cupboard and grab a glass, fill it up with water, raise it to your lips, and then drink it, all without consciously thinking about the process.
Even though you aren’t consciously thinking about it, some part of you is thinking about it. Maybe the thought is simply to yourself in the form of, “I’m thirsty.”
From there, a whole cascade of consciousness occurs, whether you know it or not, resulting in you taking a drink.
Now, what if you could become conscious of that unconscious action? All the time, in every moment.
You would be undeniably present, but you would also be deep within yourself. Yet, even though you’re deep within yourself, you’re still very much aware of your surroundings and the play of life happening all around you.
You might be thinking, “What does this even matter? Who cares if I’m fully aware of the processes needed to allow me to drink water?”
Just this.
The more conscious you become of your unconscious thinking, the easier it is to direct your thoughts from the negative to the positive, and the more control you have over your life.
How is it that a Yogi can enter into a state of meditation to the point where it seems that all life processes have ended? They can become so still within themselves that our modern-day machines consider them clinically dead. What allows them to sit for days on end without the need to eat, drink, or use the bathroom?
Sadhguru, the Indian mystic and yogi, relays a story that happened to him in his book, Inner Engineering, where he sat down to meditate. When he finished about 25 minutes later, he was surrounded by people placing garlands around his neck, offering him food, and asking him to come to bless their children.
Not understanding what was happening, he asked why they were doing this to him, and they told him he had been sitting there for 13 days.
What appeared to be a 25- to 30-minute meditation internally had been almost a two-week meditation externally.
Listening to any of his lectures or interviews, he commonly references how he feels “blissed out” all the time.
He’s exceedingly joyful and happy.
Why?
Because he learned how to go inward.
The Only Way to Go is In
The more I meditate, the more my life changes for the better.
I’m still practicing, so it’s not like I’ve mastered the art of meditation.
However, I can sit and begin to find or feel the exuberant bliss of the moment here and there. It shows up as a gentle swaying or feeling as if a wave of bliss washes over me.
When I’m able to hold my focus, I can bask in the feeling, and it’s wonderful. Upon losing focus, the wave subsides and recedes into the distance until I can hold my focus again.
I can only imagine what it must be like to stay focused and continue to feel that feeling indefinitely.
Whether in a state of “Meditation” or not.
There would be no need for worry or fear at that point because what can those base emotions do to you when you feel excited and exuberant about life?
If you could learn to stay in that state, you would never get angry at all the trivial things you might get angry about. You wouldn’t feel jealous or envious. You wouldn’t hate others for their beliefs or thoughts or how they may have mistreated you.
The deeper you go, the less affirmation you need from others. You no longer require the approval of others to be who you are or to pursue the things you’re interested in.
Delving into the depths of who you are allows you to feel the more subtle aspects of life as well.
Maybe it’s just being more aware of what’s happening around you or being more sensitive to the needs of others.
Sadhguru isn’t the only one who’s experienced this type of transformation. Many people express the same ideas through various experiences they’ve had themselves.
For instance, Joseph Murphy wrote a book titled “The Power of Your Subconscious Mind” that doesn’t necessarily tout the benefits of meditation per se but instead discusses how you can access the subconscious mind to steer certain events or outcomes in your life.
Bob Proctor wrote “Thoughts are Things,” which is similar to the book mentioned but from a different perspective.
I’ve already mentioned Sadhguru’s “Inner Engineering: A Yogi’s Guide to Joy,” which delves deeper into why you may want to start a meditative practice and the benefits you can find therein.
Paramahansa Yogananda wrote his “Autobiography of a Yogi” about his journey toward enlightenment and the benefits of meditation.
These four books may be more challenging for many people with a Western mindset to swallow because they aren’t peer-reviewed scientific articles that can be corroborated with other similar studies.
They’re much more esoteric, and many of the claims seem too far-fetched for our science-drenched minds.
If that’s how you feel, then perhaps you should try Shinzen Young’s “The Science of Enlightenment: How Meditation Works,” published in 2016 by an American author who studied meditation at the Shingon monastery at Mount Koya in Japan. As a way to make meditation more accessible, he has teamed up with neuroscientists at notable, prestigious schools around the country to research the benefits and effects of meditation on the individual.
Still Wondering Why You Should Go In?
Do you think everything that happens to you is external? It’s not. Everything is internal.
A couple of weeks ago, I discussed how your mind shapes reality and how everything you experience happens within your mind.
Just because something happens to you that you perceive to be negative doesn’t mean another individual will take it the same way.
If you lack hearing or vision, your experience of the world is vastly different from those who don’t deal with those disorders.
However, hearing and vision all take place in your mind. You may have the necessary parts to transform images or sounds into the resonance and frequency that allow you to have the experience you do, but your ear isn’t what hears; it’s merely a tool that converts the sound into something your mind can make sense of.
Lacking the ability to hear doesn’t mean sounds aren’t happening all around you; it just means there’s an issue with the tools that would allow you to listen to those sounds.
