| -- End Ad Box ---> | | | | they drift up from the depths of our subconscious |
| I'm writing this article on a Friday morning. A couple | | | | mind that was programmed by the subtle but |
| of years back, I did a breakfast seminar - a short | | | | constant conditioning of our formative years - when |
| discussion on effective personal development - for a | | | | we literally learned our beliefs about the world and, |
| large organization in Dublin. Early on in my | | | | most importantly, about ourselves. These are the |
| presentation, I mentioned that fact that I was | | | | truly useless thoughts - toxic and destructive they |
| greeted at the door by a particularly good-humoured | | | | reduce the normal life to one of mindless existence |
| doorman and that when I'd mentioned to him that he | | | | because they prey on the most powerful part of |
| was in fine form, he replied "Sure, isn't it Friday!" As a | | | | your mind. |
| throwaway remark to my audience I asked "Would | | | | Back to where we started this article - it doesn't |
| he be a grumpy old man if I arrived here Monday | | | | matter what day of the week it is, your best bet is |
| morning?" - and everyone shouted "Yes - he would!" | | | | to live it to the full. It doesn't matter who you think |
| Each day of the week is a day to be lived, to be | | | | you are, your best bet is to be all that you truly can |
| savoured, to be taken on its own merits. | | | | be. It doesn't matter how inadequate, bored, stupid, |
| Unfortunately, however, our normal minds interpret | | | | shy, incompetent, ugly, stressed, depressed, inept, |
| what's going on through a fog of completely useless | | | | unassertive, bullied, overworked or distracted you |
| thought. In fact, it's worse than useless, it is | | | | think you are - these are thoughts, they are not |
| downright destructive because it prevents us from | | | | reality - and these thoughts are sapping you dry of |
| doing our very best today - whatever day of the | | | | your vital energy. If you don't like your job, it's |
| week it happens to be - from being at our most | | | | because you think you don't like it. Years of research |
| effective, most productive and most alert to the | | | | at the Universities of Chicago and Milan have proved |
| inevitable opportunities that life holds for us today. | | | | that liking or disliking your job is down to state of |
| Inevitable? Opportunities? Yes, they're all around you, | | | | mind. If you think you're stupid you can bet your |
| but the normal person can't see them as a result of | | | | bottom dollar that it's because you were told that |
| that fog I just mentioned. | | | | you were stupid when you were young and |
| Research indicates that we're bombarded by | | | | impressionable and you've held that thought - there's |
| somewhere in the region of fifty thousand random | | | | lots of research on this one and I, in my work, come |
| thoughts every single day. Research also indicates | | | | across the "I am stupid" syndrome again and again. |
| that we're more likely, as normal adults, to dwell on | | | | My point is that you've got to stop thinking and start |
| negative than positive thoughts that flit through our | | | | living - living the moment to the full, unobsessed (if |
| head. The important thing is that a thought is a | | | | that's a word) with the thoughts that are dragging |
| nothing until we dwell on it and, once we dwell on a | | | | you down. These noises in your head will never go |
| thought, we end up dwelling in it because our useless | | | | away - but you, as a responsible adult, can decide to |
| thoughts wreak havoc in our lives. They lead us to | | | | simply ignore them. And, indeed, nothing could be |
| believe that we're inadequate, that we're shy, or | | | | simpler. To ignore your useless thoughts you |
| stupid, inept or bored, stressed or depressed. Yes, | | | | deliberately direct your attention to what your five |
| there is a long, long list of conditions that we believe | | | | senses are telling you about the here and now. Don't |
| we find ourselves in that are nothing more than the | | | | bother trying to interpret what your senses are |
| product of us, ourselves, of our own free will, | | | | telling you because your useless thoughts will turn a |
| dwelling on some niggling useless thought that gets | | | | great job into a boring one, they'll turn another |
| stuck in our head. | | | | wonderful day into a Monday! Just focus on what |
| Thought is the root of all evil. I'm not talking about | | | | you're experiencing. |
| the intellectual operations that we perform every day | | | | Obviously, you don't try this "new mental approach" |
| as experts in our field - whether that's driving a | | | | when all hell is breaking loose around you. You've got |
| tractor (quite literally in our field!), analyzing a set of | | | | to ease yourself into what will become your |
| financial accounts, preparing the family dinner or | | | | new-found state of mindfulness. I would suggest that |
| performing brain surgery. We need our well-trained | | | | you take a few minutes, each morning, before the |
| finely honed intellectual faculties to perform all the | | | | day (and all its cares) really gets going. Sit |
| key tasks that we do each day. But research | | | | somewhere quiet and simply see, feel, hear, smell |
| indicates that when we use these intellectual faculties | | | | and taste - the coffee cup in your hand and the |
| we are only using the very tip of our mental iceberg | | | | steam rising off it, the feel of your clothing against |
| and that, in fact, the greater part of our mind, our | | | | your skin, the singing of the birds or the hum of the |
| subconscious mind, is engaged in altogether more | | | | traffic, the aroma of the coffee drifting up your |
| destructive activities. | | | | nostrils, and the bitter taste of the coffee in your |
| Where do you think these useless thoughts of | | | | mouth. Your thoughts will do their very best to |
| inadequacy or self-loathing come from? They don't | | | | distract you - but you decide (because you can) to |
| wander in on this morning's breeze, they don't simply | | | | see, feel, hear, smell and taste - it will make your |
| crop up like the random numbers on a slot machine - | | | | world a better place. |