human mind diversification

"To find the true cause of how we think and feel, find the 'sponsoring thought' that created the interpretation that influenced our experience of life."~ Bill Crawford

Knowledge is a powerful resource for navigating life. We have endless internal dialogues that assist with interpretation of information and decision-making. Knowing why we think the way we think is the gold standard for healthy functioning. It affords us an opportunity to appreciate where we are in life and to choose where to go from there, a starting point for change.

At every stage of the construction process, decisions are taken that dictate the success of a project and either put people in danger or help keep them safe.

In an ideal world, everything would be black and white – every time we’re faced with a choice, there would be a right and wrong way to act.

But most of the time particularly when it comes to complex construction projects – decisions and thought processes are not clean-cut.

That’s why understanding what makes us reach particular decisions and think in a particular way, can help us think differently to make better decisions to ultimately achieve the best outcome.

# So what factors have a bearing on our thought process?

• The type of person you are has a major bearing on the way that you think and make decisions. It’s often said that more imaginative and creative people are better at seeing ‘the bigger picture’, but pay less attention to detail. And the more outgoing and spontaneous you are, the less inclined you’ll be to careful planning. For instance, we all know someone at work who likes to diarise and plan all their tasks and activities and others who prefer to go with the flow and work more flexibly.

Likewise, certain people prefer to solve problems on their own in a quieter, more reflective environment. As opposed to others, who find it easier to reach a solution by discussing issues in large groups.

*Your thought process itself will also be heavily influenced by the way you approach problems.*

At one end of the scale you have objective thinkers – like mathematicians and scientists for instance – who will commonly look for solutions that are embedded in analysis and logic. They’ll try to find an outcome that makes sense and then justify it later. Whereas subjective problem solvers will start with a solution that might be more ‘accepted’ and work on justifying. Designers, social workers and people in the clergy might fall into this bracket.

But external factors also influence how we think.

Generally, the more decisions we have to make, the lazier our brains become and the less time we spend making any decisions. This has been described as ‘decision-fatigue’ and has obvious consequences for the quality of thinking that goes into making a decision.

Do you know! High CO2 levels have also been linked to decreased cognitive performance, which is why it’s often recommended for work spaces to be well ventilated and have plants dotted around as they absorb carbon dioxide.

Also, studies have found that we tend to make more informed and risk-averse decisions in the morning because this is when our serotonin levels are at their highest. Similarly, being hungry has been shown to produce more risky decision making. It’s thought, that stems from a primal need to take more chances to find food more quickly. Do you know your reality is created by your thoughts? Why we are always told to focus on positive thoughts, rather then negative ones? 

- There’s a ‘secret’ that all great historical and present thinkers, philosophers, and high achievers have agreed to be a universal truth.This secret revolves around this simple idea: You are what you think.

- When we’re unhappy where we are in life, we seek to create change.

So we go about transforming our environment believing that doing so will create the necessary change we hope to see. We buy things for a materialistic boost of happiness. We travel to escape our problems. We seek substances to numb the mind and help us forget.

- But of course, we fall back to where we had started: unhappy with where we are today.

And so the cycle repeats itself. We buy, we travel, we forget—always focusing on the external factors we need to alter in order to create better circumstances.

There comes a question after we know this and that's - Why this happens? 

This happens because we falsely assume that change begins from the outside. In truth, the environment does play a role in changing your circumstances, but it doesn’t address the root of the cause (your thinking) that is the driver behind why you feel the way you do.

Here’s what you need to realize:

If you want to change the outside, you must first change the inside. You must change the attention of your thoughts because what you think directly influences how you feel, and how you feel directly influences how your body reacts, and how your body reacts directly influences how you behave, and how you behave comes to define who you are and what you experience in life.

To comprehend the essence of this statement, you first need to understand the link between your thoughts, emotions, and behavior. 

Thoughts, in and of themselves, have no power—it’s only when we actively invest our attention into them that they begin to seem real. And when we engage with specific thoughts, we begin to feel the emotions that were triggered by these thoughts—we enter a new emotional state which then influences how we act.

- For example, if you regularly engage with the thought that you’re a failure and feed more attention to it, you’ll start to feel down, worthless, discouraged and perhaps even depressed.How does your body react to this?You sulk down, slump your shoulders, and project no confidence.But if you engage with more empowering thoughts, they would boost your confidence and thus trigger a more positive emotional state which will then be reflected in how your body reacts: standing up straight, upbeat and energized.

Thoughts trigger emotions, and the vibrational frequency of these emotions then feed back into the original thought. And as we continue to give mental attention to the initial thought, it reaffirms the emotion, which then energizes the thought. And so we experience a continuous cycle of think, feel, think, feel, think, feel. This results in the emotional state you come to experience: stressed, depressed, discouraged, happy, energized, confident, etc…

How you think and how you feel directly impact how your body reacts, and all three influence how you behave and what actions you take.This is how your thoughts create your reality. 

So how do you change your reality?You create new patterns that create a new reality.You recondition yourself.

This isn’t something that you change overnight, this is a lifetime commitment to mindful reprogramming and growth. It’s what neuroscientists refer to as neuroplasticity—the idea that you can rewire your brain by creating new behavioural patterns where new cells fire together and wire together.

And in order for you to do this, you need to understand that you are not your thoughts, you are the thoughts you give power and attention to—you are the thinker.

Your thoughts are nothing more than an endless stream of ideas running through your mind.They are powerless until you decide to cling onto one on them, which then trickle into a chain. This very act makes you the thinker of your thoughts.

In other words, imagine your mind to be a farm and your thoughts to be the seeds. You can plant either good seeds (lily or roses) or bad seeds (poison ivy). Whichever seed you choose to focus on and plant, it will then grow and multiply. And the same happens in your mind—whichever thought you choose to focus on and plant, it will then grow and multiply.

- You are the planter of the seeds.You are the thinker of your thoughts.

Here's how: 1) Increase your awareness by observing your emotions and body reactions.

2) Be more conscious of what thoughts you give your attention to.The next time you feel a strong emotion, bring your awareness to it by pausing and asking yourself: Why am I angry? Why am I upset? Why am I feeling so low?This can help us figure out why we're feeling what we're feeling and drive us back to the root cause of these feelings: the thoughts we first gave our attention to.

Lastly, i would end this blog by saying - Life is not only about finding yourself, but also about creating yourself. 

Yours sincerely, 

VIDHI MALIK