When I type on a keyboard, it isn’t the keys that allow me to form my thoughts into whatever I’m writing. It’s the underlying programming. The keys are merely the tools used to convey the message to the program, which then outputs that information onto a screen. Even then, viewing it on a screen is simply another tool to allow me to see what’s happening in the programming.
However, these things are so closely intertwined that it seems whatever happens externally is what really affects you.
If you look again at the quote by Marcus Aurelius mentioned at the beginning of this article, you’ll see a little more clearly what I’m getting at.
You have power over your mind, not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.
– Marcus Aurelius
This doesn’t mean you aren’t affected by outside stimuli. I know it seems I’m contradicting everything I just stated, but again, things are so closely intertwined; how could you not be?
If you get in a car accident or you get shot, you’re absolutely affected by those things.
Maybe you broke up with your significant other; you will be affected by that to some degree.
The experience, though, even though it might affect your physical aspect, is still taking place in your mind. The pain you feel from a burn is felt in your mind. If I had no feeling in my hand, I could set it on fire and wouldn’t care. Obviously, it’s affecting me physically, but it isn’t affecting me mentally.
And that’s the driving point here.
Just because you experience something, you don’t have to succumb to the experience. Who’s to say the experience is even real in the first place?
I remember reading a story of a medic in World War 2 who ran out of morphine, which was needed to administer to wounded soldiers. Knowing how difficult it would be to handle soldiers in shock and try to operate on them, a nurse gave a syringe of saline water to the medic, who then injected it into the soldiers as if they were giving them a dose of morphine. Surprisingly, the soldiers relaxed, and they completed the necessary operations.
If that’s the case, do people need morphine, or do they just need saline water? Apparently, the soldiers just needed to believe they were receiving morphine, and their minds took care of the rest. This just goes to show the power of the mind and how it can affect your reality. This phenomenon is seen over and over with what is called the placebo effect.
If the mind is that powerful, what else can it do?
Unlocking Inner Growth for Mindset Mastery
One reason you might blame your circumstances or others around you is that you don’t want to take on the responsibility yourself.
After all, if someone does something to hurt you, aren’t they the ones at fault? Shouldn’t they be held accountable for their actions? Yes, they should.
However, you should also be accountable for your mind as well.
If you allow them to get to you and you begin to ruminate on the experience, then you are just giving your power over to them each time you think of the situation. This can even happen years after the experience.
Do you really want to live your life that way, or would you rather be in control of your mind and live life on your terms regardless of what someone might have done that hurt you?
This is why Jesus told his disciple Peter to forgive seventy times seven. Let go of whatever hurts you may be holding onto and move on with your life. Don’t let those events or circumstances hold you down and keep you trapped.
When you learn to do this, you begin to take control of your life and live in peace and joy.
Understanding that it all comes from within helps you regulate your thoughts and emotions because now you are responsible for your actions and reactions.
As you delve deeper and deeper into yourself, you begin to learn how to release old thoughts and paradigms that keep you trapped, running around in circles and chasing the same feelings repeatedly.
This is why the only way to go is in.
You can’t change the outer world around you; in the few instances you can, the change is minimal. In the overarching experience we call life, the change is almost imperceptible.
Look at our civilizations. It’s taken thousands of years for us to get to where we are today. Most of the changes have been small, incremental advancements across Mellinea.
This is why we have the saying, “Rome wasn’t built in a day.”
To make it personal, you didn’t become the person you are today in an instant; it’s taken years for you to develop into the person you see staring back at you in the mirror. That person is merely an accumulation of bits and pieces of various thoughts and experiences that have shaped you into who you are, but not all of those things serve you.
Everybody has something they’re holding onto or dealing with that prevents them from living the full-fledged life they could be living. However, many people don’t want to go in and deal with those issues. It can be difficult, frustrating, and scary.
When you take the plunge, though, you are able to work out whatever might be holding you back in any area of your life, and it will begin to lead you to freedom from those issues.
It might not all be instantaneous, but if you keep putting one foot in front of the other, you’ll find your way into the light.
You may be wondering how do you go within?
There are many ways to do this. Here are a few for consideration:
- Journal
- Attend therapy
- Start a meditative practice
- Do difficult things, ones that force you out of your comfort zone (But please be safe about it)
The main thing is that you have to work to change. There will be times when you feel like giving up. Don’t. Keep at it. Be willing to do whatever’s necessary to overcome that part of you that seems to be holding you back.
Some people will think they’re doing the work because they go to therapy or journal about their experiences, which is good, but they might just be using that as a bandaid to alleviate the symptoms without dealing with the root issue.
You have to be willing to face whatever that issue is head-on. If you don’t, you won’t make the lasting changes you’re looking for.
There will be times when you’ve felt like you’ve dealt with the problem just to have it rear its ugly little head again.
Ultimately, the choice is yours. As I’ve said before, you either accept the pain of the same or the pain of change.
The choice is yours.
Thank you very much for your time today. If you’ve found this beneficial, please consider sharing it with your friends, family, and network. I sincerely hope these articles impact your life and cause you to consider how you might be able to overcome various aspects of yourself in a healthy, meaningful way.
As always, much love to you all.
Josiah
