Written by: Royce Morales, 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.
Do you have pessimistic thoughts, negative judgments, spontaneous anger, sarcasm or even inappropriate laughter that pops in randomly? These out-of-control reactions are cues that you are in a triggered state, a state that influences your life, behavior and attitude in ways you may not realize.
Like being stuck in a tedious template, these responses are the result of subconscious inner programming that has become your mindset. You go through life anticipating the next shoe to drop, or maybe tossing that shoe before it drops, even when things are going well.
When I began teaching my spiritually based inner development courses, a spotlight turned on, exposing a slew of my own negative thoughts. I never realized how judgmental I was; defeatist attitudes dictated every move; cynicism was my M.O. I expected the worst to happen, which of course manifested, proving I was right.
Exploring the deep recesses of my programmed fear-based consciousness allowed me to understand that those thoughts are always mirrors, exposing something I’m in denial of about myself.
This became evident one afternoon as I rode down a very long escalator. Noticing someone going up the opposite direction, a litany of thoughts recited, criticizing her size, her outfit, the color of her hair. Reaching my destined floor, I paused, looked inside and recognized that I had the exact same (hidden) thoughts about myself. This woman was an extreme mirror, revealing the inner judgments I had suppressed. My realization made me want to run up the escalator and thank her for the wake-up call!
From that moment on, the curtain I had been hiding behind swung wide. Life became a process of observing my mindset, especially when noticing judgments, disapproval, invalidation, annoyance, hopelessness and anger. Reflection helped alleviate the pull of these triggers, but I needed to dig deeper to find their origins to dissipate their hold.
What’s a mindset?
Mindset is your way of thinking, the context in which you hold things. It’s the lens you look at yourself, the world and life from. It determines how you perceive, interpret and approach things. It dictates how you handle situations, sort out what’s going on and what you should do about it.
A simplistic way to understand it is, if your mindset is positive, you see things positively; if it’s negative, that’s how everything appears.
With a negative mindset, you read the news and your focus is drawn to how bleak and depressing things are. If it’s positive, you see possibility, opportunity and even gifts in these reports.
Most importantly, mindset defines how you see yourself. It determines self-confidence, self-esteem, energy level and happiness. If your mindset lives in doom and gloom, that self-fulfilling prophecy is what shows up, no matter what tactics you apply or how you struggle. Ultimately, it reveals your willingness to be open to change and personal evolution.
Where mindset originates
The foundation of your mindset stems from your primitive, fear-based consciousness that’s hardwired to make sure you survive. Prior to the development of your logical mind (around the age of three), traumatic incidents program the beliefs you have about yourself, others and life. The thoughts you had when you experienced or caused pain or loss were decided as Truth, and, from then on, they ran your life from a subconscious place.
Let’s say you’re three years old playing catch outside with Mom. You threw the ball extra hard and accidentally hit her car breaking the windshield. Angrily, she calls you stupid and storms inside. Right then, you make decisions: “I’m stupid; I’m clumsy; I cause women to get upset; Mom doesn’t love me; playing ends up being destructive, I don’t deserve to have fun.”
The list can be quite long.
Those thoughts became your programming, stored in your subconscious mind as your reality. They start controlling you in various ways, especially when something happens that even vaguely reminds you of that incident.
Years later, you find yourself at a baseball game and can’t shake the illogical thought that something bad is going to happen. For no rational reason, you feel stupid, upset, clumsy and want to hide. You have an overwhelming urge to call your Mom to make sure she’s okay. After the game, you walk to your car and feel relieved that nothing happened to it.
All of this goes on subconsciously since you probably don’t remember that three-year-old’s experience, no less the decisions formulated from it.
Unsetting mindset
Self-awareness empowers you to recognize your mindset. By noticing judgmental thoughts, anger, irritability and negative attitudes you can open up an inner dialogue.
