Mental turbulence creates uncertainty. So, it’s logical and practical to aspire to a process to deal with mental turbulence and bring about instant calm, and therefore certainty.
Certainty does not mean the absence of options. Certainty simply means that all the options have been explored and the variables fully understood. A turbulent mind cannot explore options with confidence. A turbulent mind will gravitate to the past, default to the obvious, and appeal to the opinions of others in order to gain some level of control.
Calm can be obtained easily. One simply has to do take time off from work, away from stimulation, isolated from information, separated from responsibility, cared for by maintenance and service personnel, and given heaps of time. But who has all this time and maintenance personnel other then a few of the more wealthy individuals in the world.
For the rest of us, calm must be obtained a little more easily.
Certainty does not mean the absence of options. Certainty simply means that all the options have been explored and the variables fully understood. A turbulent mind cannot explore options with confidence. A turbulent mind will gravitate to the past, default to the obvious, and appeal to the opinions of others in order to gain some level of control.
Calm can be obtained easily. One simply has to do take time off from work, away from stimulation, isolated from information, separated from responsibility, cared for by maintenance and service personnel, and given heaps of time. But who has all this time and maintenance personnel other then a few of the more wealthy individuals in the world.
For the rest of us, calm must be obtained a little more easily.
My client kept talking about the need for a break. When I discussed this break with him it was mainly to appease his wife who was finding the upbringing of one single child traumatic and stressful. This is understandable. However my client did not need the break but needed a break from his wife’s complaining. So often, we compromise our process of gaining personal calm in order to appease the less sophisticated process of others.
In a business I recently consulted to their were the usual cross-section of individuals ranging from those who used primitive process to obtain personal calm and those who used sophisticated process to obtain instant calm. Those who used sophisticated process were in leadership roles that required instant clarity under chaotic and variable decision-making circumstances. Those who used unsophisticated and primal process worked more in the field and therefore had the opportunity to use social gatherings, parties, alcohol and other mechanisms to gain calm. So who do you think in a team environment compromised?
Yes, the editor is those with sophisticated self leadership process had to compromise. The fact of the matter is, the lowest common the nominator in a team, rules. So those who had developed more sophisticated process for instant calm had to shelve their process and wait sometimes exceedingly long periods of time for clarity from those who had unsophisticated process. Even, with extreme support and education, those with unsophisticated process for developing mental calm resisted. It seems, that the process of achieving mental calm is also linked to necessity and those relying on primal and unsophisticated methods did not see a necessity to change.
Process for sophisticated mental calm.
Mental calm can be forced. Relaxation is not a sophisticated process for obtaining mental calm. In fact relaxation quite often causes mental weakness and mental disturbance because it allows random thoughts to oscillate and circulate in the brain and build momentum. Therefore, the process for mental calm is more likely to be sophisticated when it requires high levels of focus.
So it is not a matter so much of what we think that causes mental calm it is a process of how we think. Left to its own resources our mind will create imbalanced thoughts and therefore emotion. Demanded to be focused our mind must obtain a balanced perspective. Emotion has no place in a calm mind with sophisticated mind control. Emotion however fills the mind of a relaxed and calm person.
To read the mind of emotion which is the source of mind turbulence there are several processes that work instantaneously;
So, there are techniques to help those who are using unsophisticated mind calming tools to gain certainty. The key is the amount of time it takes between recognition of turbulence and resolution. For those who are waiting for the weekend or annual holidays in order to calm their mind the world will move too fast for them to be functional and productive. Physical and mental illness are inevitable with unsophisticated mind calming skills.
For those who are using sophisticated mind calming skills certainty is inevitable. This certainty is not the elimination of options, but the birth of creative and inspired decision-making that is underpinned by wise analysis (ambivalence).
It is really important here to differentiate between strong-minded and certainty. Many people fear certainty because it is easily misunderstood for stubbornness and desperate thinking. However, this fear is easily reconciled when one understands that certainty breeds flexibility while headstrong stubbornness breeds the opposite.
In a business I recently consulted to their were the usual cross-section of individuals ranging from those who used primitive process to obtain personal calm and those who used sophisticated process to obtain instant calm. Those who used sophisticated process were in leadership roles that required instant clarity under chaotic and variable decision-making circumstances. Those who used unsophisticated and primal process worked more in the field and therefore had the opportunity to use social gatherings, parties, alcohol and other mechanisms to gain calm. So who do you think in a team environment compromised?
