Thinking, thinking, always thinking, aren’t we? Would you like to know how to escape – what can sometime be the prison – of the mind and be more in control of what you think about?

Every thought we have generally has a feeling attached to it. it’s the foundation of survival – we move towards what makes us feel good and (generally) move away from what makes us feel bad.

As its almost impossible to stop thinking it’s also impossible to stop feeling and today we are becoming more aware that it is the quality of our “thinking” that is the source of our suffering or ( poor mental health).

As like it or not…Mother Nature has designed us to suffer – as mental health continues to dominate our social media feed’s we appear to have forgotten that suffering is how we have evolved as a species. If we never felt cold – would we ever of discovered fire and if we were actually satisfied with fire – we would still all be sat round it.  In today´s business world this ´suffering´ fuels competitive advantage, innovation and the ability to ultimately generate income to look after ourselves, family and our communities.

Whatever we “think” about, whether it’s true or false, right or wrong, good or bad, mother nature tends not to care how we feel, she has given us unrelenting feelings of needs, wants and desire – so that we can survive. For some people this means an eternal suffering – of never being satisfied with our lot.

So, what can we do?

Perhaps our first step – is to become consciously aware of what we are thinking about and observe ourselves becoming caught up a in story about “ourselves” to quote Eckhart Tolle – the “ME Story”

“Are they talking about Me, why does this always happen to Me,”

Me, Me, Me, the Me story can go on and on as we get wrapped up in our own needs, wants and desires. As you are observing this story perhaps you may then wonder “who” is observing the Me story.

This level consciousness, where we observe our me story, is what’s known as the present moment, the now and this space allows us to apply certain techniques for us to be more in control of what we are thinking.

Here, in the now we can purposely access our minds to find solutions rather than allowing the mind to drag us along like unruly horses in a great Roman chariot race.

Stoic Philosophy – founded in 3^rd Century BC and practiced by the Great Roman Emperor – Marcus Aurelius is an excellent practical guide to our modern world. Stoics, assert the belief that we can’t control external events only how we react to them and at the core of its teaching is to accept what you can’t control and turn every event to your advantage.

Stoicism lays the foundations for techniques that are practiced by mental health practitioners today in areas such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy – CBT.  The ability to re-frame every single occurrence to be to our advantage is a very difficult yet vital skill in controlling how we think and ultimately how we feel.

Perhaps I could urge you over the next two weeks to now become consciously aware and observe your own Me story and learn how to re-frame negative events by

-writing down the problem, your thoughts about the problem and how they make you feel

-then, create different alternative thoughts and list evidence to support these alternative thoughts

-finally write what feelings you now have post re-framing and the actions you intend to take

When we can learn to re-frame all our thoughts into the positive, we become the driver of the chariot in the Colosseum of life.

As we become consciously aware more often, we slowly start to escape the prison of the mind, and that awareness can be directed outwards as we notice more; the sounds of the traffic, the smell of the kebab shop or the sight of the birds in the sky and here we enter a more mindful state.

And armed with these techniques we can take on the responsibility to counter suffering with our own individual and collective purposes and goals, because without the joy of a achieving a goal we are left with the pain of suffering –

This enforces our understanding that we may never be completely satisfied as we pursue what is called happiness but knowing this – in itself provides answers and therefore every single day we focus on living in the life that is now.