When not used properly, our mind is very destructive

The power of your Memory and your Imagination

Our mind is a powerful tool when used wisely

Utilising the power of our mind, is our greatest gift as a human being. Yet most people use their mind to create unnecessary suffering.

As human beings we have unlimited potential to bring positive influence and change to the world, and to experience deep satisfaction and fulfilment. Our mind enables us to live the most extraordinary lives. When not used properly, our mind is very destructive – not just to ourselves, but to those close to us and the world around us.

We create unnecessary suffering

Most people are addicted to the voice in their head that they are in some way not good enough. Eckhart Tolle explains that many of us have an unhappy narrative about ourselves and our life, that we have completely identified with it.  A lot of people have a mindset of insecurity, scarcity, and not enoughness. In other words, we haven’t trained our mind to notice the good around us,  we haven’t reframed our past in a more positive constructive way, and we haven’t worked out how to find joy in the present moment.

Many of us believe that ‘one day’ when all of these perceived ‘life problems will be sorted’ then I can be happy. This reactive mindset, (rather than a creative mindset) only leads on a path of never feeling content or inspired. How does this play out in our life? Our life seems chaotic, unfulfilled, and we experience unease in both our mind and our body.

This is how the mind becomes very destructive. Left to its own devices, and the unhealthy narratives we take on from our upbringing and the culture around us leads us to only notice what’s not going well in our life, and our world.

We can rewire our brain for the better

Researchers have framed this ‘the negativity bias’ – the default mechanism of our  mind as it developed through evolution to be always on the lookout for threats to our survival. This means we have a tendency toward noticing what is not going well for us. If are not conscious about focussing on positive things too, we can develop an underlying belief that the world is not on our side, and generally hostile and unfriendly.

The great news is, change is possible. Science has found that we can rewire our mind for the better. Nueroscientist Dr Rick Hanson explains that ‘Nuerons that fire together wire together’. It is possible to override this negativity bias and grow the good within us and build a happier brain.

Using the power imagination and our memory

Jaemin Frazer, an Australian Life Coach and author who inspired this blog, explains that utilising the power of our mind, through the power of our imagination, and the power of our memory, are two of our greatest gifts as human beings. Other creatures around us – animals, insects, mammals, don’t have this incredible capability. And yet, we are not using it to our benefit.

He explains that the past doesn’t exist except in your memory. You can’t suffer the past, but you can suffer your memory of the past the past. And most people do.

The future also doesn’t exist, it only exists in our imagination. So you can’t suffer from the future, and yet most people do. We suffer in our imagination of the future. We re-experience scary things over and over in our future and use our imagination to anticipate dark things happening in our future over and over.

This is all unnecessary. And kind of mad! Yet most people experience life like this.

How to use the power of our mind in a healthy way

1. The Power of your Imagination

Affirmations are not some voodoo or hippy thing that don’t create a reality. They are in fact a powerful programming tool of our imagination. The things we speak to ourselves, and the things we say to ourselves about ourselves is very powerful.

Yet, most people are using these techniques  against themselves. They see their imagination as kind of ‘not real’, or even a bit ridiculous. This is more than a sad thing, it’s actually dysfunctional.

Most people are picturing things they don’t want and saying things they don’t want and wondering why their life turns out the opposite of what they wanted!

“If you can see it, and believe it, and if you can say it and agree with it, well you can have it” – Jaemin Frazer

This applies to both to both positive and negative results in our life. If the words you speak to yourself, and your instructions to yourself are about loss and lack and limit and that you are of no value, and you notice all the things that are wrong with you, and you agree that these words are true, well…that’s what you are creating for your future.

It goes for the positive too. Very few people are using this technology of their imagination to create a powerful future that they want. It’s important to know and believe that you can create picture in your mind for a future that is magnificent, inspiring and compelling. People who have worked out this gift, speak to themselves like they are the person they already want to be.

If you want to use your imagination with power, focus on what you want, rather than on what you don’t want. Focus on it until you believe it and agree with it. If you do this, you are using your imagination to lessen suffering for yourself and others, rather than increasing it.

