Developing a Mental Fitness Practice
I lifted weights at the gym for the first time in ten years, and an hour later, I had a brand-new body… said no one ever.
Everyone knows it takes time and effort to become physically fit. However, if you change your diet and work out, you'll soon notice improved strength, weight loss, and muscle definition.
We can agree that no matter what spectacular shape you achieve, the flab and low energy will return if you stop the habits that got you there.
I’m confident this doesn’t shock you.
What never ceases to shock, however, is the only accurate, relevant, and most damning disinformation there is — that we can ignore the mind machine and expect to be mentally fit.
This is the crisis of our time.
And yes, many of us are working to become self-aware, but there's a crucial gap in knowledge of how we got into this mess and how to get out.
What mess? The one that has us drowning in self-doubt, simmering in rage, whipping up anxiety, and splattering or emulsifying (depending on your nature) all manner of emotions and whirring thoughts on the kitchen walls of our daily lives.
Yet, we think that if we just think more, we can think of a way to solve the problem that we created by thinking.
Here's the deal: Your mind is a machine, and it’s more powerful than you are.
You can't tell your mind to stop thinking or to be more positive any more than you can tell your fingernails to stop growing. If you stop brushing your teeth, you'll knock people out with your yellow teeth and dragon breath in short order.
Mental fitness (the ability to handle life's challenges with a more positive mindset than a negative one) is built just like physical fitness.
But the best news is also the best-kept secret!
There's nothing wrong with you.
You are not your crazy thoughts.
You don't need to change a thing.
You're evolving perfectly.
Now that we have that cleared up, you
Are free to observe your mind's madness rather than ride it like a bronco.
Can watch your habitual emotions and reactions instead of vomiting them on the nearest passerby.
May sit with the pain and the joy of being human – whatever shows up that day.
And guess what? When you liberally season all that with intention, determination, effort, and extra practice … everything in your life will change.
