I often discuss with my clients how a part of the human mind evolved as a useful tool for assessing risk. The
risk used to be around things such as: “If I run across this clearing with that herd of buffalo heading this way will I make it?” That ancient remnant still
exists today and so we are always doing a risk assessment of the world around
us. Unfortunately we now have the media bringing us every piece of misery, crime
and suffering from everywhere in the world within seconds of it occurring. Despite
the surfing dog or juggling panda story thrown in at the end of the news
program, we often end up sitting in our living rooms and assessing the world –
both natural and man-made - to be a very dangerous place.
With our minds convinced that our lives are
threatened in many ways we feel fearful and worse still powerless. We then create our own prisons both in terms of
what we feel and think and to whom we relate. Nelson Mandela spent 27 years in
a small cell yet, having read his book, I’m not sure that he was ever truly a
prisoner. Many of us are the opposite – we are free to go about our daily lives
but we have created our own prisons of fear and anxiety, disconnection and
separation.
The irony is that the human mind is also very
capable of endless creativity, incredible problem solving, of appreciating
beauty and complexity, and, through the pineal gland, of connecting to the spiritual dimension,
if only we would let it gorge itself on those manifestations of the human
experience to the same extent.
So if
you find your conversation (both internal and external) mirroring the news
bulletins – mostly gloom and doom, a little bit of sport, though generally to
complain about selector or refereeing decisions, and with just a wee bit of
good news at the end - it’s time to change channels. Switch off the ‘mind
monster’ that feeds on bad news and pain and turn on the part of you that finds
joy and excitement in the success and happiness of others. The part that
rejoices in the incredible diversity of the human experience and searches compassionately for inspiration from and connection to your fellow humans.
To get you started here is a the best news story I came across in the last few weeks. It proved so popular that a whole program was made about this amazing lady.
