Expand Your Mind
The human mind has incredible abilities, most of which are largely unknown. Use these steps to come closer to your full potential by expanding your mind.
Contents
Steps
Understanding Your Mind
- Understand the basics of the mind. It is important to know that your brain and mind are not the same thing. The brain is the physical structure in your head; the mind is a more abstract concept that produces and stores thoughts and feelings. Though separate, the brain and mind are always at work together. When you have positive thoughts, like love, creativity, and joy, your mind remains in a peaceful state. When you have negative thoughts like fear, jealousy, hate, and anger, your mind is disturbed by them. In a disturbed state of mind there is a wastage of energy and we are not usually able to relax.
- Understand that positive thoughts generate positive feelings and negative thoughts generate bad feelings. Both positive and negative thoughts are additive. Having many negative thoughts throughout the day will pile up and make you sad; a great amount of negative thoughts can even lead to depression. The opposite is also true. If you have many positive thoughts and feelings, they will add up to make you feel incredible bliss. So for allowing the growth of the mind, you must try to keep the mind in its default stage i.e. peaceful stage. If your mind is in a relaxed and calm state, only then you are able to attain your full potential.
- Another rule is that your brain processes information as per your current mood. For example if you are in a good mood , it will be easy for your brain to retrieve positive information (and hence you feel nice and the world looks wonderful to you.) On the other hand if your mood is bad then your brain finds it difficult to process positive information or memories and hence you feel bad. So it is always better to switch your mood rather than go along the negative thought process.
- Understand what your subconscious mind does. Our subconscious mind works behind our conscious mind and is really powerful. Its has many supernatural powers, you won't generally believe but indeed they do exist. If you want your subconscious mind to work for you then you must trust in its power. Our subconscious can be considered as a spirit or God inside us that has all the powers and knowledge which we require at any moment of life. It contains information about our personality which we aren't usually aware of. It also contains a person's belief system which decides how a person will respond in particular situations. The very same act or occurrence - good, bad or otherwise - can produce completely opposite responses in people, based on our beliefs.
- By understanding how your subconscious mind works, you can solve your life problems more effectively.
- Although your subconscious mind is all powerful, it works under the master ship of your conscious mind. So you should be careful in what you are believing in and what input you are giving to your mind because ultimately your subconscious mind is going to make it true. It always listens to its master and receives the positive as well as negative input blindly.
- Know that your mind is flexible. Our mind is able to change its belief system, attention and thinking according to the situation. A flexible mind is open to new ideas , change and can act in the best way. Unlike a rigid mind, a flexible mind analyzes the available options for a given situation and chooses the best among them. Whereas a rigid mind will be limited and confined to its belief system and would get frustrated if things don't go in its favor.
- Remember that you often see things the way your mind wants to show you. This happens because of your belief system; when things go against your beliefs, you'll feel uneasy, agitated, or upset. But if you can adjust your belief system, you can find opportunity even in a bad situation.
- A number of new neural pathways are created in your brain when you become involved in new tasks and these paths become strengthened when you repeat these tasks. This property of the brain is called Neuroplasticity. It means that the brain can be restructured and hence you can acquire new skills.
- Keep yourself occupied and avoid boredom. Almost everyone gets bored sometimes; dull or tedious work can aggravate even the hardest of workers. However, an excess of boredom can contribute to depression. When you feel the onset of boredom, take a break to refresh your mind with a hobby, a conversation, exercise, or even some TV. These methods can boost your mood and can help you return to your work again. Remember entertainment is also very essential for the normal growth of your mind. One thing to keep in mind is that boredom isn't related with a particular task you are doing rather it is more related with the state of your mind. So if your mood is low then even an interesting task may look boring to you. On the other hand you may take interest in a comparatively uninteresting task when you feel high in mood! More often it has been observed that if you are able to fully concentrate and engage in your work, it will look you more appealing.
