How to Use Mindfulness to Access Your Unconscious
Steven Kotler
11x National Bestselling Author | 3x Pulitzer Prize nominee | Executive Director at the Flow Research Collective | Leading Expert in Peak-Performance
Hi everyone, ???
?Giving you another article this week by Dr. Rachel Barbenel-Fried, one of our clinical psychologist and optimal performance coaches here at the Flow Research Collective.???
She gives you a super quick and effective tip you can use to access your unconscious using mindfulness. ???
?Enjoy.???
???-How to Use Mindfulness to Access Your Unconscious-???
I’m starting with this month’s newsletter article, “Blind to Our Blindness,” by Sarah Sarkis. If you haven’t read it yet, do that immediately. You don’t want to miss this one. She will give you a deeper understanding of the power of our unconscious, illustrating how this is the birthplace of insight, change and free will. She’ll demonstrate how without engaging this aspect of ourselves, our efforts towards change are short-lived and elusive. ? ???
??How do you want to evolve? You want to become more creative? You need to cultivate openness and inquiry. You want to be less reactive? ???
???You’ve got to be informed about the pause between stimulus and response. Here’s where the difference lies. ? ???
?Whatever you want to shift, you first have to know what is getting in your way. To do that, you need to access your unconscious. There are different ways to work on that, but today I’m going to tell you about mindfulness. ? ???
?Mindfulness is a type of systematic mental training that expands self-awareness and self-regulation. ???
???Mindfulness allows us to engage our capacity to override self-focused needs to spend more time engaged with useful parts of ourselves.
Here’s your prescription. Designate five minutes a day to become aware of your thoughts. You can do this sitting, standing, walking, or lying down. ? ???
??Observe the inclination to label things positive or negative. Can you manage five minutes without judging. Can you observe without affirming or denying? ?
?Trust me, it’s harder than it sounds. For most of us, we run through our days constantly tagging things “good/bad or positive/negative yay or nay.” It’s curiously difficult to just notice how things are. ? ???
??Here’s why this is important. The assignment of meaning keeps us stuck in the rut of seeing everything through our ego. ???
???The more the ego is quieted, the more likely we are to reach our goals. ???
???When we soften our habitual way of looking at the world, the more creative, balanced and integrated we become. And from there you can soar. ? ???
??So go on, designate five minutes a day, everyday, for a week. For the super gung-ho, do it for the month until the next instalment of Shrink Wrap. Notice what you notice and as my teacher would say, “have that.”?
? ???Feel free to let me know what you find.???
???-Rachel Barbanel-Fried
P.S. - if you haven't checked out my new podcast, More Questions Than Answers, head here.
???This month I explore how creativity changes everything with the legendary Chase Jarvis.??????
Cheers,
SK
Writer at none
5 年Excellent as always Steven. You inspired me as always. I'g like to share this example, as true as it is (ps : it's not a game but mind work to be aware of our Unconscious Mind) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fSoI_HksoU
Author | Executive Leadership Mentor & Coach | Int. Speaker | Lecturer | Strategic Advisor | CEO at Geneswiss Consultancy
5 年Important message there Steven Kotler
Great advice. I find mindfulness is in a way a more umbrella activity of meditation. The more I bring awareness to each present moment, the easier it is to be mindful. Ultimately making actual mediation easier because mindfulness is my natural default.
Chief Executive Officer
5 年Very intriguing concepts. Looking forward to trying.