3 Ways How to Use Your Mind to Go Beyond Your Mind

Two weeks ago, I was sitting in our philosophy class, attentively listening to our teacher when he said: “You have to use your mind to go beyond your mind.” 

These words grabbed my attention and made me question how often my mind governed me in the wrong direction because I failed to manage it. 

We are slaves to our thoughts if we don’t train ourselves to discipline them. Thoughts govern our emotions, and our emotional state governs our actions. Then, based on these actions, we produce results. 

Although it may feel like you have no control over what you think, that’s not entirely true. You can retrain your mind, discipline it and make it obedient. Simply said, you can use your mind to go beyond your mind. 

Since I arrived in India, the most common values that stood out in my training are patience and consistency. Although I am referring to my yoga and meditation practice, we can apply these values in our healing and growth and see noticeable results. 

You can practice patience when working on changing yourself by being loving, caring, and compassionate. I’d say that the imperfection of our healing process demands it. 

You may be healing generational pains, fighting morning anxiety or panic attacks, wrestling with unworthiness, or being in an abusive relationship with failed attempts to leave. 

Changing yourself is hard. Although motivational quotes on Instagram sound sophisticated, it takes time, devotion, and effort to walk a different path and choose to become mentally healthy. 

Some days may be more difficult than others. Let’s say you are consistent with your spiritual practice for the past two weeks, but after that, you wake up, feeling extremely anxious and in a bad mood. You know you are “supposed’ to meditate and write that important paper you have been putting off while going to the gym to keep fit. Meanwhile, you are in Walmart in your pajama pants, buying your favorite chocolate and heading back home to binge-watch The Strangest Things. 

Life is a balance that requires loving patience when you don’t perform at your highest level. With patience comes more motivation to get up the next day and try again. Eventually, this leads to more consistency by maintaining your new habits, and your momentum grows.

Remember, it is not through healing that we love ourselves but through loving ourselves that we heal. 

Today, I want to share with you three things that have made the most difference in my growth and allowed me to deepen my healing. 

1. Use mindfulness and meditation as your self-regulatory tool 

The 2019 study suggests that “mindfulness-based meditation has positive effects on depression, and its effects can last for six months or more. Mindfulness-based interventions are effective as an adjunctive treatment for depression, with positive effects persisting through follow-up. Their effects on anxiety disorders also seem to be positive.”

Meditation and breathing exercises help with depression because they encourage you to stay in the present moment by choosing an object to focus on, like your breath. Depressed states or anxiety-filled hours are the results of overthinking either about the past or the future while completely missing the present moment. Once you learn to self-regulate, you discipline the most powerful tool you have – your mind. 

2. Consciously change your emotional state 

As I shared with you previously, our emotions drive our actions and eventually lead to final results. 

For the sake of the experiment, I invite you to close your eyes and think of the moment of a heartfelt laugh. Choose something memorable that still brings a smile to your face. Now, close your eyes and recall this moment vividly. Keep this vision in your mind for about 2 minutes and then return to this article. 

Now, take a moment to observe how you feel. If you indulged in this vision fully, more than likely, you were smiling or even laughing. Visualization is a powerful tool to change your emotional state while being in control of how you want to feel. 

3. Self-education and self-discovery 

A couple of weeks ago, we took an excursion to Kunjapuri Temple, one of the holy temples in Rishikesh, India. There, I got into a deep discussion with one of our teachers. We talked about yoga, its true value, and how I can implement it into my life and teach it to others. She made a simple statement that made me think, “When you have time between sessions, keep training and practicing. INVEST IN YOURSELF.” 

Whether you think of your spiritual practice, what you eat every day, or what is your belief system, how much do you invest in yourself? 

How well do you know yourself? How much time do you invest into self-discovery while understanding how your mind works and what triggers and motivates you? Before any change, there must be awareness. Otherwise, you can’t change anything. 

I encourage you to spend time alone, observe your reactions when they happen, and analyze your triggers without judgment.

Remember that the ultimate goal of your conscious awareness is not to judge yourself for what you discover but to create an opportunity for change. 

One thing that helped me tremendously was to educate myself about my behavior, especially my triggers. I invite you to research or read materials that talk about what you want to work on.

Once you better understand your actions and what drives them, it will be easier to discipline your mind, stay away from judgment and develop a more loving relationship with your shadow self. 

Conclusion 

At the beginning of this practice, you may feel resistant to changing your mind patterns and learned behaviors. The goal of your mind isn’t to get better but to be comfortable and stay the same. Your mind likes familiarity because it feels like “home”. Therefore, it will try to reject anything unfamiliar as acquiring new, healthy habits. 

I encourage you to persist and use your conscious awareness to go beyond what is known and familiar. At first, it may feel like a push-and-pull type of game where you find yourself in doubt and unease. Always remember that this is a part of the process. You are capable to change and become happier, healthier and more optimistic about the future ahead of you.