Written by: Paul Corke, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
We can all become victims of our own minds and in effect a victim of the perception of prison. A prison for our minds. But if we want to change our life, we have to take control of our minds. We have to change our mindset or program our minds.
“All problems are an illusion of the mind.” – Eckhart Tolle
It’s never been more important to have a positive and proactive mindset in the times we now live.
That is one of the things that can really set us apart from others.
The great thing is we can change our mindset anytime and use techniques to develop our mindset.
The most successful people know mindset is so important in making them successful.
Have you heard of the Placebo Effect?
It originated in the 1st World War when soldiers with significant injuries were treated with a saline solution instead of morphine. The Doctor had run out and in desperation, tried to help the soldiers think they were receiving morphine. And in most cases to his surprise, it worked, and the soldiers calmed down.
We now know the placebo as a fake pill you take convinced it is real and the mind then creates the same effect as if you have taken the real pill.
There is no medical effect only the power of the mind.
Every time your doctor tells you that the drug you take has been proved to work, they mean that it has been proved to work better than a placebo.
What is amazing is the stories that relate to the placebo effect…
There was an acupuncturist that treated a patient who need to have an ovary operation but after treatment claimed it had cured her ovaries and all her pain went away. The acupuncturist said as good as the treatment was it could not have cured her condition that it was the women’s belief in itself that became the cure.
There was a man who went the Doctor in the US with a sore throat and sadly when tested told he had liver cancer. He then felt really ill and said to his family he wanted to live to Xmas to spend time with the grandkids. He lived till Xmas and the day after died. What was really sad with the autopsy tests is that he was given the wrong diagnosis he never had liver cancer. In effect this was the same power of the mind but working as a negative placebo effect…the diagnosis being the imaginary pill in this case.
It has also been proven through an experiment that those people who exercise and believe they will live longer than their counterparts actually do.
There are many other stories about how the power of the mind can heal but also creates psychosomatic illnesses if we let it. The more we allow our mind the freedom of negative thoughts it will roam free creating destruction in our lives.
Small negative thoughts that ripple over time can create massive negative effects in our lives if we don’t take back control.
So here are some simple tips to take back control of your mind…
Sit in a quiet room and listen to your thoughts are they positive or negative?
Think about the people in your life do you think positively or negatively about them?
Think about your work life do you have positive or negative thoughts?
Repeat this process about all the different aspects of your life at home, work, social, interests, etc and start to recognise were you need to replace negative thinking in your life or remove negative people or situations.
And take any negative thoughts and replace them with empowering ones, or if you want the people in your life think positively about them or about your work, home, and life.
Being grateful for what you have creates positive thinking and reinforces positive habits in your life.
The impacts of this over time like the ripples on a lake create a waterfall of positivity and outcomes in your life.
What yea sow so shall yea reap.
And another way to stop your mind taking over you is to think about your mind as two different voices. The negative voice, the endless chattering of negativity is the monkey and then the other voice which knows what to do, is rational and is you at your best is your goat (Greatest of all time). These two voices combine so that when things are going well you are more inclined to listen to the goat voice and when you have doubt or things are not going great the monkey kicks in. The monkey has more of its way because it is the emotional voice you more likely to listen to based on your feelings.
So how do we tame our monkey voice by three ways…
Monkey meditation as above find a room and just let your monkey chatter until it tires itself out because it will.
Monkey madness by letting the monkey out by going into a room on your own and literally letting your monkey thoughts out even if it means having a good scream.
Go on a monkey mission which literally means taking those thoughts and turning them into something the monkey can get passionate about. The monkey is not always a bad thing because the emotion can be about passion. So, find that mission your monkey can get passionate about.
So, I know some of you will be thinking monkey and goat what are you talking about I only have one voice in my head? Yes, we do but it is just a simple way of identifying those negative and positive thoughts so we can actively do something about them and take back control of our minds.
“The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven.” – John Milton
Paul Corke, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Paul Corke is an author, a keynote speaker, and considered to be a leading expert on mindset, innovation, and leadership. He is currently recognized as the No. 1 Health and Wellness Thought Leader & Influencer with @Thinkers360 and is also the Managing Director of Leadership Innovators an innovative leadership consultancy. He previously spent 25 years in the corporate world with award-winning results specializing in organizational effectiveness, employee engagement, talent management, and leadership development with experience in the UK, Ireland, Europe, the US, and the Middle East.
Paul is the author of Reframe Your Mindset: Redefine Your Success, has a podcast series to support the book and has created The Mindset Journal all based on what he calls ‘The Mindset Equation for Success.’ Paul uses his research into the mindset and positive psychology along with the thinking from his books to provide thought leadership, leadership model design, leadership assessment, and solutions to help organizations build their leadership capability.
Paul has successfully built a leadership development strategy and provided solutions in the industries of Financial Services, Retail, Automobile, Charity, Information Technology, Education, and Local Government. His mission is to develop leaders the world now wants to see whilst also making a difference through B1G1working towards the UN Global Goals to help those in need across the world.
