The Under-Intergrated, Over-Worked Mind You and I suffer every day from an under-integrated, over-worked mind. The mind stuck in overdrive-Compulsively thinking all the time-Dominating & pulling pulling our attention out of the present moment. A constant stream of words in the mind.A clumsy internal narrative trying to describe & control EVERYTHING…rather than just doing its job. Once we understand the mechanics of the compulsive thinking, we can start to fix it. 15+ Years Exploration This is a topic I’ve been actively exploring for the last 15 years, and has recently come into focus more clearly than ever, transforming my relationship with my mind, so I’ve literally spent the last three months developing, editing and refining this series.If even one thing clicks in a new way, it can start to transform your relationship with your mind too, so let’s dive in to connect the dots, understand the mechanisms of the mind and create mental clarity. Conceptual Models of Reality The mind is an amazing tool for creating conceptual models of reality.The problem is that we confuse our mental models with reality itself. We pay more attention to what we THINK is going on, than to what’s going on.We pay more attention to the STORY we are telling about life, than to life itself. The mind can make a low resolution model to represent certain aspects of reality, and the model may be accurate or not about the elements it tries to represent. Map & Territory I think one of the best analogies for this is the the Map and the Territory.The real world is infinitely complex so each kind of map represents just the few limited aspects relevant for a specific task.A street map, for example, is for the specific task of navigating a city. The map can be accurate or not. It might indicate that the shop is two blocks to the west, and the shop may or may not actually be there: Maybe it is exactly where it’s indicated to be.Maybe it’s that same direction but actually a bit farther.Maybe it’s actually the complete opposite direction.Maybe the shop doesn’t exist at all. If the map is accurate, it can help orient us, so we definitely want our mental maps to represent functional aspects of reality as well as possible…but it’s important to remember that even an accurate map is definitely NOT the actual streets it represents. This sounds obvious in the context of a street map, but we tend to confuse our mental maps with reality. We each have a mental map of who we are, what we do, what we’re good or bad at, as well as a map of who others in our lives are, what the world is like, how it works… We have maps of grand existential concepts like “what matters in life?”and maps for practical daily concepts like the day of the week, when to be where, what & where to eat, etc. Referencing the map is useful for planning, coordinating and executing specific tasks, but we tend to walk through life figuratively STARING at the map, somehow assuming that it should provide ALL the information we need, often only looking up when we bump or crash into something not on the map. Again, we more pay attention to our thoughts about what’s happening, than to what’s happening. We pay more attention to our internal narrative about existence, than to existence itself. There’s nothing wrong with having a narrative/story, as long as we realize it’s just a story, don’t take it too seriously, and certainly don’t confuse it with reality. Coherent Narrative Having a coherent narrative helps the mind to make sense of the world on a certain level, and can co-exist with awareness and presence in the here and now. With proper integration, the narrative can lightly run in the background, and fluidly update and refine itself in the subconscious, instead of always being front and center on the stage of our attention. As it is, the narrative tends to dominate our conscious minds, often narrowing our awareness down to a clunky stream of words in our heads. Sometimes I hear my own thoughts LOUDER than what you are saying,louder than the music playing...louder than the music I AM playing! As it is, we treat the narrative like reality, rather than clearly recognizing it as just a conceptual overlay which can provide context, when helpful. By entering fully into our own narrative about life, we automatically accept limiting beliefs about everything, including ourselves. We think we know who we are, rather than discover ourselves moment by moment. I think I’m this person named Samuel Wexler that plays violin and blah blah blah, and those concepts I have about myself may accurately represent some aspects of me (or not), but the REALITY of who I am goes way beyond any idea of who I am. Who you are is constantly changing, and is ultimately a mystery beyond mental comprehension. I think the world around me is like this and that, and here’s a tree and here’s my desk, and here’s my friend…and those may be functional labels and categories to help us communicate… but again, they are just labels, and the reality is infinitely more complex than my idea of it. Don’t get me wrong. These labels and concepts aren’t bad. They’re useful… but because we haven’t integrated them well, they cause SERIOUS problems. Concept + Presence Co-Existence When the conceptual layer is better integrated, it can actually compliment present awareness and expansion, rather than limit it, in a fascinating dance between knowing and not knowing. As long as we don’t take the concepts too seriously, they can serve as a loose framework for further self-exploration and discovery. This is a beautiful example of what I call “Paradoxical Synergy,” which we’ll explore more in depth in an upcoming series. When we recognize concepts and beliefs for what they are, not confusing them with reality, we can use them as a springboard for more intentional exploration of the unknown, rather than them being walls and chains that keep us stuck in a fake sense of knowing, as we often experience them. Look UP From the Mental Map! Even the most elaborate narrative or most detailed map will always reduce the complexity of real life. We cut ourselves off from contact with the richness of real life, stick ourselves in a little mental model instead, and then wonder why we feel like something is off. We feel disconnected because we are. For me, simply understanding this helps me cultivate a more harmonious relationship with my mind.Understanding the mind’s role as the map maker and realizing that I confuse my maps with the territory, helps me start looking up from the map more often. It’s like writing a big disclaimer onto the map that says“Map is NOT complete, nor completely accurate,” which reminds me to look up from the map. The TRAP The trap, however, is to think that reading the reminder to look up from the map is the same as looking up.It’s not enough to simply read the reminder, we have to actually practice shifting attention from the map to the territory, and for most of us that’s a somewhat unfamiliar state of awareness, a new feeling to be found, which the map can’t tell us HOW to find.I think this is the biggest trap most “spiritual people” fall into.I unknowingly fell into it for years.Now I finally see it clearly, but can still easily slip right back into it I’m not attentive.Like any insight, it’s obvious once it clicks, but it’s SO easy to miss. (The 3rd article in this series will focus on learning to recognize tricks and traps of the ego, and steering clear of them, so stick with me in this series for more clarity on that.) Shift Awareness Out of the Story As my mind grasps that it should not be the focal point of attention most of the time, it’s easier to practice shifting the attention to the real world for longer periods of time. As I notice the constant story my mind is telling, and understand in both my head and heart that there’s no reason to believe the story, it loses its grip on my attention. Like adding a reminder into my script of life to look up from the script and improvise a bit. The Irony of Hyper-Intellectualization My natural tendency has always been to intellectualize everything.I love ideas, concepts, logic & rationality. So for me, it was quite the revelation when my mind started to clearly recognize its own limitations. Realizing that it’s irrational to depend just on rationality…that navigating life with pure logic is not even logical…was a funny and ironic thing to realize,and helped my mind give itself permission to just let go a bit. Even if you’re not as in love with the intellect as I naturally am, you still probably notice your mind thinking and talking almost constantly. If you haven’t noticed this, just take a minute to just listen and feel your breath come in and out. Maybe you’re different, but most of us find that the mind starts yapping about something pretty quickly, and that before we know it our attention is completely wrapped up in the yapping. Your Mind Cannot “Figure it Out” The constant yapping is the mind trying to understand and control EVERYTHING, and it’s helped me to simply realize that it simply CANNOT, and that it’s not irresponsible of me to just let it relax and take a break more. I don’t need to figure it all out.I can’t figure it all out. The constant excessive thinking isn’t actually figuring anything out anyway, just spinning in circles. Even if the goal IS to “figure it out” I can trust my subconscious mind to do most of that heavy lifting, and will be better able to present me with the best solutions to practical problems as my conscious thinking relaxes. It’s okay to let it go…More than okay, it’s often more responsible to let it go. We now even understand scientifically that the brain processes in two modes: focus & diffuse, and that the insights actually tend to come in diffuse mode- when we’re no longer focused on solving the problem. We can focu
