The psychological and practical mind
My first blog post in a while! Time is definitely moving and the play of life is continuing. I feel well rested. My mind is steady enough and I’m having one of those more productive days whereby the practical mind is in front of the psychological mind, which means I’m operating from a more natural place, from instinct. If the psychological mind was in front, my morning may have gone quite differently. The psychological mind carries unwanted thoughts that don’t serve us and take us away from the present moment and our ability to flow through our day. Here’s an example of when the psychological mind begins to creep in and becomes a distraction:
The day begins and before you even get out of bed the psychological mind, which we will now refer to as ‘TPM’, starts running the show. It attaches itself to things you’re worried about, things you haven’t actioned, which if you’d begun preparing to action - rather than worry that you haven’t actioned it - would be one less thing for your mind to fixate on.
You’re still lying in bed and TPM carries you away with the conversation you had with that person, or didn’t have, what ‘so and so’ said that you didn’t like, how much you don’t want to get up and so on. It can take us through a series of different thought patterns and emotions before we even start our day. When we do find the mental and psychical energy to get up, TPM doesn’t decide to give you a break and remain on your pillow, it gets up with you and can follow you throughout your day. And believe me it will be back tomorrow and the following day, drawing your attention in, slowing you down and altering your mood so that you feel separate from your higher-self and most productive self – if you let it.
The thing with TPM, it’s very good at re-directing your attention to whatever it’s saying. It continues to talk to us and we are usually so ready to listen. TPM dwells on things and creates the tendency to make things bigger than what they actually are. When we know and understand the difference between the practical and psychological mind, we see that the practical mind encourages us to flow, it operates mostly from instinct and carries a more natural energy. The practical mind also speaks to us and produces our thoughts, but it is more productive, free and unattached. We use the practical mind to get our day-to-day tasks done, in the practical sense. TPM creates more of an attachment to unhelpful thoughts, feelings and ideas about ourselves and others. TPM can create a lot of what is known as negative thinking which can exacerbate an initial low mood.
During our daily activities it’s useful to notice which ‘mind’ is most prominent, and if there’s a shift in our thinking or mood, whether it be a positive or negative shift. The important thing is to notice. The awareness itself can help us to move to the next step, taking any necessary actions and use of inner tools that will encourage us to flow more from our instinct rather than the noise of TPM. Helpful tools that can encourage us to flow more from our being/higher-self could be:
Meditation
Journaling
Walking
Mindfulness meditation
Self-Inquiry practice
Breathing exercises
We can all become more aware of ourselves, and deepen our understanding of our mind and its polarities. From this place of understanding we can observe how the mind can best support us and learn which tools are most helpful and contribute towards our mental and emotional well-being, leading to general wellness.