- Remember, you can't enjoy life by being lazy all the time. However, resting is different from being lazy. If you really want to enjoy life, here is a secret. Become active to take action around the clock (that means 24 hours a day/7 days a week). It will not make you tired. In fact, there will be a chain of tasks which include things which you like most, recreational activities, and your responsibilities. If you take time daily for recreational activities, it will fill you with tremendous energy so you can do less enjoyable tasks without being tired. But all activities should be in a continuous cycle. One complete task will give you the energy and inspiration for another. For following this style you require a lot of guts and a positive attitude towards what you are doing. It is just like saying to yourself that "yes I am ready to work and take actions around the clock but I would like to enjoy my life fully and not get bored." In other words, it is a way to expand your mind and life.
- Another way to make your work more interesting is to do it wholeheartedly. Just pour your whole attention into your work and you will feel the difference. By doing this you can embrace your work better and the quality of your work will also be improved. Apart from that, when you switch to another task you will feel a sense of positivity and joy. Another benefit of this method is that your mind will remain free from negative vibes and ideas. Give more time to the work which is more important to you and all the things will be balanced automatically.
- Understand the law of belief. Each one of us has various kinds of beliefs about life and stuff around us. These beliefs are actually established in our mind and soon become our reality. We see the world with the frame of our belief system. Any belief takes time to become strong in our mind. Many internal and external stimuli play an important role in the making of our so called belief system. According to the law of belief "Our reality differs according to our belief system". Although beliefs are very helpful in strengthening our will power and confidence, they also limit us to see the partial reality. So we must be flexible in our thinking and should ready to change our belief system whenever necessary. #One should remember that their beliefs are just beliefs and can't be put equivalent to reality or truth.
- Beliefs become weak when we experience something contradictory to our existing beliefs. And in a similar manner, they become strong when you find things which support your existing beliefs.
- Overcome the cognitive biases: Although our mind is very powerful yet like other things, it has many limitations. Many times our mind plays tricks on us, and if we are not attentive enough we will fail to observe the truth. Cognitive biases are the patterns in mind which will make you unable to take right and rational decisions. Because of cognitive biases we tend to think in a certain manner and can be deprived of the real truth. Because of biases, our decisions appear as appealing but they become illogical many times. If we can understand these cognitive biases then they can be overcome with some practice. The best way to overcome the biases of mind is to pay attention to your thoughts , feelings and actions. As the time passes your attention will become sharper and you'll be able to observe even the subtlest biases of your mind. Below there are some common examples of cognitive biases.
- Self-serving bias: Because of this bias, we tend take more responsibility for successes than failures.
- Confirmation bias: We tend to confirm our preconceptions and knowledge by searching and interpreting things in a way that support our conceptions. And we can ignore or reject the information which doesn't support our own views.
- Curse of Knowledge: It indicates the inability of more informed individual to think about the problems from the perspective of lesser informed individuals.
- Bias blind spot: People tend to think themselves as less biased than other people. It means that by default we remain blind to our own cognitive biases.
- Outcome Bias: In this bias we judge a decision based on its outcome rather than how exactly the decision was made in the moment. Just because you win a lottery doesn't mean that buying a lottery ticket was a smart decision. Here you are deciding the value of decision after you have seen the outcome.
- Overconfidence : This is one of the most familiar bias. Under this bias we tend to overestimate our capabilities and skills and as a result we tend to take greater risks in our daily lives. In this bias we feel convinced and confident that we are right irrespective of truth.
- Listen to your intuition. Sometimes when you are sitting idle, not doing anything in particular, some ideas will come to your mind unexpectedly. This is called intuition, and it is different from your regular thought processes. Through intuition, knowledge comes to you directly from unknown dimensions. Intuition tells you things like what you should do and what not to do! Many times it seems illogical to you, but never ignore your inner voice. Listen to it and try to analyse what it could mean. Intuition is a deep voice of yours or it may be considered as the deepest mind. Our intuition gives us the signals about various things going to happen in future. Intuition is considered as the power of our spirit. Everybody has different levels of intuition. Some people are very aware of it and others just don't know about it. But the fact is that it remains with us every time and guides us consciously or unconsciously.
