Your Mind Is a Bully, But You Won’t Win by Fighting Back
Your Mind Is a Bully, But You Won’t Win by Fighting Back
The key to freedom from your mind is understanding and detaching. Take back control of your mind and emotions!
Learn how to control your thoughts and your emotions. The key to freedom from your mind is understanding and detaching your identity from the mind. Once you master your mind, you will effortlessly achieve inner peace.
When I was a kid, I was plagued by bullies
I spent most of my early years in fear of being shamed, beaten up, or worse. Somewhere along the way, I was pushed into a corner, and I just couldn’t run anymore. I was forced to face my worst fears. It was either me or them. I chose me.
After that, I decided I would never allow myself to be bullied again. I became a formidable beast by working out and practicing martial arts. Those three things did wonders for my mentality. I was no longer afraid of anyone.
Hang with me, I’m coming to my point
I was once in a crowded bar notorious for its violent, drunken settlers. Every weekend, there would be violence, and blood would stain the floors. One evening, I was sitting there, drinking soda with my friends (I don’t drink alcohol), when chairs started flying over my head.
Two giant baboons began their mating ritual of “Who’s got the biggest, you know what?” These were bad men, mind you! They fought, blood squirted, and glass flew everywhere. At one point, one of the baboons threw the other across my table. Still, I couldn’t be bothered and continued drinking my soda.
Most people ran away as things heated up, but I just didn’t care
I was the only casual observer left on the floor, and I could see all the wondering looks on me. Most of all, coming from the two men engaged in their ridiculous dance of violence.
When the fight reached its conclusion, my friends returned to our table. They asked me: “How come you weren’t afraid? It was wild. What’s wrong with you?” I told them the truth: “I just don’t give a f***. I’m done playing these stupid games.”
Now, why am I telling you this story?
No, it’s not some simpleton humble brag. It’s because something similar happens every time your mind goes “bananas” on you, and you get dragged into the drama!
When you feel those dark thoughts creeping in, and you cower inside.
When your mind tells you that life is not worth living, all is doomed, and nobody loves you.
When you see danger and problems everywhere, and you can’t turn off the inner commentator screaming at you, as if inside the war zone.
When you’re consumed with anger for some perceived injustice, an asshole that you can’t stop cursing in your mind, or some situation out of your hands, that just wakes the devil in you.
When you are consumed with anxiety and feel trapped with no way out, unable even to breathe.
When the little voice inside you whispers in your ears to do something you know you shouldn’t do.
When the images in your mind haunt you, and you keep replaying the very thing you wish you could forget.
“You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.” - Marcus Aurelius
You can’t fight your mind and hope to win
It’s like fighting ghosts. This inner bully of yours will not be chased away by salt and iron. The more you fight it, the stronger it gets. The more you resist the mind’s torments, the more it torments you. It feels almost as if it feeds on your fear, anger, or desperation, doesn’t it?
The stronger you push back, the stronger it gets until you’re both trapped in a vicious cycle of mental violence that throws most people into madness, substance abuse, or perpetual escapism from the mind by whatever means necessary.
You then think you’re running away from the world and its problems when, in fact, all you’re ever running from is your own mind!
How does one defeat this inner “bully?”
By understanding the mind and yourself and realizing you’re not it.
You don’t have to listen to it or entertain its nonsense. None of that is real. None of that matters! It’s just mental noise. Residue thoughts and neurons that have been taught to fire off in certain sequences. It has nothing to do with you or some objective truth.
In essence, by not giving a flying f*** regardless of its inner ramblings, images, sounds, or feelings it torments you with.
No matter how much it fights and screams within your head, you learn to ignore and even laugh at it. No longer bound by your mind. No longer trapped in there with an insane imaginary person, you can’t escape.
You realize the true nature of what you’re watching
A horror movie becomes cringe, heartbreaking drama turns to comedy, and a documentary into a mockumentary. It’s no more real than a bad movie. It’s no more “you” than your TV. You realize you’re just sitting in an empty cinema looking at the screen when before, you thought you were in the movie world being chased by monsters!
You now see it for what it is
You understand who you are, and you, my friend, are not your mind. You’re the awareness behind the mind. The one who can observe it and give zero f***, just chilling and knowing all along that whatever your mind is screaming, whispering, projecting, or making you feel can’t hurt you. It’s impotent and powerless.
You were always the one giving your mind power over you. Take it away and render its madness powerless.
You win by detracting your attention and attachment from the mind and whatever it is telling you.
You win by understanding the true nature of the mind and the thoughts that torment you day and night.
You win by stepping into your true form - the witnessing awareness behind the mind.
Did you know that you don’t have to entertain your thoughts?
You don’t have to follow along, listen, watch, or feel what it wants to push on you. Wants is the wrong word. There is no sentience and intention behind the mind. It’s just neurons in your brain firing sequences you taught them to fire habitually.
