By The mind has been long associated with the source of problems when it comes to psychology, habits, emotions, and health among others. But is the mind really at fault?
In my view, the mind is a technology and as such, it is resource.
This technology is powered by a set of programming that runs it, like an operating system on a computer.
This programming is made up of global beliefs, identity, values, rules, references, vehicles, and more.
All these complex components are developed by interpretations of experiences, conditioning by external factors, and distinctions we create in a conscious and unconscious manner.
Just like many other systems, there are many challenges in the way we use them. For example, think of similar systems such as iPhones, Social Media, Computers, Emails, Text, Calls, etc.
Life is made up by systems on top of systems. Think of your body, the goverment, relationships, work, businesses, everything is a system.
These challenges arise from the ignorance in understanding how the systems really work, how it drives your behavior, and how it affects you and those around you.
This is particularly true when the unconscious part of our brain runs the show (also called autopilot).
Unconscious or autopilot really means that you have become habituated to do one thing that is repetitive enough that you dont have to think about it to do it, or think it. These are just habits or patterns. For example, rememeber how hard it was when you learned to drive, all the stress, everything you have to pain attention to, but after a while, there is enough repetition that it becomes automatic. This by the way is the same technique used to master any activity. With enough repetition, comes a lot of skill.
When we start creating many of these habituations without upgrading the software that runs them, we come to a dangerous place in which the technology we are supposed to use (our mind), starts using you. For example, you feel no longer in control, you dont know what you do the things you do, you become reactive and dont know why, and you get stuck in a pattern that could not be serving you, but you dont know how to break it.
This is why it is so easy to associate that our mind is a problem or the enemy. But the mind is not good or bad, it is just a resource, a tool, a technology. It is up to us to upgrade it and install new software that makes it run better every so often.
We need to learn to evaluate it to figure out if it is really serving us the best way possible or not. This requires some time investments and dedication. The problem is many of us are stuck in a pattern of believing ¨we dont have time¨which is really just a self protection mechanism we use when we dont want to deal with things that scare us or that we believe are too complex to engage with.
The biggest challenge is when we start believing that our mind is us and we identify completely with it. We are not our mind, we are not our behavior, we are not our habits, we are that infinite intelligence that lies behind all that software and all that conditoning.
When you are able to free yourself from that idea that you are your programming, then you start experiencing life from a new perspective where change is possible.
And when change is possible, then everything is possible too.
There are many other technologies we posses in addition to the mind. The heart for example comes with another set of dynamics.
Self Mastery 