What is in my Way? Oh, It's Me!

The battle of the mind and the heart is a constant practice. The moment we decide to take a certain direction, shift a behavior, or embark on a new goal, the mind almost immediately gets in the way. For me, thoughts about why it won't work and all the problems to consider swirl with excitement. The mind wants to find problems. The mind naturally doubts our capacity. 

I'm starting to learn that the way the mind behaves will never change. I used to think something was wrong with me, and there must be a way to fix my doubtful, fearful mind. I thought with enough meditation and self awareness, or enough self-help books, I might one day be rid of so many critical thoughts attempting to derail my plans. 

Today I feel more settled with the thoughts in my mind. Possibly this human quality of engaging or disengaging with our thoughts is a constant and forever practice. Can we accept the mind and our thoughts as they are, but practice detachment: not dismissal or ignoring - but acknowledging the thoughts when they arrive (and they will) and then detaching from their weight. 

A thought that arrives is not useless or even bad. In fact, it might be a necessary barometer for where we are. The goal isn't to get rid of the critical voice, the goal is to learn from it. The goal is to notice, and move right along. 

To overcome the critical voice, we don't need to silence it, we only need to recognize it as not necessarily true.

The first step towards any change is to accept where we are. When we accept that we might have fear or doubt around a certain issue, we can then create the new thoughts - thoughts that will serve our goal rather than undo it. Without first noticing the thoughts that are there, we cannot learn which new thoughts we need. 

I promise that what you think is in your way isn't. We just have trouble looking at ourselves and believing that we do have the power to change our reality. Thoughts are way more powerful than we know - if we continue to think we can't do something, that will likely be the outcome. Our actions will follow those thought patterns and we will end up exactly where we already are. 

On the other hand, if you believe your thoughts are responsible for your situation, for your actions, and for the ways you engage with the world, then you have just made an essential discovery - thoughts can be changed. You can change. Your world can change.