Focus
The ability to focus has many advantages, and it is critical to developing oneself towards being an Integrated Human. Here are links and resources on focusing, aimed at self-study for improving this ability.
- http://www.successconsciousness.com/index_000004.htm
- Lucas says to check the medicine wheel.
The Mind
Everyone has an internal dialogue, where they comment and think about things privately. These internal dialogues are the "mind," which is different from the "self." The "self" is "you" the being, the mind is another part which usually brings up random memories, thoughts, etc to the self as dialogues, images, sounds, feelings, etc.
The wanderings of the mind can be positive or negative, and their content affects the attitude of the self. Negative internal dialogues can discourage the self, and positive dialogues can encourage the self. Some dialogues are scripts which are played over and over again, and continue to influence the attitude of the "self" based on their content. Most people let their mind wander randomly, keeping the self distracted. This can be troublesome when the self needs to be directed towards doing something. [2]
"You," the "self" can control what the mind does and what the internal dialogues and scripts are. To do this you simply have to be aware of what the mind is doing, and tell it to do what you want it to. The more you set the direction of the mind the easier it becomes, eventually being automatic. You can cultivate the kind of attitude you want by being aware and changing the internal dialogues and scripts in the mind. Replacing negative scripts with positive ones can help give your "self" a positive attitude which will affect your reaction to things that happen in your life. Things that happen in your life are also perceived by the "self" after being filtered through the "mind," which means that the attitude of the mind affects how the self sees things.[3]
It is said that with the higher levels of meditation (practicing the "self" controlling the "mind") it is possible for the "self" to completely silence the "mind" and allow the "self" to have complete direction control and to directly perceive reality without it being filtered through the mind.- ↑ The neural net of the mind is like a set of pathways, like gullies in a stream - water will usually flow through the gullies following a similar path, but the gullies can be redirected to make the water flow another way. There are also random neural firings, like rain falling into a random stream.
- ↑ It could be said that most people are "mind"-controlled, where the "mind" leads the person's actions, and the reverse of that would be someone that is "self"-controlled, where the person's "self" leads their actions. The mind is also probably easily intentionally influenced by other people, which can let them control a "mind"-controlled person's actions.
- ↑ "I knew about the internal scripts being able to control them but I hadn't heard about how the mind is very different from the self and that you can exercise control over the mind's wandering and eventually achieve the ability to have the 'self' constantly control the mind's direction completely and consistently."
