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Our mind is a beautiful creation, isn’t it?  It is part of us, yet we can’t see it. Without our mind, where would our imagination come from? How would we be able to solve problems and make decisions? How would we be able to think? How would we feel our emotions?

When used with wisdom, our mind is one of our greatest assets. Through our mind we become aware and we become conscious. Every new insight we gain about our behaviour or our emotions comes from our ability to be open to awareness. From this awareness, we learn and grow as human beings.  It becomes an issue when we give our mind too much power and credit for our own good.

The French mathematician and philosopher Rene Descartes (1596-1650), famously said: “I think; therefore I am”.  This quote represents the way many of us see our mind … that we are our mind and we are our thoughts.

When we identify with our mind, we start losing sight of who we are and start believing whatever thoughts we have as true. We discard other perspectives and focus solely on the overly negative or positive thoughts we have.

Let me explain. Have you ever made a mistake, which you corrected and no further harm was done to yourself or anyone else? Although the mistake was corrected, you just kept on thinking about it, and the more you thought about it, the more you couldn’t believe you had made such a “stupid” mistake, which of course now makes you stupid. Or you have a business decision to make and despite having all the data you need, you can’t decide. Your mind goes back and forth, playing the “what if” game.

On the other side of the spectrum, our mind sometimes plays the “all is perfect” game because we want this business deal to happen regardless, and we sometimes ignore warning signals. We fail to take an objective look at the situation and rather totally become subjected to our overly positive thoughts.

 I was coaching a client of mine recently and he mentioned that he had met someone for coffee to talk about business. He was explaining a small change he wanted to make with a client of his when his companion asked the famous “what if question”. This “what if” scenario was enough to open the door and let the wild horse out of the corral.

Although there was absolutely no evidence that the “what if” scenario could ever happen, my client’s mind started running away like a wild horse with all kinds of negative and defeatist thoughts. And the more he tried to calm the wild horse - his own mind - by trying to control it, the more his mind ran away, fuelling his fear and paralyzing him.  Although this change might have been beneficial for his business, he had fully identified with the reality of his mind, without even questioning it. He had become a slave to his mind. How many of us are  “slaves” to our mind?

 Now imagine that instead of trying to control the wild horse with force we use a more gentle approach. We approach it from a loving attitude, recognizing its use yet not allowing it to bully us, slowly making it feel safe. What do you think would happen? My guess is that the wild horse most likely would calm down and be more likely to get back into the corral. 

Our mind reacts the same way. By allowing our mind to dictate what reality is, we give all our power away to make objective decisions based on a number of things such as other perspectives and not the least, our own intuition.  By belittling ourselves for the mistakes we may have made, or chastising ourselves for thinking these negative thoughts, we actually intensify the negativity.

So how can we tame this wild horse and not identify with it?

• By recognizing that our mind is only a tool, just as much as our intuition or “gut” feel is

• By recognizing that our mind’s task is to generate thousands of thoughts every day, no more, no less

• By deep breathing whenever we feel the wild horse taking over

• By challenging our thoughts: Is this really true? What evidence do I have that this is true?

Use your mind wisely. It is a wonderful tool, waiting to serve you.