Dr Neil Cox of Exeter County Chiropractic did a great talk on 19th March called ‘Think Well’ as part of a series on being more aware of the body, mind and nutrition for better health.
I was grateful to contribute a part about how our minds influence our states, focusing on the mental movies of our subconscious imagination. For those who attended and would like to know more, and anyone else, more information is on the Magic of Mental Movies page here!
Mind control is always an interesting area – The Manchurian Candidate, hypnosis, Derren Brown, the CIA’s secret MKUltra brainwashing program in the cold water and all that kinda stuff.
But the most powerful form of mind control must be to control your own mind, not others. Having self awareness, the ability to recognise when you’re thinking doesn’t make sense. Having the discpline of directing your own mental energy, and actions, to get things done more effectively. Being able to let go of things, whether people, places, objects or old beliefs about things. And also, having the control to reliquish control when need be, and to not live your life in fear of it.
Whilst experience is valuable, having the initial awareness of knowing how to make the most of experience is also vital. This prevents your experiences from just solidifying and reinforcing your mind rather than freeing it up. This is what self help hypnosis is all about.
I have read a lot of pop psychology books in my time, and many are written around the concept of “what makes a person successful?” Its an interesting age old debate. My overall conclusion is that it has nothing to do with intelligence, or knowledge. It’s not even down to who you know, although that’s probably more valuable than the first two. No – to paraphrase Tony Robbins, it’s all about taking action. You could have many good ideas or things you’d like to do – but unless you actually turn your thoughts into actions – then what’s the point? No one will ever get to see the inside of your mind, except through your actions. A friend was commenting on how his boss, as much of an asshole as he is, is always taking action. He’ll just have an idea, pick up a phone, and bark at someone to implement it. Some ideas work, some don’t, but overall the ones that don’t train the mind to have more ideas of the kind that do. This is what makes human beings so different – we can have ideas and then turn them into action.
So going into the New Year, why not make a plan to commit yourself to take action on a few ideas or goals. It does feel good, and that inner sense of personal power keeps your psychological immune system (i.e., feeling good) healthy. On that note, its the people who don’t take action enough, who feel like the world takes action against them, who have no sense of control and power and end up becoming depressed, using victimisation language, complaining about everything etc.
As much as I enjoy some great books and ideas, I still maintain that a vast majority of the self help industry (and the books) are total tosh, and I’m enjoying the new wave backlash against it (the SHAM movement) and Hollywood’s gags (Tony Robbins cameo in Shallow Hal, the wannabe self help guru in Little Miss Sunshine). So to illustrate the theme in a fun way, here’s Jim Carrey’s new movie: