In my last post – to every problem, there is a solution, we can see that asking the right questions is critical to arriving at the desired solution. Consultants and coaches are trained on how to ask the right questions. If you have a challenge and ask the wrong questions, the effort will be dissipated in solving the wrong problem. The same thing goes for seeing. We think we see things as they are. The reality is that we see things our mind tells us to see. You see what you focus on. We see with the mind, not the eyes.
If you are in the market for a new car, the moment you decide on the make and model you want to buy, your mind will note it and start making you aware of that particular car anytime one comes within your vicinity. You start seeing the car all over town.
Everywhere you turn, you see the car in different colors and year models, especially the color and year you settled for. That is your reticular activating system (RAS) in action. When you decide something is important, your mind puts it on its watch list and the moment your eye scans the item, your brain triggers an alarm. It is like an SSS or FBI operative setting eyes on the number one wanted person.
It is the mind that tells the eyes what to look for. If the mind does not see it, the eye will not recognize it. It will walk right past. Have you ever searched for something, say your car keys 🙂 all over the house, and after combing everywhere, you eventually found it where you started from? You were not blind physically (though you were blind mentally) – your mind was preoccupied. In everyday terms, your mind was somewhere else.
If you are a serial multi-tasker, you will experience this often. Your body is here and your mind is somewhere else. If you attend a meeting and your mind is somewhere else, you will not hear much though your ears are wide open. In some meetings, we have what is called a check-in process. Everyone takes turns saying what is on their mind so that they can park it and focus mentally on the agenda of the meeting. Your mind runs the show.
The reality is that if the mind is to take in everything the eye sees and attempt to process it all at once (including other unfinished business), your brain will hang like a computer that has maxed its random access memory. It will simply go crazy. The reticular activating system is a safety device that prioritizes what is important to you so that you can maximize your resources.
If you decide that your job is terrible, your boss is from hell, and life is unfair, your mind will scan the environment to show you evidence to prove your assertion. If you say you cannot save money on your current salary, your mind will not argue with you. It will go to work to help you gather evidence through what you see. If you are on the internet, any article that highlights how it is very difficult to save will jump at you. Your mind will help you gather data to back your position.
Your mind is a yes man. It acts on your command. If our minds had a mind of their own, we will all be in trouble. It would be like your take making turns irrespective of how you turn the steering, speeding up as you march the brakes and braking as you pump the accelerator.
Seeing that we see with the mind, you have to make up your mind about what you really want. You should determine in your mind what you want, not the circumstances. If you want to save and invest, make up your mind to do that no matter how low your income is.
The moment your mind is fully made up, it will register in your reticular activating system (RAS). When your RAS kicks in, you start to see the right things, think the right way, and do the right things. Pretty soon, what you said was impossible becomes your everyday reality. We see with the mind, not the eyes. If your mind does not see it, you are wasting your time. Train your mind to see what you want it to see.
Image: mind-press.blogspot.com