- Use day dreaming and fantasy. Daydreaming may seem useless to many, but it's helpful in the long run. You must have heard that "All great people were great day dreamers". Everything is possible in imagination and a person can visualize beforehand what he want to be!. You must be thinking that how daydreaming can help in attaining our goals. In-fact by daydreaming you can see and imagine various steps and objectives of your goal and hence make it easy to achieve. More you visualize your goal more are the chances to achieve them. Look at Napoleon for an example; he would imagine a whole battle and then used to rehearsal for it, and this made him an great warrior.
- Please note that you love to do things which you fantasize about. So if you fantasize about health and fitness then you will naturally be motivated towards going gym and doing exercises. And it is true with anything. For example if you fantasize to become a writer then most probably you will develop the skills of writing. It is because fantasy is an intense process which has a very deep effect on our subconscious. So this tool of fantasy can be used intentionally for your growth and success.
- But make it sure that you don't fantasize about negative things because sooner they can become your reality. For example if you fantasize about getting fight with people ,you will actually find yourself amidst fights with people.
- Try to explore what do you want to be in life and how do you want to spend your time?
- Be aware and pay attention. Human memory has many flaws in it. We usually forget things and keep on getting distracted from tasks at hand. This involves forgetting on the conscious level. However, there is also forgetting at a very subtle level of the mind. We aren't usually able to fully track and remember our own thoughts, feelings and motives. The more subtle a thought or feeling is, the more difficult it is to recall it. It requires a lot of awareness and attention to track all our thoughts and feelings. If you are able to analyse your own thoughts, feelings and intentions, you can solve most of your problems. In the state of full awareness and attention, all the knowledge and wisdom will be available to you. The more you pay attention, the more wisdom and intelligence you will achieve.
- Keep the promises you've made to yourself. Many times we make conscious and unconscious promises with ourselves. For example you promise yourself to study better, to be fit, to buy a gift for your parents and many others. So the true problem comes when we don't keep these promises. Because of this we feel disconnected with ourselves and our confidence decreases. On the other hand if you work hard to keep these promises , you establish a strong relationship with your inner being and gives a meaning to your life. You will feel connected and get filled with joy.
- Remember the promises can be small or big. Take care of every minute promise which you made to you. And you will experience the wonder.
- Overcome your fears. Fear can easily stop the expansion of your mind. Everybody has some kind of fear. Some have fear of speaking in public, fear of learning new things, or some other type of fears. While some fear is normal, excess of it can affect the whole personality of a person. To overcome your fears you need to understand them. Most of the time our fears are the indication of any coming danger or threat and they are the psychological warning to make us careful. So it is a better idea to understand your fears rather than fighting with them. Remember that you can't overcome your fears by fighting with them because by fighting, you've already accepted its presence.
- Whereas fear can be an obstacle in growth of mind the love, happiness and various other positive emotions leads to the expansion of mind. So make love, your strongest emotion and you will be surprised to see its amazing results.
- Think positively. Life is uncertain and you may undergo severe problems and sufferings but becoming a positive thinker you can remain happy even in odd situations. The only thing you have to do is: Change your attitude towards life. Every pain and suffering is temporary and you are not going to tolerate it for long time. So be happy and don't deflect from bad situations.
- On the other hand if you will think negatively then it can spoil your life. In-fact thinking negatively is one our habit and we can get rid of it by proper training. Life is beautiful in its own way but one must have a positive attitude to see its beauty. Time and events aren't constant, they are changing continuously. So one can't complain that his/her life isn't worth living.
- Get plenty of sleep. The modern world is always busy, and sleep is often pushed to the side in favor of work. But sleep is absolutely essential if you want your mind and brain to operate and develop at their best. Adults should get eight hours of sleep and children should get nine to ten; if you sleep less than that, you won't be able to reach your full potential.
