Climb Down From Your Head
On a fundamental of mental skill development
Most of us are convinced of the nature of reality not only by what we see and hear, but by the mental conversation that accompanies our physical senses.
It's the almost relentless background mental narrative that accompanies life experience.
We identify with it completely.
The voice in your head is you; you are the one doing the talking, and it all goes on automatically. Sometimes, you can control what you think about, but most of the time, thought just occurs, and you believe what it says.
It begs the question, who is the one who notices the thoughts?
I'll revisit that question another time...
You may wish you didn't have these thoughts, so you do your best to ignore them and think of something else. You distract yourself by doom-scrolling your phone, binge-watching Netflix, shopping for clothes you don’t need, injecting botox, drinking pints, snorting coke and various other non-complex frivolous activities.
When you're stressed or when your medication of choice is unavailable, it's more difficult to control.
The only time when the mental narrative stops is when you're asleep or wasted.
Two bottles of red wine on a Friday night after work usually did the trick for me. But it didn't last, of course. Sunday night would roll around, and I was right back where I had been.
That was my only solution for maybe a year, and then I found something else.
For one reason or another, I became curious about the reality I was living. I see it now as a natural consequence of pushing too hard in one direction - of forcing things to conform. Eventually, it all collapsed. It was painful, but I was able to see more clearly.
I found meditation during that time, and everything changed.
My mind began to go quiet, and late one night, in an emotion-filled moment, I realised that perhaps I was something other than what I had thought myself to be.
The experience was profound and gave me a glimpse of a new reality.
You see, we human beings live on the surface material world of pleasure and pain. Drama and distraction are everywhere. Everything is for sale, and everyone (almost) is trying to sell you something to help you fulfil either of these primary desires.
I am not immune from this lure of instant gratification or release from discomfort (chocolate is my biggest vice), but what I have discovered is there is a simpler, longer-lasting solution.
It is to become quiet.
To cease the almost ceaseless mental conversation.
To climb down from our heads.
If there is a fundamental requirement for a happy and fulfilled life that trumps all others, it is this.
After we discover this, we can begin to construct our thoughts and ideas towards our benefit and, indeed, that of others. Get quiet first, and then all good things will follow.
In the Mental Skills Program I'm building, I call this purposeful, directed mental conversation self-talk. It can only operate effectively after we learn how to climb down from our own heads and quiet the noisy mind.
From Dublin, Ireland, on a sunny and warm April afternoon.
Slán for now 👋
Larry