Mind Traps

There are so many mind traps within our consciousness that unless we are acutely aware of their existence and how they function, we remain completely vulnerable to their restricting influence. The only thing which can stop us from achieving whatever we desire in our lives is our mindset.

Given the challenge of dealing with these mind traps, we must prepare ourselves to do battle so to speak. The best way to do that is with Presence and Observation. 

“Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.” — Buddha — 

Mind Traps — Exposing the Enemy

One way to expose some of these mind traps is to be aware of how they operate. For example, since we are focused on how things are and how we think they need to be, we are so engrossed that we are blind to other possibilities which are out there. It takes time and practice (repetition) to break free from this.

Here’s a biblical question on which to ponder for a few moments. “How many animals of each type did Moses bring on the Ark?” It’s a simple and obvious answer so don’t overthink it. I’ll come back to this later in the article.

Now we all have heard the phrase “Do it Now”. In most cases this is intended to motivate us to get things done. If we are pursuing a new business or educational venture, quite often we will resist this “do it now” business because it requires us to learn and apply something new. As I mentioned before we tend to resist change. We even resist simple daily tasks as well.

In a previous post, Expand Your Comfort Zone, I discussed our tendency to resist anything which requires us to leave the comfort of our day-to-day routines. So just by hearing “do it now” we fall into the mind trap of resistance and fear. We don’t want the pain of those uncomfortable feelings of possible rejection and failure.

Also, there is a big difference between “knowing” something and “believing” something. Believing is a mind trap because when we say we believe this or that, quite often we have some hidden or conscious doubts. Those doubts will hold us back from attaining our goal.

On the other hand, when we “know” something there is no debate, “I can definitely do this”. We are absolutely able to pick up this glass of water. Even if we should drop or even break it, we know we can start over and pick up another glass. The difference: there is no Doubt.

When we apply this to other parts of our lives we can conceive ourselves achieving, so we do achieve.

A Simple Process

The only way we can break free from these mind traps is to do things we can conceive happening. When we want to Just Do It or Do it Now, it helps to start out on a very easy task and build up from there. Also when we have simple things to do, we develop the habit of getting things done which creates a new and positive habit.

Whether it is making our bed, cleaning the house, doing some paperwork, washing the car, doing the dishes or whatever other task we may normally resist a bit, getting it done and not putting if off trains our minds to get things done now. And the bonus is we have a clearer mind without all these uncompleted tasks.

Just like the spring cleaning of our homes, this is mind and soul cleaning which gives us space to expand and grow into the person we need to be to handle the success which is on our way. Each simple task we complete ingrains the habit within us to follow our intuition and not put things off.

Once this habit is formed with simple tasks, we can then follow through more easily on each step of the process involved in reaching our larger goals. It really is the small things we accomplish each day which make a tremendous difference in the long run.

That’s why once we establish our desire and destination, we can let go of it (it’s a done deal) and just concentrate on each small step along the way. Completing the small steps will eventually get us to our goal. The mind trap is thinking that these small steps are not important, and that it doesn’t make a difference whether we complete them or not.

Mind Traps — Let’s Finish Up

As I outlined in the previous paragraphs, it is the small stuff which gets us in trouble by not completing these tasks. When we are on the Right Path, we just follow our intuition and take inspired actions along the way. We trust ourselves enough to get things done on a daily basis without worrying whether we will arrive at our destination (again we have conceived it being done).

When we conceive ways to get to where we desire, and know it is possible, then it is a done deal. We can then ignore any doubts or fears.

Getting back to one of the earlier biblical mind traps, how many of you answered that there were two (2) animals of each species put on the ark by Moses. If so, you got the number right but the person wrong. Moses was not involved, it was Noah.

For those of you who figured it out more power to you. For those who didn’t, this is a prime example of how our mind can trick us when we focus in one area, and ignore the other which has the solution. In fact, that’s the way that beliefs work by becoming invisible right before our eyes. We take for granted what is in our consciousness and obvious. We neglect to look around to see what else in our conscious minds may be there as well. These beliefs run our lives, but we do not see them because we are focused elsewhere.

It’s like our conscious mind is a room full of furniture, and we are only focused on a couple of pieces. We do no see the other furniture that may have been placed there many years ago (beliefs we developed over time and became invisible).

By paying attention we can expose more of these mind traps each day, and free ourselves to achieve more and live more fully.

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Have a wonderful time exposing those mind traps!

Joseph