Using Techniques to Expand Your Mind
- Train your mind. It can look surprising but our mind can be trained like another things. We can train our mind to think in a particular way. For mind it is said that "mind takes the shape on which it rests". Once you will train your mind to think or work in a particular way then next time it will be easy for mind to follow that path or way. You can train your mind to think positively or to generate innovative ideas. You can train it to solve various problems in a creative manner. However in starting it can be difficult but with time it becomes habitual. For example you can train your thought process to deal with difficult and dangerous situations by imagining all situations in your mind. By imagining you can learn how to remain calm and strong in odd situations.
- Start any task that you like and as you go on, your mind will help you to learn it better. If you will practice learning something regularly then mind gets started becoming smarter in it. Remember there are various hidden powers of mind that you don't even imagine. When you started practicing something then you mind works consciously and unconsciously on it and ultimately making you perfect day by day.
- Read books. Reading books is a very good habit. Books don't only give knowledge but many times tell you how to live the life. Read as many types of books as you can. Good books often shape the mind in a better way. You can read various self improvement books, philosophy books, psychology books, etc. Reading books can help you to generate your own ideas.
- It should be noted that any book can't be read in one time. Whenever you read it again,you will find something new. So never drop the idea of reading a book again if you had already read it.
- Write. Writing is a very effective tool for mental growth. Write whatever you want. write about yourself, your feelings and what is happening in your life. When you will write about you and your feeling then you will know more about yourself. Write short stories if you can or generate new fresh ideas by brainstorming. Whenever you have some stress or problem just write down what is troubling you and then try to find a solution to get rid from it. In actual by writing you make your unconscious trouble conscious and then you can better understand them. Our brain works better when it remains stress free, so work on different ways to make it stress free.
- Your ideas, decisions and even your thoughts depend on your belief system. Our belief system is developed by our experiences throughout the life. So give time to yourself for analyzing your belief system. It is because of your belief system , some things hurt you and you feel bad about them. By changing your belief system, you can change the quality of your thoughts and life.
- Surprisingly your soul has every wisdom you need in your life. But you need to be very careful and peaceful to hear the voice of your soul. Try to write it down patiently. It will tell you all the amazing things which your mind can't configure easily. By writing , you are just bringing your unconscious wisdom to your conscious mind.
- Ask questions: Questions comes out as result of curiosity or confusion inside you. Asking questions leads to increment in knowledge and understanding. Whether you are a student or a professional, asking questions comes in handy everywhere. It has been seen that the child who are more questioning in nature, grasp more knowledge in comparison to other children.
- If you can ask good questions then you can understand the things thoroughly. Questions make your thinking precise and more goal oriented.
- Questions aren't always meant to ask from others. Many times we should question ourselves to solve a problem. And this is the way how we can become a critical thinker. Because if you can't ask right questions ,you can't get the desired information.
- Questions define what information you are trying to find. And more precise your question more are the chances to get the right information.
- Start Experiments: The word experiment is related with the word experience. So the real experience can't be gained without the experiments. Experimenting means, you are doing something different that you don't usually do. When you will do something different from your usual routine then you will see different results and hence your mind will gain experience by analyzing the new results.
- Don't do risky experiments without any guidance.
- Exercise your mind. The brain needs exercise like any other part of the body; when the brain gets the exercise it needs, the mind flourishes. Brain exercises can involve solving Sudoku, crossword puzzles, math problems etc. With the development of technology there are many other options to exercise your mind. If you have an android device then you can find a suitable application for mind enhancement. In-fact there are an enormous amount of application on play store and you can download one for you. Many of these apps concentrate on improving mental skills like Memory, Speed, Attention. Play more and more computer games, it will help to enhance your brain quality. Video games have different challenges in them. By playing them your mind can learn how to tackle different difficult situations.
