The Mind

Is a tool something that we have control over, or is it just an instrument that makes our lives easier in some form? If a tool can still be a beneficial and necessary device in our lives, even without complete control, we generally deem it valuable to our well being.

The concept of The Mind is one that I have always pondered over. How can something that I presumably have little control over, help me in such outstanding and profound ways? My mind, as I have learned, is one of simple means and lifestyle. It thrives when it is presented with difficulties and merriment's of similar form and pattern. It gets frustrated easily when it is surprised or forced out of its ever cushy comfort zone.

My Minds experiences and challenges on this earth range from simple to complex. Yet it, seemingly and quite mysteriously, always accomplishes its goals without fail. Is it because My Mind only takes on the challenges that it knows can be accomplished seamlessly? This is the answer (I think a light bulb just went off in my head) I am inclined to believe most. To me it makes sense that My Mind would approach only the sort of conquests it knew it could and would conquer. Why would someone allow themselves to partake in an unconquerable deed? Is there not a slightly sadistic tinge to that sort of mental activity?

The next important question to ask is, why My Mind chose this particular cut off line on its 'conquerability' meter? It is, after all, a very safe place when I stop to think about it. My Mind is very comfortable thinking that everything it decides to do will be completed successfully- It is interesting to note (I should write many blog entries on this particular issue) the correlation between being comfortable and being successful.

Why do I want to be comfortable? I almost think I would be more successful (in a relative, life fulfillment, sort of way) if I was always out of my comfort zone. At least then I would be pushing the limits to realms My Mind will not allow itself to know.

Are humans supposed to push the bounds of comfort/success? Where is the line drawn between being simply content and truly triumphant in ones life?

Why am I settling?

Why am I content? The reason is because I fear what I do not 'know'. And what I do not 'know', is what I cannot control. At this point it is easy to make the argument that there is nothing I can really control. For arguments sake let us assume that, within reason, we control some aspects of our own lives. If there are a few aspects of life that I am able to control, then why am I not willing to leave this Zone with predetermined outcomes?

It doesn't make sense to only do what you know how to do. The reason for knowledge is application. But, if one is having an encounter in which they have had no prior experience, it is unfair to force the situation, or rather morph it, into a familiar interaction in which there may be a predetermined outcome. Each experience in life deserves its own space to grow and change naturally.

Therefore, we cannot allow our minds to change our experiences into outcomes that we have no doubt already faced. Our relationship to foreign relations must be with open arms. These interactions that are unfamiliar to us, must be the ones that we embrace. We cannot deny ourselves the opportunity to have a true experience, or an experience that is newly felt, and hardly understood. These sensations are the base needed to continually stimulate our minds. We cannot settle on what we 'know'. Instead, it is important to come to terms with, and to learn, how what we don't know can impact our lives in a new and unusually good sort of way.

This is the limitation of The Mind. To have the opportunity to manage what sorts of experiences we are introduced to, on a regular basis, and to settle if we are afraid of what might be learned.

Now it is time to stop settling, and to get on with Life.