How are you ‘being’ today?
In this blog, you will find out:
Exactly what you are doing when you are ‘being.’
How to access your thoughts and;
How to silence your thoughts by ‘being.’
This is when your ‘being mind' is in a doing mode. This leads to thinking errors that can trigger the fight, flight, or freeze response, releasing stress hormones in the body. Understandably, the 'being mind' is known for slipping into doing mode in protecting you and ensuring your existence. The lack of skills to identify, access, and change these thoughts can cause you to do most things and act from a state of emotional agitation.
Your thoughts are mental images. Either present or imagined. Your assumptions, beliefs, and opinions are forming the sounds that come within you.
Both the mental pictures and noises are known as your thoughts, which you can identify and access. As a human, you are a thinking and behavioral being (A Doer). In using the cognitive-behavioral model (Your thoughts create your feelings and actions), when you are ‘being,’ you are observing your thoughts, either internally or externally, and feeling neutral in stopping your thoughts from controlling you.
What exactly are you doing when you are ‘BEING’?
Being is when the mind is intentionally quiet. It is the moment you silence your mind, are fully present, and are ready to experience your existence. It is a continuous and conscious process. Sometimes, it can be challenging to observe the mental images in the mind simply; or unlearn what has been sensed or proven to be a ‘fact’ without switching on the sound (making judgments). However, learning to switch off the mental sound is the first step in learning to ‘BE.’
How to ‘BE.’ Silencing your Thoughts.
I believe there are 2 ways to approach how to detach yourself from your thoughts.
Turn off the Visual Imagery
Turn off the Auditory Imagery
You can purposely switch off the mental images and sounds, using three simple steps. The process requires focused attention, using controlled deep, slow breaths, and a body scan. It isn’t magic as It requires some mental power, especially if you are used to the Habit of Unbalanced Doing.
Turn off the Visual Imagery
Intention: Set your intention. What do you want to achieve? To change the image in your mind.
Attention: What is the image? Identify the image.
Permission: Allow yourself to think blank on purpose gently. This can be thinking into the void. A plain black or white image will suffice.
Alternatively, you can just observe the mental pictures. Stripping all meanings, labeling, titles, categorizing, judgments, and complaining off what you are thinking. This can be more challenging but possible, like a newborn child that has no meaning for everything.
Turn off the Auditory Imagery
The same process applies to turning off the mental sound.
Intention: Set your intention. What do you want to achieve? To quiet your mind.
Attention: Give attention to the sound when identifying what you want to intrude.
Permission: Allow yourself to interrupt gently. Intentionally talk to yourself, switching on your blank imagery, and applying meaning. Use a statement such as ‘Just Being,’ ‘That is Enough!’ or ‘STOP!’
The two tips work simultaneously. It depends on your situation, and physiology as these are interconnected with your thoughts, feelings, and behaviours. Importantly, for this to work, you have to ensure that there is no exposure to real danger or physical harm.
Balancing Being and Doing
Being is not about feeling positive or negative. Being is a mental process that requires you to gently interrupt the unknown part of the mind from its involuntary and undesired ‘Doing.’
It is a feeling of neutrality, a way of living that requires intentional balanced way of thinking.
It helps removes psychological blocks that create unpleasant feelings such as fear, anger, and anxiety in allowing creative thinking and productive behaviours.
When you are BEING, you are effectively saving mental energy, calming the emotional center of your brain while resting your mind.
Do you want to learn how to rest your mind?