Random images, sounds, and thoughts that keep repeating something you thought a lot about in the past. Things you were afraid of or felt a strong emotional connection to. None of it is real. None of it means anything. None of it can harm you. None of it matters one bit.
Yes, you can ignore the rambling and torments of your mind!
If you’re depressed, it’s not because the world is a horrible place with no hope in sight but because your mind is full of depressive thoughts, which manipulate your emotions and, if persistent enough, will begin to alter your chemistry.
If you’re lonely, it’s not because you are alone but because your mind is full of thoughts of loneliness.
If you’re anxious, it’s not because you’re in immediate objective danger but because your mind sees danger everywhere, and it keeps replaying some horrible scenario that will probably never happen.
If you’re stressed out, it’s not because of some outside circumstance but because of how you feel and think about that situation. It’s not the situation. It’s your opinions and thoughts regarding it that’s causing you stress.
If you’re afraid, it’s not because something horrible is happening to you now but because you believe it will in the future (most likely). Your mind is projecting future images, and you’re caught imagining something that hasn’t happened yet and may never happen.
If you’re angry and resentful, it’s not because something terrible is happening right now (probably). It’s because your mind is stuck in a repeating loop of something that happened in the past, making you relive it over and over again.
“Man is not worried by real problems so much as by his imagined anxieties about real problems.” - Epictetus
Take that back, you bastard!
Before you accuse me of being insensitive and guilty of denying your reality, I’m not. I’m trying to explain how you suffer needlessly not because of something that happened, is happening, or will perhaps occur - therefore, outside circumstances and other people, but because of your mind.
Always your mind. Bad things happen to us all. It’s how we react to it that makes all the difference. That is also the only thing in our direct control.
But, but, but - exceptions
Yes, there are always exceptions. If you’re in terrible pain right now, it’s not a figment of your imagination, though your mind could turn it off or at least make it a lot less painful. Pain is a signal your mind interprets as an alert that something is wrong in your body. In truth, it is a positive thing. It just feels terrible. Imagine a smoke alarm that stabs you instead of beeping!
If you’re being tortured right now, stuck in some molester’s dungeon with no way out, and they will enter the room any time now, your fears are justified, and I take it all back - for you in this specific case (or similar). But then, I have to ask, why are you reading this post instead of calling the cops, fighting for your life, or going to the hospital?
The truth is that 99% of our troubles are troubles of our mind
“We suffer more often in imagination than in reality.” - Seneca
This is good news, friends! It means that we can train ourselves to lessen the suffering we experience in our lives. If the mind is causing us pain and sorrow, we now know where to begin working on the problem - in the mind!
Start with these articles listed at the bottom and practice what I teach. It has completely changed my life, and I hope it can do the same for you. But you will have to do the work.
Let me ask you, is it worth the effort?
To free yourself from the torment of your mind, free yourself from the power your mind holds over you and your emotions?
To learn how to find inner peace instantly, regardless of outside circumstances?
To become impervious to whatever mental vomit, your mind is serving you, taking none of it seriously and just laughing at its inner ramblings while feeling good?
To free yourself from depression, anxiety, fears, resentment, anger, loneliness…?
Only you can answer that for yourself. I can show you the way, but you must walk it. With a little effort and persistence, you’ll be like the young version of me in that bar full of raging drunken idiots - unbothered, relaxed, and without a worry in the world.
Not because you can defeat all of your enemies and solve all your problems but because you’ve learned to accept that some things aren’t in your control, and you’ve put all your effort into what you can control - your mind and your actions in the now.
By understanding that you are not your mind and learning to take the seat of awareness, you will be able to observe its ramblings completely unaffected and give exactly zero f***! You will be free from the mind. No longer running away from it, into intoxication or distractions, you’ll be able to look at it with a smile and know none of it is real or important.
Can you even imagine how all that would change your life - change you?
Subscribe and follow along, as I’ll be talking a lot about the mind and how to free yourself from its grip. I also hope to create meditations to help you get accustomed to observing your mind without being dragged along helplessly. If you like this type of content, please like and share. Help more people escape the madness of their minds.
Interested in reading more?
Meditation on the Desert at Night - Is the Universe Agitated or Is It All in Your Mind?
How to find peace and tranquility, regardless of the place and time? Learn to observe your mind and be free from its torment!
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Are You Afraid of Going to The Dentist?
How to make your dentist appointments less scary and painful? Dare we aim for pleasant?
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What are the key strategies to understand and manage your fears? Face your fear - don’t run away from it!
Anxiety, a Modern Plague Causing Billions To Suffer Needlessly
What is anxiety, and are you helpless when it overwhelms you?
Anxious or Depressed? Lock Yourself in Time!
Overwhelmed? Let me teach you the “TIME RESISTANT SUBMARINE VISUALIZATION.”