Taking ownership of your mind

“Watch your thoughts, they become your words; watch your words, they become your actions; watch your actions, they become your habits; watch your habits, they become your character; watch your character, it becomes your destiny.”

―Lao Tzu

Our mind is an amazing force. We can envision, create, think, analyse. A lot is made possible with our mind.

Oftentimes though, our mind is full of seemingly random chit-chatter. And, there are many different parts that speak throughout the day. Sometimes we feel in control, sometimes we feel fearful - dreadful - sad - happy - insecure. All these parts have a voice that we can observe when we notice our thoughts.

Meditation

Meditation is a powerful tool to get to know these different parts of ourselves, and get familiar with our inner talk. When we start out with meditation it can be quite overwhelming to become aware of this. And if we continue, we create more space and clarity in our minds - making the inner talk less pervasive and at times really funny to observe.

Our inner critical mind

There are moments in life when our inner critic, or another part of our mind that speaks negatively, is doing the most of the talk - making us feel bad, inadequate or like we are failing all the time. Not very motivating to hear this kind of inner talk all the time. Even if we’re not conscious of it, it influences us unconsciously.

How can we take ownership of this? How can we steer the inner conversation so that it supports us in daily life?

The bus of your life

Have you heard of the analogy of the bus of your life? I find it a very effective perspective and a great way to take ownership of our inner chit-chatter.

Imagine your mind is a bus. And there are many different passengers on board of this bus. You have the passenger that embodies your playful inner child, the one that speaks your desires, the one that is insecure in social situations, the one that’s skilful and certain, the one that has a big ego, the one that feels small and fearful, the one that’s always dreaming, the one that’s realistic, a compassionate one, a rebel one. It can be a fun practice to observe your mind’s talk and note which voices you hear.

Who is driving the bus?

And then. The powerful truth is: you get to decide which of these ones is behind the wheel, steering the bus. If one of the destructive characters got behind the wheel, you can kindly acknowledge it, and ask it to go sit somewhere else - maybe a bit further in the back of the bus.

Choose who you want behind the wheel of your life. And every time someone else got in that seat, kindly ask them to go and exchange seats with the most constructive kind part of yourself.

Try this practice, see how it goes. And, if I can help you in any way with the arrangement of the seats of this bus of your life - feel free to reach out. I’m happy to support you along the way.