Its not you, its your thoughts...

200 years ago most humans were slogging it out in factories striving for survival.

Fast forward to now, everyone’s chasing freedom, all in their own ways.

For some freedom means not having to report to anyone, for others it’s hitting a new destination every month.

But here’s the catch.

You can do all those things and still feel captive if your mind is spinning with thoughts that make you worry about the future or what you’ll do with all the free time in your hands.

The ultimate freedom is when you’ve freed yourself from the prison of your thoughts.

That’s when you hit the sweet spot of inner peace.

Every one of us who’s blessed with a mind is also cursed with thoughts that run on loop and in fact rule a large part of our lives.

Take your own case. You may have a desire to do something but keep holding back because you keep entertaining your thoughts that say ‘you aren’t ready yet’, or that ‘you won’t be able to make it’.

It really has nothing to do with you or your potential. It’s just your thoughts that keep tricking you.

The real game is in realizing that your thoughts don’t define you. Thoughts come and go and their job is to intimidate you.

Thanks to researchers Isaac Fradkin and Eran Eldar, we have two strategies to stop this from happening.

Reactive cognitive control is when you reject and replace a thought with something that’s more constructive. Proactive cognitive control is keeping an unwanted thought from entering your consciousness in the first place.

Easier said than done, I know. But it is possible by becoming more present to thoughts and attempting to rise above them.

Let’s put this to practice.

The next time a limiting thought enters your mind telling you “You failed with this in the past, what’s the point of trying now”. Notice that thought, see it for what it is, and make the choice to not entertain it any further. Then replace it by remembering all the times when your efforts have been worthwhile. It all comes down to what you choose to focus on. That’s reactive cognitive control in action.

Proactive cognitive control seems a little far stretched tbh given that thoughts shamelessly let themselves in without permission.

But there is a way around that too and it involves preemptively visualizing positive thoughts. It’s like starting your day with an intention of how you want to be feeling, which reverses back to what you want to be thinking. When you’re repeatedly choosing thoughts that are conducive to your growth, you cut out the other stuff. Through practice and persistence, the habitual patterns of negative thoughts get weakened.

Of course, keeping yourself engaged in meaningful initiatives is an added bonus. A focused mind has no room for nonsense.

Getting to that sweet spot of inner peace…

Everyone wants peace of mind. Few know how to reach that state.

This week my guest Dan Goldfield, takes us on an insightful journey of calming the mind, embracing acceptance, and realising the true essence of happiness.

Find out the principles that the happiest monks live by and how you can make that happen for yourself without meditating on a mountain top.

The ideal morning routine

I’ve experimented with a bunch of morning routines but this is what I find myself gravitating most toward:

-Wake up and soak in some sun
-Move your meridians- (I do Qi gong)
-Shut your eyes and focus on the breath for a few minutes.
-Hit the gym and then do everything else.

This really helps me get centered and sets the tone for the rest of the day.

What’s in your morning routine?

Feel free to write back with what helps you to get going…