- Make sure you take breaks often, as excessive amounts of video games may be harmful.
- Be adventurous. If you are an adventurous person then you will have a mind sharper than others. Adventurous people love to take risks and ready to do dangerous things. This is the reason that they have more mental energy than others. Moreover it is a scientific fact that when we face danger then our mind and body reacts vigorously and their efficiency to do work is immediately increased.
- Start thinking. Thinking is also an important tool in order to expand your mind. Think on various topics, things, your problems etc. Try to find how various things work and be curious about science and nature. For thinking you can choose an alone and quiet place and decide beforehand what do you want to think, you can also take notes.
- Be careful that you are not thinking very much as excessive thinking can be harmful and can generate severe mental problems. But it is true that until you don't take risk you can't achieve great!!
- Meditate. Meditation helps in building new connecting neurons and also help in changing your brain structure. Sit in a quite place and close your eyes then pay attention to your breath. Take deep and slow breathe. While doing meditation don't make trouble to yourself. Just feel relax and keep an eye on what is going in your mind but be careful that you have to only observe your thoughts, don't get indulge with them.
- Meditation helps you to relax your mind and you can easily feel the peace inside you.
- It disconnects the unnecessary thinking threads of worries and fear.
- It makes you more aware and you can focus on your work in a better way.
- Be disciplined. Your mind is full of emotions and until you control them, you can't help your mind to expand! Discipline is an art by which we can use our potential in a great way. There can be no alternative to discipline. If you aren't disciplined then you'll surely waste your energies and can't focus them in the right direction. It is also true for our mind. If we'll not focus our mind in the right direction then it can lose its track and can create problems. Set some objectives and decide which dimensions of mind you want to expand. Then work carefully on each objective for better results. You should also be careful about your mental health. It is true that your mind has amazing potential but its potential can be uncovered through step by step process rather putting too much pressure on it.
- Help Others : Helping others is a great virtue and it also helps in your spiritual growth. Being selfish can look nice but it is not much effective in long run. Helping others is like investing your money which will come back to you when you will require it most. So just be careful around you and help those who are in need.
- Use your common sense and intelligence if the other person actually require your help, don't unnecessarily give your help.
- When you will help the needy ones , you will feel good.
- Don't seek a reward immediately, good things will definitely come to you.
- You won't never feel lonely in adverse situation if you always helped others.
- Test yourself under pressure. The true power of your mind can be uncovered when if it works under pressure. Working under pressure means to deal a number of or more difficult tasks in given duration of time. You can make your mind to learn how to work under pressure. In beginning we can start with less difficult tasks and slowly we can increase the difficulty level. For example when we give a written exam then we have to write and think various things in give finite time. Its the reason that we are able to write more in exams in comparison to normal times. Because in exams our mind remains under pressure.
- Be careful that giving too much pressure to your mind can be harmful and can give harmful results.
- Get rid of bad feelings and memories. Every person has some type of bad feeling or bad memories in their mind. These bad feelings can be associated with a particular task or any past memory. So whenever the person tries to do that task again , these bad feelings discourage him. One of the best way to get rid of these feelings is to see them with a new positive perspective.
- Exercise. Performing physical exercises regularly can be beneficial for your mind. However you need not to perform vigorous exercises. Jogging in the morning and some stretching and warm up exercise can be helpful. Exercising increase the blood circulation in the body and also in brain. Moreover exercise make you mentally strong and keep you away from boredom and depression.
Developing Your Passions
- Do something you love. The mind loves creativity and if you will do the things which you love most there are chances that your mind will grow much rapidly than others. You must have seen children doing non serious tasks. For you these tasks can mean nothing but they are really helpful for the mental growth of children. Do some non serious activities and feel free to have fun with them. This mental growth comes as result of the intensity with which you are involved in your task. For being creative you need not to be a very good poet, singer or writer. What you've to do is the tasks which you enjoy doing. You can write a poem, draw a picture, can dance and it doesn't matter how bad they are!!, the only condition is that you are enjoying doing them.
