Mental Slavery
“Emancipate yourself from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our mind.”
These words echo from singer, life lover, and activist Bob Marley’s Redemption Song. This is one of my favorite Marley lyrics.
The world around us is a creation made from our mind. It is a projection of our perception facilitating our interaction with the world we’ve created.
Abilities and potentials are perceptions and perspectives our mind creates. It is the puppeteer, conductor, and orchestrator of our world. Whatever it believes or expects, it will do all in its power to make that prospection come to fruition.
Think about when we swallow a sugary placebo pill. We believe it is a potent antidote to our current illness and even though its just sugar we’re ingesting, we still get better.
With warmer weather on its way, I escaped the confines of indoors and took a trip to the local driving range. I warmed up a little, and with a cool, fluid swing hit a straight 140 yarder with my 9-iron. Phew, I thought this was going to be uglier after not touching a club for the entirety of the off season.
About half way through my, now dwindling bucket of balls, I shanked a ball hard right. Uh-oh. I felt a flash of heat on my face, a sudden increase in number of heartbeats, and the feeling that all eyes were on this ugly projectile bouncing far from its intended destination.
I stared at my club, hoping this would take some of the blame off of me, and went to take another shot, hoping it wouldn’t be as bad. Clunk! The ball bounced of my club mirroring the path of the last perfectly. Frustrated, I hit another. Then another. Soon I had a pile of seven or eight balls lying in a tight circumference about 40 yards to the right of me. If only this was bocce!
The worst part of this, was I knew my next ball was just going to join its other comrades. My swing now carried with it the doubt I had casted on it.
What’s so frustrating, and the reason why every golfer has once uttered the phrase, “I hate this game,” is that at the very beginning I had a series of some beautiful shots. Then, one bad fluke, and I doubt my ability.
None but ourselves can free our mind. It wasn’t like the golf gods were spiting me that day. I bound myself to a limit I had created in my mind. Instead of thinking this was going to be a good shot I was hoping it wouldn’t be a bad one. Just the mere fact that the word “bad” was floating around in my head while I was pulling my golf club back, no doubt contributed to my mid-day shanks.
I put a handicap on my ability. This world is a projection of the mind, and now my mind was thinking, you’re going to shank this ball.
Emancipate yourself from mental slavery. Let go of the negative, embrace the positive.
Daily occurrences come in all shapes and sizes. Our interpretation of these events shape our life. It takes effort and practice to free yourself from the forty-five minutes of traffic you just sat in, the argument you just had, the doubts you’ve put on your abilities, or the monotony your days have turned into.
Shakespeare said, “Nothing is either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” If you tap into the awareness that you control your thoughts and therefore your reality, entire life perspectives can be shifted.
We get frustrated, worried, anxious, stressed, angry, upset, the list goes on, but when certain events happen there is no avoiding the averse, nor should you. What you do want to avoid is being bound to these shackles.
Appreciate the emotion, and then let it go like a floating leaf falling from a tree.
By holding onto the negative we enter a state of mental slavery. Only you can break those chains. Have the courage to look at your life from a different perspective, a limitless perspective – because reality is what the mind creates.
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About the author
I believe in challenging the status quo and thinking differently, constantly. My past has been living in the limits of a societal context, my future lies in following what I believe in, and that middle ground known as present day consists of the surreal purpose of living in the now.
I’ve experienced this mental block before and it isn’t always easy to get out of it. It seems as if the more you think about it and try not to perform bad the next time, the harder it is to actually get it right. I find that taking a step back and clearing your mind of all thought is the best way to get yourself back on track. In fact, most of the time when you’re doing a skill, it just seems best to keep your thoughts to a minimum.
Let those natural abilities take over. Whenever I get frustrated, it always seems to be something I know I’ve done before (write a blog, swing a golf club, have an enlightening conversation) but when the outcomes change, all I seem to focus on are my perceived damaged abilities. It’s not my abilities that have changed it is my mindset.
This is where you should take a step back, “clear your mind” of the focus on the adverse, and just do it, be in it, let your natural abilities flow.
Of course this is easier said then done, but you said it Steve, it’s the path to get you back on track.
I think our minds are so much more powerful than most of us realize. It makes me excited to think about the infinite potential if you surrender to that knowledge. I hope you have a great day!
p.s. my biggest obstacle with golf is I get mentally tired. This year I need to work on my mental endurance for the game
I agree Wendy, our minds are much more powerful than we realize. They will create whatever reality we believe in. Focusing on the beliefs of abilities, instead of lack there of, can really open up entirely new realities for us.
And I feel the same way about golf! By the time I get to the back 9 it seems like I make mistakes because my concentration is lost. Let’s see how we make out this season!
I have the same problem with the back nine. I think that must be why I love 9 & dine
Sometimes we become prisoners in our own negative thoughts
you are right, thank you for the great post Chris
Exactly! And just as we have made ourselves the prisoner, it is up to us look for new perspectives, believe in new realities, and liberate us from these self-imposed shackles. Thanks for stopping by Farouk!