3 ways to utilise the power of your Imagination

  1. Practice yoga to reduce the fluctuations of the mind. Yoga helps our mind become less agitated by anchoring our awareness in the breath and body. Our mind is only agitated when we are worrying about the future (or replaying unhelpful stories from the past)

  2. Practice Yoga Nidra. This is a deep relaxation meditation where you set a sankalpa. Similar to hypnosis, a sankalpa is a short phrase clearly and concisely expressed to yourself to bring positive change to your life. Science has found Yoga Nidra to reduce stress. (Experience this at the Sleep Workshop at Heart and Mind Yoga)

  3. Ask yourself these questions: What do I want in my life? (That causes no harm to others, that draws on the yoga values of compassion, leading form your heart, helping a worthy cause, and lightness on earth.) Who do I want to be? How can I give meaningfully to the world?

2. The power of your Memory

You can’t suffer your past, but you can suffer your memory of the past. Some people think that ‘the past is the past and you can’t change it’. This is a flawed approach to life. In fact science has proved otherwise.

We are happening in life, life is not happening to us

As humans we are meaning making creatures. This is a fundamental principle of the human experience. We place meaning on the events that happen to us, we decide what things mean. This is why 4 people can attend the same event and report differing experiences. Nothing has meaning except the meaning we give it. The basis of Cognitive behavioural therapy is that we are happening in life, life is not happening to us. So its how we respond to life that matters most.

“People are the processors of experience, not the victims of a circumstance”  - Kain Ramsay, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Course

We suffer from our memory of the past

If you’re focussing on the things that are most destructive in your life, and the things you have the least control over, you create feelings of shame, embarrassment, and victimhood. You go back and remember the things you don’t like, your failures, your disappointments. You remember these experiences as if they reveal something powerful about your identity and you feel you need to cover those things up – at all costs.

Or, you go back and remember the things that were done to you, against you, and the ways people hurt you, the ways people limited you.

All of this is of no value. It keeps you locked in a cycle of endless suffering.

You are not your failures

Your life is not the sum  of your experiences or your mistakes. The real power of the past is not what happened but what you made it mean. This is exciting – it’s an opportunity. You can choose to re-write your past in a way that’s more uplifting and empowering.

“The things that happen to you are not what creates your life. It’s the meaning you place on the things that happen to which creates your life experience” – Jaemin Frazer

Edith Eger, a psychologist, and a Holocaust survivor explained in her book “The Choice”, that we have a choice, to pay attention to what we’ve lost or to pay attention to what we still have. Her learning from enduring the unspeakable horrors at three concentration camps, give us all hope that no matter what happens to us, we can choose how we respond.

“You can’t change what happened, you can’t change what you did or what was done to you. But you can choose how you live now. My precious, you can choose to be free.” Edith Eger

4 ways to help you utilise the power of your Memory

  1.  Practice yoga to help your become more conscious and aware.
    You will start to shine the light of your awareness on the stories about your self that you are not enough as you are, that you need to do more to be loved and accepted, that someone needs to come and rescue you, that the world is against you.

  2. Upgrade your story from the child version to the adult version. Notice where you might have faulty narratives in your memories. Notice that as a child you were less resourced as you were most likely adapting to difficult situations. Rewrite a more positive inspiring past for yourself (you might find a coach helpful to support you with this).
    “Fear unexamined grows, fear examined diminishes.” Jaemin Frazer

  3. Notice your triggers in your life – Ask yourself “What must I believe to be true for me to behave in this way?

  4. Take time to be in your own company, get out in nature, live simply and mindfully and make a conscious effort to appreciate the small delights, the wonders life itself, and the abundance in the world.

“Life will present you with people and circumstances to reveal where you are not free” - Peter Crone, The Mind Architect

It’s truly amazing the power you have with your imagination and your memory. Rather than using it to create suffering for yourself and others, use it to reduce suffering. Use these gifts to increase joy!

You have the power to add value to your life.

With love and encouragement,

Jo

 

*I was inspired to write this blog after listening to Jaemin Frazers Podcast  - The Insecurity Project  Episode 237. Memory and Imagination

Jo Jarden is a certified personal trainer and yoga teacher in Christchurch New Zealand and the founder of Heart and Mind Yoga studio. She has 10 years experience in health promotion in New Zealand and Australia including management and promotion of national chronic disease prevention programs. She now helps people one on one with their wellbeing through yoga teaching, personal training, workplace yoga and wellbeing workshops. 

Qualifications include:

Certified Yoga Teacher Santosha Yoga Institute, Registered Australian Yoga Alliance 2017
Certificate in Advanced Personal Training, Fit College New Zealand, 2016
Bachelor of Science with Honours Public Health. University of Canterbury, New Zealand 2006
Bachelor of Arts Mass Communication and Psychology. University of Canterbury, New Zealand 2005

Jo JardenHeart and Mind Yoga