From source: https://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-8716/5-ways-to-quiet-your-mind.html
While it’s a wonderful creation, your brain is not the boss of you. It’s there to keep you alive. That’s it. All those circuits and all that neural elasticity was created for your survival.
It creates emotions like fear and hate and loveand pain to keep you out of danger and help you thrive. It’s why those emotions play such a big part in your life.
You see, everything you do feeds into a single operating process — fight or flight. It’s the only brain function we share with lizards and alligators and every other mammal on this planet; all to keep you safe.
The problem is, your brain was programmed 40,000 years ago and your brain is responding to the modern world like it was 40,000 years ago— when modern humans first appeared on the planet and when the last major evolutionary leap forward occurred. And that simply does not work in today’s world.
Your mind on the other hand, is a 21st Century wonder. It’s the culmination of all those circuits. It’s the output of that computer in your head. It’s the hopes and dreams and desires that make up your life. It is the passion you feel and the sorrow you experience. It is the beauty of your life. It is also what makes your life YOUR life.
If you want happiness and success in today’s world, you must first learn to quiet your 40,000 year old brain. Then, and only then, will your 21st Century mind flourish to give you the happiness and success you were meant to enjoy.
Want to know how?
1. Stop stressing about meditation.
Stop worrying about what it will do to your life. You will not feel the urge to shave your head or give up everything you have worked so hard for. You will simply learn to understand that your brain and your mind are two separate entities. Most important, you will learn that YOU are the one in control of YOUR life – not that voice in the back of your head. If you have never meditated before, download some free guides here. But please, don’t feel like you have to live in your own head any longer.
2. Meet your bad roommate.
Have you ever really listened to that voice inside your head? You know what it sounds like. That’s right, a nagging roommate. The kind you would have tossed out years ago no matter how much rent they paid. Well, it’s time to realize that that bad roommate IS NOT YOU! That’s your 40,000 year old brain doing what it does. It looks out for trouble, and if it doesn’t see any around you, it turns inward and starts nitpicking you apart. When i you look at yourself in the mirror in the morning and it starts ripping you apart, do what you would do to a bad roommate – tell it to leave. Then turn to your mind and smile at the possibilities of the day ahead.
3. Stop listening to your brain!
We live in a vastly different world than we did 40,000 or even 40 years ago. Today you have a growing world consciousness, yet your brain is stuck in a village mentality. When it snipes at someone who doesn’t dress right, let it go. When it tells you, you are not good enough, let it go. When it compares you to someone else, yes, let it go. That is NOT YOU TALKING. That is the leftover programming from 40,0000 years ago and it has no part in the modern world YOU live in, and certainly not in YOUR life. If you just can’t seem to let it go, refer to step 1 and meditate. It’s the first step to what I know will be a wonderful separation.
4. No matter what goes on around you, smile.
It works on the physical level. It works on the psychological level. It works on the spiritual level. Smile and focus on the feeling it gives you. Smile and focus on it. It will spread with every breath you take. It will lift you up. It will also put everyone around you on edge, trying to figure out what you know that they don’t.
5. Honor the divinity that is you.
The Buddha said it, Jesus said it, even Einstein said it. You are nothing but energy. All those atoms and molecules are held together with pure and unadulterated energy. It’s what keeps everything in the Universe moving in the right order. You breathe it, you bathe in it, you live in it. It is why the energy that you put out there comes right back to you. No, that doesn’t mean if you wish hard enough for a bicycle you’ll magically get a bicycle. But it does mean, good thoughts, good words and good intentions will create a good universe for you to live in.
What all of this means is that when it feels like the world is beating you up, it’s really not. It is just your 40,000 year old brain trying to do what it was designed to do – protect you. Only it’s trying to do that with a 40,000 year old program. That’s like trying to write a paper on a 1989 version of Word 3.0.
Instead, let your 21st Century mind pick a new program. One that is based on the modern world you live in. Then, and only then, can you make good choices. The kind that will send your life running in the right direction.