Yes, the editor is those with sophisticated self leadership process had to compromise. The fact of the matter is, the lowest common the nominator in a team, rules. So those who had developed more sophisticated process for instant calm had to shelve their process and wait sometimes exceedingly long periods of time for clarity from those who had unsophisticated process. Even, with extreme support and education, those with unsophisticated process for developing mental calm resisted. It seems, that the process of achieving mental calm is also linked to necessity and those relying on primal and unsophisticated methods did not see a necessity to change.
Process for sophisticated mental calm.
Mental calm can be forced. Relaxation is not a sophisticated process for obtaining mental calm. In fact relaxation quite often causes mental weakness and mental disturbance because it allows random thoughts to oscillate and circulate in the brain and build momentum. Therefore, the process for mental calm is more likely to be sophisticated when it requires high levels of focus.
- A game of golf played for fun offers no mental focus. However, a game of golf played competitively while still enjoyable, will cause mental focus.
- Meditation done for the purpose of stress relief and relaxation will cause no great game in mental calm although it will feel calming that feeling will spontaneously evaporate soon after meditation is finished and my noises once again intrude. Hence, meditation done correctly will cause mind calm if there is a single dominant point of focus and therefore concentration which includes body and mind.
- Paddling a kayak in the ocean on a calm day with a group of friends talking about the football and getting ready to eat a luxury lunch will not cause mental calm to the same degree as paddling a kayak on the ocean on a rough day with a group of friends not talking at all but focused on survival.
So it is not a matter so much of what we think that causes mental calm it is a process of how we think. Left to its own resources our mind will create imbalanced thoughts and therefore emotion. Demanded to be focused our mind must obtain a balanced perspective. Emotion has no place in a calm mind with sophisticated mind control. Emotion however fills the mind of a relaxed and calm person.
To read the mind of emotion which is the source of mind turbulence there are several processes that work instantaneously;
- Shock– anything that demands the mind to focus intensely on a single point of thought will cause the eradication of emotion, doubt and uncertainty. However, shock also produces biochemical reactions in the body which are detrimental to long-term health. Therefore shock, is not a sustainable option.
- Ambivalence – immediately when you drop into a space of “I don’t care” you create mind calm. The key here is to really mean it. You’ll hear lots of people say I don’t care about when push comes to shove they do care. Ambivalence is best created through confusion. When the mind has an equal balance of information of positive and negative consequences of any decision it becomes completely bamboozled and doesn’t know which way to turn. If you can be comfortable with this bamboozled mind state you will liberate your intuition and therefore give rise to the potential of inspirational decisions.
- Single pointedness – Zen mind practices revolve around single-pointedness. In business language this means doing one thing at a time. In spiritual language it means focusing on the present moment and doing that one thing in the one moment perfectly. For example; if you are eating an apple focus on what is in your mouth, the taste, the smell, the sound, the sight and the feeling. When all the senses are drawn into one single point of focus one is assumed to be meditating. Multitasking, which is the opposite to meditating causes incredible productivity but comes at the cost of certainty. You will often find people who multitask well becoming stubborn and resistant to change because they lacked certainty and find confidence in resistance.
- Deep breathing – the mind and the body are really one topic. Somebody, a few centuries ago decided to split them for the purpose of analysis. Unfortunately, doctors now specialise in either the mind or the body but it is really one topic. The mind and the body are intricately connected. The primary connection is the breath and this is very easy to manipulate. Short sharp breaths create an excited mind state, long drawn out breaths create a dull mind state. When inhalation and exhalation are gentle, equal in length, and combined with single pointed focus there is an immediate calming of the mind.
So, there are techniques to help those who are using unsophisticated mind calming tools to gain certainty. The key is the amount of time it takes between recognition of turbulence and resolution. For those who are waiting for the weekend or annual holidays in order to calm their mind the world will move too fast for them to be functional and productive. Physical and mental illness are inevitable with unsophisticated mind calming skills.
For those who are using sophisticated mind calming skills certainty is inevitable. This certainty is not the elimination of options, but the birth of creative and inspired decision-making that is underpinned by wise analysis (ambivalence).
It is really important here to differentiate between strong-minded and certainty. Many people fear certainty because it is easily misunderstood for stubbornness and desperate thinking. However, this fear is easily reconciled when one understands that certainty breeds flexibility while headstrong stubbornness breeds the opposite.
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