2 minute read
CONTROLLING YOUR MINDSTORIES
Freedom from the Frantic Mind
Carla Rieger
Do you find yourself frantic a lot these days? It’s not your external reality that causes franticness; the cause is your MindStories . . . your interpretation.
The villain isn’t the external situation on the screen of your mind—it’s your projector. The current external reality is not the root of your issues . . . your subconscious stories are running the show—the MindStories that say you should be different, respond in a specific way, be envious of someone else’s good fortune, or get angry and frustrated—those are habitual, all-too-familiar emotional responses running in your MindStories.
You need to escape the unresolved issues looping in the background of your mind. They are a form of distraction—a numbing— unresolved disharmony about choices you’ve made or continue to make that go against your core values in subtle and not-so-subtle ways.
Some people run inner dialogues that they are not good enough in some ways. Society teaches us what we need to achieve in terms of looks, finances, career success, family life, and other ways of being. We may not feel perfect enough. There’s always something we can find about ourselves that is not good enough.
We often use our electronic devices, the Internet, our work, our to-do list, and substances to numbout/drown-out the noise, but they are not a full-time fix. The moment there is silence, your inner attitudes and insecurities surface—the disharmony, the pain, the selfcriticism, the agitation, and/or the feeling something is not right—and there is the feeling of confusion about how to transform that noise.
Usually the most effective way is to go through it—face it head-on— be willing to see the truth and be curious about what’s really going on.
Maybe all the dragons we try to slay or escape are actually inner voices that need to be heard. Once heard, they can transform into something wonderful—a powerful creative force for positive change. Case in Point I travelled to a remote Indonesian island by a rough 4-hour boat trip. Local transport was on foot or by donkey cart; Internet and cell connections were impossible.
At first I thought, what a good excuse to unplug! After a couple of days, I hungered to check texts and emails—for some good distraction. I hadn’t been without my electronic devices in quite a long time and it became clear they were an issue for me.
I started to wonder if the Internet and our devices create an addiction . . . and, when we don’t have them, we go into a tizzy.
By day 3 without Internet, I had the feeling I’ve had at the end of a fast—headache and food cravings and I got cranky. So I went into the heart of my feelings; I processed all the hunger, negativity, and irritability until I came out the other side. I found I was fine without all that distraction, in fact I was happier and more peaceful.
The trick is you can’t get to the peace place right away; you must cross the swamp to get there.
At home, after my trip was over, I was connected again with all sorts of pinging sounds in my phone and laptop—I was back in the swamp.
A college teacher friend asked her students to leave their phones outside the classroom, in a locked box. The kids went nuts . . . she could see them fidgeting, not knowing where to look or