- Some of history's great personalities were in fact the most creative people. For example: Einstein, Pablo Picasso, Beethoven, Michelangelo ,'Leonardo da Vinci ,Vincent Van Gogh, Isaac Newton, Thomas Edison and many others. These people did what they wanted to do and attained great peak of success. Try to find about the life of these people and read their biographies and you will probably find the clue of their success.
- Vincent Van Gogh was a very ordinary person and belonged to a poor family. The only interest in his life was to draw the pictures. He used to draw pictures whole day and night. It is the fact that Vincent Van Gogh wasn't able to sell even a single artwork in his lifetime. After many years his artwork was recognized by world. And today his artwork is so expensive that even rich people will not be able to buy it. His paintings are of million dollars worth.
- Another great personality was Leonardo Da Vinci who made some of world's greatest art work like the Mona Lisa painting. Even today the scientists and various researchers are trying to find the secret of the smile of Mona Lisa painting. The one of great feature of Mona Lisa painting is that if you look from any of side the woman in painting will seem to gaze and smile at you. Leonardo was also an ordinary child and was very curious about world. It is said about him that he wanted to know everything. He was born in fourteen century but he was very ahead of his time. He was first to gave the idea some of the great discoveries e.g. contact lenses, airplane and many other machines. The main motive of telling about him is that Leonardo had done what he loved to do without taking any formal education in school or colleges.
- Find your passion. Notice and analyse carefully what you love doing most. There must be some activity, art or skill which you are master in. Develop those of your skills and talent. It doesn't matter what other people say and like what matters is that what do you like. It is your life and you will only decide what to do with it. But you need to be firm and disciplined in order to develop your passion. Knowing that you are mortal and you will die one day will help you in finding your purpose and goal in life. According to Steve Jobs- “Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life.
- Almost everything--all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure--these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. -Steve Jobs
- You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart. No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet, death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it, and that is how it should be, because death is very likely the single best invention of life. It's life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new.”-Steve Jobs
- Have patience. Patience plays a very important role in your journey to attain success. Sometimes your speed can be fast and sometimes slow. In both the cases you have to maintain your patience. Many a times things can be out of your control then you have to remain cool and calm. If you take decisions impatiently at that time ,the things can go even worse. You have to understand that nature has its own way and you have to respect it. Take gradual steps and wait for the right time. You will surely attain success with flying colors.
- Be a cool person: If you are cool, it means you are broad minded. A person's coolness can be measured by how he handles the embarrassment feelings or situations. There are times when the things doesn't happen as we expected. At those times our coolness can be considered. A cool person takes things casually and don't let the situations overwhelm him. He is the one who will not get distracted even in the worst situations.If you are a cool guy then you know how to ignore small things and take enjoy of every moment. A cool person shows maturity in moments where other people usually got hurt or emotional. He is one who know how to deal with the people of all ages. He may not be so intelligent but he is usually smart in his ways.
- Talk with your friend or someone you like. This experience is full of joy and it can also help you to expand your mind. Discussion are also very helpful for getting new ideas and to solve our various problems. While discussing we should be careful not to convert the discussion into futile argument. While discussion can be very helpful, argument will take you nowhere!
- In a discussion, we can solve problems by sharing our ideas with others, but in arguments we usually forgot the real purpose and we start focusing on proving ourselves right.
- Struggle. Many situations will not be favorable for you, and you often won't get what you expected. But don't lose hope! Keep fighting and things are far more likely to turn out your way, and you'll also find that the very process of struggling strengthens and enhances your mind.
Warnings
- Ensure that you don't do extremely dangerous activities that could cause injury or death.
Related Articles
- Control Your Subconscious Mind
- Exercise an Open Mind
- Control Your Mind
- Grow Spiritually Every Day
- Help Children Learn
- Develop Both Hemispheres of the Brain
