Choosing Peace of Mind
Most remarkably, I learned I had the power to choose whether to hook into a feeling and prolong its presence in my body, or just let it quickly flow right out of me. Jill Bolte Taylor
Lately I’ve been reflecting on how a clear and healthy state of mind may be the most valuable attribute one can have. It’s also comforting to know that I have some choice in how my mind feels and what it is thinking.
I notice a big difference between having a peaceful state of mind or a mind that is stirred up by emotions or anxiety. With emotions, sometimes brought on by fear, uncertainty or change, comes a barrage of fast hitting thoughts. These tend to play on repeat, making it impossible to focus on the moment.
As Master Oogway from the movie Kung Fu Panda said: “Your mind is like this water, my friend. When it is agitated, it becomes difficult to see. But if you allow it to settle, the answer becomes clear.”
Trying to replace agitating thoughts or calm an emotion can feel like walking against a violent wind. However, as I learned in Jill Bolte Taylor’s book, Stroke of Insight, when a strong emotion comes it takes only ninety seconds for our programmed physiological response to pass. After that we have a choice whether to stay in the resulting thought loop or not.
Taylor, a Harvard-trained brain scientist, had a major stroke in the left-side of her brain at age thirty-seven. In her book she shares in detail what losing function of a large section of her brain felt like. Each half of our brain has different ways of perceiving and functioning in the world. The left-side is home to all our mental chatter. When Jill lost function of this part of her brain, her mind was silent, and she existed totally in the present moment (a right-side function). She felt an overwhelming sense of peace and a deep connection to the world around her. However, without a functioning left-side, she could barely speak, read, make plans or do any basic arithmetic.
We need both sides of our brain to function, but what Taylor learned, during the eight years it took her to recover and re-gain left brain thinking, is that we have more choice about our thoughts than we realize.
I like to think of my mind as a garden (in Taylor’s book she made this reference too), where I encourage positive things to thrive, not allowing intrusive thoughts or weeds to take over. I can let myself totally feel my emotions but then become aware of the resulting thought loops and choose whether to engage with them or not. I sometimes will literally tell my brain out loud to “STOP” until the thought loop subsides. Often I’ve already thought out every angle of the situation anyway. Also, we must watch these thoughts because according to Taylor, the left side of our brain loves to make up stories based on little amounts of information.
The calmer and more peaceful my mind is, the better things work out – I am more creative, have more energy, stay more focused and feel less fear. Some things that help keep my mind happy are: engaging in a state of play, enjoying nature, exercising, being around positive people and eating healthy. Seeing myself simply as a gentle caretaker of my mind and body (since they’re so connected), has given me more resiliency against the continuous bumps of life. I can relax knowing that “every little thing will be alright”.
Because we have not learned to more carefully manage what goes on in our brains, we remain vulnerable to not only what other people think of us but also to advertising and/or political manipulation. Jill Bolte Taylor
Image above: From the Saltery Bay ferry