the mind is a trap

be careful what you convince yourself of

art by Patrick Valenza

The big lesson I have been sitting with lately is how humbling it is to be a human, inside a body full of wisdom and insight, constantly vulnerable to the power of your own mind. It is easy to think that the power of our own minds only gets exerted when you try to change something or shift something external to you, out in the world. The reality, though, is a little bit different: the mind has the same power of persuasion, conviction and even manipulation towards ourselves that it does towards the world.

What does this mean?

It means that you can convince yourself that stories and narratives are ‘true’ when they are not, in fact, actually true. It means that you can be just as convincing towards yourself as you can towards others. It means that we should all remain humble to the power of our own mind.

One such way this has shown up for me recently is dismantling the story that I had been believing, which told me that I absolutely needed to stay in my home, in the routine I was in for the last few months, in order to stay productive, generative, and aligned. After spending a month away from home and expanding in ways I could not have even imagined, let alone experienced in the comfort of my own home, I now see that this was just a story invented by one part of myself—a part of me that values consistency, control, predictability. This is a part of myself that I had grown deeply comfortable serving the needs and desires of. I had become so attached to this story that I could no longer see that it was one; it just felt like me. This is both the power of the mind, and the danger of it: it can be so convincing, and so stealthy in its ability to camouflage itself as us, that we can easily fall into a loop where we believe its stories are reality, and we stop testing the limitations of what we can actually do, say, be — because we are stuck behind the veil of what our mind says is possible for us.

I was resistant to leave my routine because I thought everything would fall apart, and I would be in shambles. Now, a few weeks into a routine change, there is clearly some truth to this story: changing my routine and environment do have a big impact on my overall life and flow. But this shift has also let in so much else that has been deeply needed: a powerful sense of expansion in my universe and this sense that so much more is possible than what I could sense when I was stuck in this story, not evaluating the potential value of making a shift in any core area of my life (because I was over-valuing routine with respect to change). In other words: if I had listened to this story I was stuck inside of indefinitely, it would have resulted in my own stagnation, disguised as safety and flourishing. It would have kept me where I was, which was not bad, but it certainly was not inclusive of everything I can be, do and experience. For those reasons, it is important to be in a practice of inquiring more deeply, questioning the mind, and exploring when and how it traps us, even when it is so convincing that it is only pointing us towards what is best for us (sometimes it doesn’t know better! And it’s up to us to push ourselves beyond the stories we are stuck inside of to reveal what we are not seeing where we currently are).

Going to a new place, collecting inspiration, expanding the way we think about the world — these are important things! Disruptive things, sure, but important and nourishing things nonetheless. Things that we need, even when—and perhaps especially when—we are entirely convinced that we do not.

My big take away from witnessing this whole process within myself is that yes, the mind is right sometimes about how keeping our conditions the same and protect our routine and flow. But the mind, generally speaking, is not always right. And it tends to like the inertia of what it is used to; it likes to protect us from discomfort, change and unpredictability. It is not super keen on experiencing radical transformation; of self, of environment, or of identity.

the role of the mind is to protect

Your mind will do what it can to protect you. Sometimes that means preserving your momentum, sometimes that means yanking you out of somewhere that does not feel good. It will help you get even better at something you are already good at. Because it can map that out, it can understand it, it can predict what that will feel like, it knows what to expect. But your mind, if it can successfully convince you to listen to it, will not orient you towards change, especially radical change. The mind likes what it can currently understand and control. If what you are presented with is something that will radically transform you ability to show up as you currently have been with the same degree of focus, attention and devotion — it will likely push you away from it.

As part of integrating this lesson, I am attempting to distance myself a little bit from the mind’s narratives and utter convictions about what I need and what is true. I am learning that sometimes I need to go against what my mind wants; to not listen to the internal fear that is ever so subtly trying to shape and direct my actions.

The new mindset I am leaning into into is to tune more into the body. To listen to the precious, sacred wisdom I have within, which really is the most trustworthy source of what I need to do or not do (not what my mind thinks it knows, but what my body actually knows).

I am still processing all of this and how I want to weave the wisdom I feel like I have gleaned here into my life. One thing that feels obvious is that I need to prioritize my body way more in how I think about my creation and expression process. I need more space. More ease, relaxation, and effortless flow — times where my body can speak to me, and communicate what it needs and wants. This is not just about doing one hour of exercise a day. It is about cultivating a way of living moment to moment that gives my inner wisdom enough space to float up to the surface of my consciousness and reveal to me what it knows. This means more walks, more stretching, more massages, more body scanning, more dancing, more mediating, more silence. The body is a compass that needs to be listened to, aligned towards. Living well is not just about consulting the mind; the mind does not hold all wisdom. Conversely, I believe that wisdom rises up from the body and is rendered in the mind. The mind helps us make sense of what we know intrinsically, but it is not necessarily the source of the wisdom we need to orient ourselves more intimately towards. Some things can only be realized by moving, by returning to our nature, by dwelling more deeply in the body, and making space from the mind.

This is not a categorical knock against intellect, intelligence, or the power of logic, thought and reasoning. In fact, it is the opposite. It is a bow of reverence to just how powerful these are, and how, if we are not careful, we can easily be used by them instead of using them to guide our lives and paths.

This is a reminder that we must stay humble to the enormous power of this miracle of an organ stuck inside of our skull, a reminder to use it instead of be used by it, and to always return ourselves to our center, to our inner wisdom, and to the compass that points us towards what feels right for us: our body.

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If this sparked any reflections or realizations in your own world, let me know in the comments :)