Mind Traps
Your mind has a mind of its own. This is vital to know and embrace.
When you do things without thinking, you follow the ground rules established by your genetic makeup, upbringing, relationship history, and imagination. In truth, during moments of blinded awareness, your mind follows the rules of its evolved nature.
Your mind is designed to follow its own rules. Welcome to the transcendent world of mind rules.
Rules Rule
Rules are the logical underbelly beneath the surface of daily life. They help to secure and sustain balance among safety, fairness, order, and justice. Pretty heady stuff, right?
Contemplate the following thoughts about the merits of rules.
To play a game is to follow its rules, which maintain order.
By knowing the rules, your chances of winning improve considerably.
By following the rules, players avoid chaos and embrace complexity.
Rules are the deep structure from which real-world instances are derived.
The bottom line is that rules are essential to keeping things in order. Without rules, things become, well, unruly.
Without rules, the messy world gets messier. Crossing the street would require you to take your life into your own hands. Paying for your groceries at the store would be optional. Taking your assigned seats would be foolish. Why not take the seat you prefer rather than the one you paid for? Saying “please” and “thank you” lose their value in a self-serving world. Flying in a plane would be terrifying.
Mind Traps
Now for a twist. What’s true in the outside world is equally valid in the inside world of your mind. Rules constitute the inner form and organization of how your mind works. This marvel explains Dr. Zierk’s thinking and the creation of his book:
Mind Rules: Who’s In Control, You or Your Mind?
Available at all booksellers.
Because your mind does what it is designed to do, sometimes you’ll find yourself doing some things over and over even when they don’t make sense, don’t produce great results, and don’t make you happier.
We call such situations mind traps! They occur when your mind controls you rather than you being in control of your mind, and things don’t end well. In other words, you’re “trapped” when your mind's programming overrides your best interests and preferences.
Navigating Your Mind Traps
Put thoughtful energy into the following exercise to help you better control your mind traps. Please know that this exercise involves you reading Dr. Zierk’s book to grasp the importance of mind rules and discern which rules are tricky for you.
#1 Select: Pick a mind rule that frequently trips you up. While your mind does exactly what it’s designed to do, that doesn’t always mean it’s your best choice.
#2 Attend: Commit to bringing awareness to times when this mind trap appears. This step involves exercising mindful awareness. Instead of going through your day routinely, focus on situations that catch your attention.
#3 Audit: Routinely review throughout the day the different moments you fall into this mind trap. Consider making journal entries about your daily experience. Writing provides a time for reflection, which shortens your learning curve and deepens your self-understanding.
#4 Ask: Upon review, ask yourself, what can I do next time this happens? Do I have choices? Have I become nothing more than a creature of my habits? Are my habits out of control? If my habits are out of sync with what’s best for me, will I ever be happy? What else can I do other than follow my impulses?
#5 Step: When you fall into a specific mind trap, practice stepping in (doing something different), out (refraining and looking for perspective), up (doing the right thing), or down (not doing the wrong thing).
Press the button below to learn more about how your mind works as described in Dr. Zierk’s book, Mind Rules: Who’s in Control, You or Your Mind?