Ask yourself: Is this thought true or is it from something I believe is true for some subconscious reason? Is this thought/emotion reflecting a programmed belief I bought into? Is it showing me a mirror of something about myself?
Admittedly, a fixed mindset is stubborn and takes digging to completely shift, even when life repeatedly shows these notions as faulty. However, with a desire to change, radical self-honesty, applied mindfulness and inner discovery work, its power can diminish. False beliefs can be transcended.
And that can shift everything, especially your mindset.
Mindfulness mindset exercise
The concept of mindfulness has entered the mainstream, even being used in certain types of therapy. But what is it exactly?
Mindfulness means focusing your awareness on the present moment, while acknowledging and accepting your emotions, thoughts and bodily sensations without judgment. Meditation, yoga, relaxation and exercise along with specific techniques to enhance it, are helpful.
To start shifting that stubborn mindset, there must be a desire, intention and commitment to observe with awareness.
As I always tell my students, it’s hard to do things mindlessly when you are aware.
Here's a simple way to start your mindfulness practice
Find a quiet space in your home or outdoors where you can sit comfortably for about 10 to 20 minutes without being disturbed. Put your cell phone and other electronic devices away.
Allow yourself to breathe slowly and deeply, relaxing with each exhale.
Imagine that each time you exhale, your breath is turning into a white light that surrounds you. Visualize it expanding like a balloon with each exhale. This positive energy allows you to feel safe, supported and expanded. It also helps connect you with your inner wisdom.
As you breathe, notice if you are feeling distracted, tense, bored or fearful. Acknowledge those feelings. By not resisting or judging them, they can dissipate.
As you relax further, ask for awareness of anything you need to focus on. Perhaps there’s a problem that needs to be resolved; a situation that needs to be looked at in a deeper way; a person you need to reconnect with; a fear you’ve been suppressing; a question that needs answering; a choice to make; a direction to go in life.
Trusting whatever direction comes to mind, ask to receive whatever you need to know. You might see images, memories, symbolism or a sense of guidance from your Higher Consciousness.
Sit quietly, absorbing this information until nothing more comes to mind.
Based on what you got in touch with, see if there is some sort of action you need to take in the Real World. Commit to doing so, trusting that you will be supported in amazing ways.
When you feel complete, allow yourself to slowly feel grounded by envisioning the expanded energy balloon slowly deflating as you come back. Take your time and when you feel ready, open your eyes.
Know that mindfulness and shifting your mindset is like exercising a muscle. Results don’t always show up immediately but stick with it and know your life is worth it.
To go deeper and get to the origins of negative programming, reach out to Royce.
Royce Morales, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Royce Morales is a renowned trailblazer, creator of an innovative, spiritually based approach to inner transformation. Her program, Perfect Life Awakening, emerged from a lifetime of frustration searching for inner work that worked. She discovered that revealing specific subconscious origins of self-sabotage, removing its persistent influence, life can shift.
She developed a clearing technique that releases programmed, false beliefs from this as well as previous lives. Negative patterns and hidden fears resolve so paralyzing issues lose their impact. This exclusive, time-tested work takes students from triggered to empowered, uncovering their authentic, purpose-driven life.
PLA also provides applicable tools to navigate daily life – ways to rapidly shift from anger to calm, fear to acceptance, judgement to connection. The work emphasizes awareness of, trusting and following one’s innate intuitive wisdom, then taking bold, inspired, real-world action.
The Perfect Life Awakening courses take place remotely and are presented in small groups to provide individual attention. Royce offers private inner discovery sessions to facilitate deeper work, utilizing her proprietary spiritual clearing technique called Spiritual Cognition Integration.
Royce is the author of three books about her teachings: Want – True Love, Past Lives and Other Complications; Know: A Spiritual Wake-up Call and Back: Rebirth After Stroke, all available on Amazon.
Go to Royce’s YouTube channel where she shares enlightening information about her teachings. She posts weekly blogs and writes articles for several other publications.
