The happiest people in the world, the most successful people in the world, the most genius people, and the wealthiest people all share at least this one common trait... and it is possible for anyone to develop if it isn't already naturally a part of your makeup ... in today's blog article.
The purpose of this article, is not to discuss anything related to your physical prowess, strength or the lack thereof as is evident in the reference to wimpiness in the title! Rather, we are about to explore a muscle that is likely the most under-utilized muscle in our entire system and possibly the most important to your functioning at a high level… the muscle of your mind.
You see your mental strength, mental endurance, and mental flexibility are what will make the difference between you being able to make it through a boring movie to being present and collision-free when driving; from being clear minded, free of rampant emotions, to being able to visualize and summon your desires by working with the law of attraction; from ‘losing it’ with a close friend or family member and being able to handle any major world cataclysm that may occur from a state of peace.
If there is one thing that most people do not do and should, that would be to increase their mental strength, mental flexibility, and mental endurance!
In this article we are going to explore exactly how to do this with some exercises you can practice, as well as share with your friends, family and other loved ones.
Consider me your Mental Coach for the duration of this article!
What most people fail to recognize is that nearly all sports are much more mental than they are physical! In tennis, if you hit a bad shot, that one shot can stay with you until you finally lose the match because you were so upset about it. And the same goes for every sport!
If you are not present when lifting a weight in competition or if an Olympian is not present when speed skating they won’t even come close to placing and in many cases injuries ensue!
If you are exercising and not present mentally, it is easy to pull a muscle, or experiencing something worse!
I am sure you would agree that strengthening the mind is something that should be taught from grade 1 and continued on for life and without question, the greatest geniuses and masters of our time are those who are masters of their minds.
Those masters of the mind are either very strong mentally in endurance and can therefore outlast others (such as neurosurgeons who need to be able to maintain focus for long periods of time), or they are mentally flexible, such as scientists and artists who can think outside of the box and come up with cures or masterpieces.
Lastly, they may be simply very strong mentally in that they can process many pieces of information at once, or, one piece of information that requires a deeper level of understanding and awareness, such as lawyers who have come to learn legal jargon, and philosophers who have developed their depth of understanding into the complexities of the foundation of existence itself.
The truth is, it is absolutely possible for anyone to develop mental strength, endurance, and flexibility. Below you will find a few techniques that I have come across that you can practice to turn your mind into a well sculpted thinking and creative machine that you can use at will.
1. Taught to me by my mentor and teach Sue Maes-Thyret:
Grab three strings of yarn. At one end tie them together to a door knob. Next, start braiding them. This is not the difficult part. The next step is as you are braiding them notice if your mind wanders from the act of braiding. Whenever your mind strays from the act you must untie the strings and start over. Give this a go and share your results below at the end of the blog.
2. Sue gave a variation on the above for which you don’t need any yarn or tools. Simply count out loud and when you notice your mind wandering, start over. You will likely be surprised at how far you can get… or rather at how far you don’t get!
3. For flexibility, and this is one of the most powerful techniques that I know for manifesting what you desire… choose an area of life you are experiencing a challenge in and take 3 minutes to come up with benefits for that challenge - saying them out loud.
Here is how it might sound: The challenge may be that you might not have the amount of money you want. A benefit of not having enough money is that it allows you to become creative with creating money. It allows you to use our points that you have accumulated through miles. It allows you to put less focus on material objects and the collection of material objects and instead to focus on other non-material items that do matter.
The key with this exercise is to do it for 3 minutes at a time. During that time, as you do, you will be stretching your mind creatively and therefore increasing your ability to think outside of the box of the mind.
4. Meditate. A strong mind does not just mean being able to think A LOT! It also means being able to turn it off at will when you want it to be off or when you don’t need it. The best mental exercise for this, bar none, is meditation. This is different from thinking creatively, or being able to focus for long periods of time. This actually involves letting go of the mind so that it is in a state of rest and ready for when you do need it.
The most effective form of meditation that I teach involves lying or sitting down on a comfortable bed, chair, or on the floor. You then set your timer/watch/iphone for 15 a minute countdown, then close your eyes, and finally simply allow your mind to do whatever it is doing. If it is silent, great. If it is wandering, great. If it is thinking, that is fine. Allow it to do whatever it is doing.
After practicing this for a period of time, you may notice something wonderful, that your mind may actually be relaxing more and more each time you do it; perhaps your mind becomes silent for a shor time or possible for long periods of time.
5. Keep these keys in mind:
a. Just like exercise, don’t overdo it! Do not do these exercises to the point of exhaustion. Instead do them until you have reached no more than about 95% of your capacity!
b. Do not do anything else while you are practicing these techniques. For example, driving and trying to count with your focus on the numbers is NOT a wise idea!
c. If you cannot last for 3 minutes, work your way up to 3 minutes over time, and, feel free to switch up the topic each day!
d. Consistency is key. It will be far easier to make this a habit than doing it on day 1, skipping a few days, and then having to restart the process. Like a train, more energy is typically needed to get it going than to keep it going!
e. Switch up the exercise and create a routine. Day 1. could be counting aloud. Day 2. could be braiding. Day 3. could be the benefits exercise.
f. Take breaks! It is better to do these exercises with breaks than to do them to the point of exhaustion.
g. You want to be able to handle two types of states of mind… a heavy mind and a no mind state. The no mind state involves 1 set of practicing meditation for 15 minutes every day. The heavy mind involves high repetitions with a lot of heavy emotional weight. This way ideally you will be able to handle both high mental weight along with no weight resulting in a lean mind that is at peace.
You now have some exercises to practice firming up, strengthening, toning, and beefing up your mind muscle!
Now get to it!
Your Mind Coach,
Joshua
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