Freedom from the Frantic Mind — for Leaders and Business Owners
Do you find yourself frantic a lot these days?
It’s not your external reality that causes franticness; the cause is your ‘Mind Stories’ . . . your interpretation.
The villain isn’t the external situation on the screen of your mind — it’s your projector. In other words, the current external reality is not the root of your issues . . . your subconscious stories are running the show. Mind Stories tell you what role you play in the story of your life, what plot you are playing out, what intentions you need to follow.
Everyone has a different Mind Story. That’s why two people can face the same challenging schedule and respond in different ways, with different results. For example, two people get given the same project with the same deadline. One feels overwhelmed, confused and frantic causing their brain slow down, making them more disorganized and more likely to miss the deadline. The other feels calm, clear, and confident causing their brain to work better, making them more organized and more likely to meet the deadline. Switch your Mind Story, switch your results.
If you’ve ever been like the first person in the examine, welcome to the human condition. It’s common. Watch you inner dialogue. You might hear words like “This is too much”, “I can’t figure this out”, “I’ll never get this done.” People with a better Mind Story literally cast themselves in the role of the hero, with allies and skills to achieve their goal. As a result, their inner dialogue sounds more like “This is doable”, “I can totally figure this out”, “I’ll easily get this done.”
Of course, just talking to yourself isn’t enough. You need to literally take off the costume of “Loser” or “Incompetent” or “Victim”, and remember a time when you were the “Winner”, or “Competent” or the “Hero” instead. We’ve all played all these roles. What you focus on grows. Remembering a story from your past when you prevailed in a challenging situation almost loads the software of doing it again in your subconscious mind.
A way to make the switch is to stop and be silent for a moment to tap into higher wisdom. We often use our electronic devices, the Internet, our work, our to-do list, and substances to numb-out/drown-out the negative inner dialogue, but these are not a full-time fix. The moment there is silence, your inner attitudes and insecurities surface — the disharmony, the pain, the self-criticism, the agitation, and/or the feeling something is not right — and there is the feeling of confusion about how to transform that noise.
Usually the most effective way is to go through it — face it head-on — be willing to see the truth and be curious about what’s really going on.
Maybe all the dragons we try to slay or escape are actually inner voices that need to be heard. Once heard, they can transform into something wonderful — a powerful creative force for positive change.
CASE IN POINT
I travelled to a remote Indonesian island by a rough 4-hour boat trip. Local transport was on foot or by donkey cart; Internet and cell connections were impossible.
At first I thought, what a good excuse to unplug! After a couple of days, I hungered to check texts and emails — for some good distraction. I hadn’t been without my electronic devices in quite a long time and it became clear they were an issue for me.
I started to wonder if the Internet and our devices create an addiction . . . and, when we don’t have them, we go into a tizzy.
By day 3 without Internet, I had the feeling I’ve had at the end of a fast — headache and food cravings and I got cranky. So I went into the heart of my feelings; I processed all the hunger, negativity, and irritability until I came out the other side. I found I was fine without all that distraction, in fact I was happier and more peaceful.
The trick is you can’t get to the peace place right away; you must cross the swamp to get there.
At home, after my trip was over, I was connected again with all sorts of pinging sounds in my phone and laptop — I was back in the swamp.
Today I spend large chunks of my day offline . . . to show myself I don’t need it. Maybe there will come a time when the whole grid goes down and nobody has devices. What would we all do then — those of us who spend hours with eyes glued to glowing screens?
I think we need to start getting used to a life where we might not have substances or devices all the time. It might be uncomfortable at first; the withdrawal might be a sweat-out but, if you can do it, you are no longer owned by the substance or device. You own it!
We can break free of franticness, constant multitasking, split focus of our minds, and racing between/among Windows and apps and notifications and updates.
It’s great training for the mind to find silence. There is joy and freedom and deep creativity to be found there. In the silence, in the now, is a different awareness and an expanded understanding of what’s possible in your life, what’s true, what’s not, and where nobody is influencing your thinking.
When you practise staying present, you’ll quickly discover the different MindStories that run in your mind.
Some are useful and practical in your life and some are not. Just like going through the applications on your computer and finding old programs you don’t use, you can delete the MindStories you no want to have the power to influence your life.
We have packages of data for everything we have experienced in life — for example, the way we see the world, how we view success and failure, and how we behave toward others in challenging situations.
Maybe you like the way you behave regarding your work — for the most part it feels right and good and you are aligned with your core values. You have a good Mind Story around work.
Or perhaps you don’t like the way you behave regarding a certain aspect of your work, such as prioritizing your time.
If something feels bad or wrong, it may mean you’re out of alignment with your core values — you get frantic a lot and things are dropping through the cracks. If you bark at people you love, you know you have a bad Mind Story that needs re-writing. Only you can know that. Once you’re aware of it and make an intention to change, life will bring you an opportunity to re-write that MindStory. It all starts with intention.
The more you practise not escaping into the fantasy world of your unconscious Mind Stories, the more accustomed you’ll become to choosing the Mind Stories, roles, scripts, thoughts, and emotions you want. Free yourself of those unconscious, fixed stories that run your life — and that perhaps lead to results you don’t want.
We can say, “This is what freedom from a fixed mind feels like. This is how freedom from closed-heartedness feels. This is what unbiased, unfettered goodness feels like. Maybe I’ll get curious and see if I can go beyond my resistance and experience the goodness.”
When we practise choosing the stories we tell ourselves, we can find new freedom to face uncertainty with power and purpose.
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For more detail, and a 5-Step Process you can use to break free of franticness, check out my book MindStory Inner Coach.
