How I am controlling my mind so I can run and dance!
Have you ever felt like there’s two voices in your head? One might be saying something like “I really should go for a run” while the other voice is saying “That’s a terrible idea!!”?
I HATE running but I’ve just completed my second Park Run UK in as many weeks.
To achieve this I’ve had to practice what I preach to my clients and use the “controls of my mind” to ‘get out of my own way’. (NB: These mind-techniques are based on those taught by Marisa Peer the founder of Rapid Transformational Therapy)
🤔 So what are the controls of the mind?
Did you know that:
✨We have around 70,000 thoughts per day
✨95% of these are subconscious (we’re not really aware of them)
✨Most of the subconscious thoughts are negative due to our natural ‘negativity bias’
✨Our subconscious is our “animal mind” which evolved first and which has just one main job - to keep us safe and alive (it always acts in what it THINKS is in our best interests)
✨ If we don’t “consciously control” our animal mind and give it the commands we want it to follow, then it will control us. That means it will keep us “safe but stuck” in familiar patterns of thinking or behaving.
The 4 “controls of the M.I.N.D.” are
🧠 M: “Must - it must give you what it thinks you want”
🧠 I: “Imagination - it doesn’t know the difference between imagination and reality”
🧠 N: “Needs - it needs to keep you away from pain”
🧠 D: “Doesn’t - it is really doesn’t like anything that’s unfamiliar”
So let’s see how that plays out in reality…
You really want to do something (e.g. go for a run) that pushes you out of your comfort zone, but you’re thinking things like:
It’s too difficult
I can’t do it
Everyone else will be better than me
I’ll probably embarrass myself and feel like a failure
It will be emotionally or physically painful
Using the four “controls of the mind” above can you see how your mind might be telling you to think these thoughts in order to keep you safe and to stop you from stepping outside of your comfort zone.
To overcome your subconscious thoughts this is how you might approach it.
YOUR MIND
M - I MUST give you what I think you want.
YOU
I want to do this. This is good for me. I’m going to feel really good and proud of myself afterwards.
YOUR MIND
I - I don’t understand the difference between IMAGINATION and reality (I am imagining the worst!)
YOU
I can see myself accomplishing this. I can feel how much I’ll enjoy it. I can imagine every step along the path and that I’ll feel great showing what I can do.
YOUR MIND
N - I NEED to keep you away from pain
YOU
This is going to be fun and enjoyable. I’ll feel so good when I’ve done it. I want to step out of my comfort zone. This will create new opportunities for me. I want to do this!
YOUR MIND
D: I DON’T like what’s unfamiliar
YOU
I can make anything familiar. Every ‘expert’ was a beginner to start with. I just need to begin and keep going. I can take one step after another and welcome mistakes and failures because they’ll teach me faster. I can easily travel this new path, make it normal for me and see where it takes me.
In my case running is part of a bigger plan to get myself fit for a charity event I am taking part in in October.
“Strictly Nightingales” is - as the name suggests - a Strictly Come Dancing charity event to raise money for Nightingale House Hospice in Wrexham. I have a personal target of £2,000 to raise by 14th October when I’ll be dancing the foxtrot LIVE in front of hundreds of people at Carden Park Hotel, Chester. (I’ll be using the “controls of the mind” to overcome my unconscious blocks on that occasion too!!)
Please support me if you can, I MASSIVELY appreciate every penny and you can donate, the link to my Justgiving page is below. Thank you.
Cat Xx