Lifehacks for the Mind | Part 8: Substituting Scarcity-Thoughts & Replacing Self-Worth-Denial

paradigmprospect (69)in #lifehacks • 5 years ago (edited)

All of us carry some deeply ingrained patterns around with us. The viewpoints and convictions we have long started to make our own, even if they don't really serve us that well...

And often - despite their questionable nature - we're all too easily hanging on to them, consciously or unconsciously so, and then wonder why life and the challenges we are faced with seem so difficult to overcome. Maybe because we have ramped up the negativity in our minds so much that we forget there may be little resemblance to reality.

Negative reinforcement thought-loop

Many people worry a lot. It's a good example because I still find myself worrying way too often - worrying about potential situations that might never happen. I see how it burns endless amounts of energy, and I feel how it is accompanied by mental strain and stress that I would actually prefer to keep away from my system as much as I can, but you know - we all have our unique stressers that somehow seem to come back again and again despite our best efforts to rationally take their fuel away.

For the longest time this has bugged me to no end. How can I muster so much energy to conjure up images that are neither in my interest, nor enjoyable, nor constructive?

Some may say these aren't "my thoughts and worries" but just ones in the field that I pick up on. Others will say I have to meditate regularly to let go of them more easily, which is something that dancing for hours on end on psyfloors seems to accomplish for me but sadly I can't (yet) go to a dancefloor every time I am hung up on some bad mind chatter thoughtloop.

However... in everyday life there is a simple hack that is both logical and blunt, yet effective and noticeably de-stressing.

Subconscious patterns of guilt and shame

One take on these negative thought loops I want to emphasize here is that we have somehow gotten used to having them; presumably - and that's the idea here - because we have no better mantras in their place.

There might be several reasons for this. Some people may have this old indoctrination hangup of having to feel worthy of being alive through carrying a lot of unconscious guilt around with them. As in: "Life is hard and you better show the others through your serious face how hard it is!"

Another reason for our proliferation of bad mantras might simply be that our indoctrination culture thrives on people who feel disempowered and hence we can observe these bad-mantra seeds being planted everywhere: In commercials (you need this car or that watch to be awesome), in politics (open hostility towards the majority under the guise of protecting minority rights (something we will get to another time)) or -say - in school, where failing a test isn't celebrated as a chance to learn but instead interpreted as weakness and "failure" of the individual that is somehow inexcusable and unspokenly worthy of guilt and shame.

But here's the thing, we just don't get anything from dwelling on these things or where they come from. It's time we made the swap and pick some better mantras to occupy our minds with. As as long as we live in the mind that seems like the most efficient way to go about it...

Swapping mantras

There could be many great mantras in place of the bad ones. First of all, find out what it is you want to work on and find phrases that help you move in that direction.

If you need some help let me introduce you to Jason Stephenson as an example of someone who has produced many videos with powerful mantras and affirmations that you could even listen to while you sleep or doze off. He has many different types of mantra sessions to massage your subconscious - ranging from abundance mantras, to success in business or self-worth. Healthy stuff for sure!

Many of Jason's videos are enriched with some great soundtracks to support the message in a media shamanistic way. Here is one of my favorites he has made, a great collection of abundance mantras of high calibre that is helping me out a lot every time I feel like I don't have enough funds to feel free to do my thing...

Remember: It's about intentionally grinding in these ideas and to let them sink into the subconscious so as to steer your mind into more affirmative and beneficial lanes, and take energy and attention away from the damaged old roads of doubt, guilt and overt self-criticism.