Tag: thoughts

Our ‘Survival Mind’

Why does our mind often get stuck thinking the worst?

Back in the days of the caveman, our mind was built for survival. What were we protecting ourselves from and what were we looking out for?

Yes, that’s not a tricky question to answer – it was the potential attack from wild animals! We were at risk of being eaten as we hunted and fished for our food.

So our brain was helpfully designed to look for danger in order to protect us. However, our brain still does this danger reconnaissance today. Which can leave us thinking the worst with a mind plagued by anxiety.

This is why we find it a challenge to stop our mind thinking about possible threats. Even small things – we tend to focus on what might go wrong.

It may only be something tiny that catches our attention… the way a person looks at us, something someone says, not getting something we think we need… and thats it! Our mind is off! We are stuck with these thoughts whizzing around our heads for hours. And our thoughts can dictate our whole day!

And these thoughts can lead to difficult feelings.

We feel stressed, anxious, angry or sad. We find these thoughts and feelings hard to get away from. Sometimes there seems to be no escape.

This is one of the reasons we learn to train our caveman brain or our ‘survival mind’ using meditation. 

We can do this gently without judging ourselves, our busy thoughts and our unsettled emotions. We can do this by focusing our attention using meditation and awareness techniques. We aim to observe our thoughts and let them go by not attaching to them. See Not Attaching to your Thoughts and Emotions if you’re new to this way of thinking.

Not Attaching to Our Thoughts & Emotions

It is estimated that we have between 60,000 to 80,000 thoughts a day! That is a lot of thoughts to stop, clear or manage!

However, meditation and focused attention are not about having a clear, thought-free mind.

We are not trying to stop or fix our thoughts and emotions or to force them away.

We are aiming to change the way we relate to the thoughts and feelings that show up in our mind. We do this by not attaching to the them.

One way to manage the busy mind is to imagine our thoughts as fluffy white clouds. See any thought that pops into your mind as a cloud in a beautiful blue sky… and just let it drift by.

As your thoughts come and go and do not engage with any of them. Allow them to float away. By not attaching to the thoughts, you can step back to become an observer.

You might prefer to see your thoughts as traffic flowing through your mind?

Some thoughts keep returning so perhaps you could see these thoughts as taxis? You can choose whether to catch a taxi or let it pass by. By not getting into the taxi, you let that thought go, you do not attach to it..

And why do we want to let this endless stream of thoughts go and not engage? One of the reasons is WE ARE NOT OUR THOUGHTS and WE ARE NOT OUR EMOTIONS!

Try this: Close your eyes for 20 seconds and count the thoughts that pop into your head.

How did you do? At least one thought right? So, if you can COUNT your thoughts you cannot BE your thoughts.

Our thoughts and emotions come and go. They are temporary. But they do a great job of dictating our whole day and often ruin our attempts at maintaining a peaceful mind.

As we relive scenarios over and over, our mind rides a rollercoaster of emotions. Thoughts become feelings and we get stuck in worry, stress, anger and frustration.

So what are we if we are not our emotions?

WE ARE AN AWARENESS – A STATE OF BEING!

We are this ‘awareness part’ of ourselves – a part of us that is always there. It is permanent. And we find it within. In the stillness. In the quiet. When our chattering mind stops chattering! And when we become the observer.

Some say this part of us is pure love. It is what we already are, regardless of the external part of us, which is temporary. We are a spark of the Divine. An energy that can never disappear – which we know is backed up by science.

So let’s practise being an observer of our thoughts. Let’s practise being this awareness part of ourselves. And as we disengage with our thoughts and stop our thinking activity we begin to meditate instead! Hooray!

See Our ‘Survival Mind’