Have You Got A Dirty Mind?
I just wrote that headline and chuckled as I imagined people opening up their email and reading it. There are always people who might think that you are personally accusing them of furtively enjoying pornography or of harboring deep, hidden desires that they fear others finding out about. That’s not what I’m talking about, though the process of how people get paranoid is somewhat related.
What I really mean is this…
You have come here, metaphorically, to think about new concepts and ideas that might make your life more enjoyable. You’ll examine them, compare them with your experience and filter them through the framework of your beliefs, that make up your Operating System.
Mentally, what you are doing is akin to a Scientist examining an item. The Scientist takes great care to keep her Laboratory in pristine condition. She knows that contaminating what She wants to study will change it’s properties.
Yet you may be reading this while doing five other things. So as you mentally process the ideas they get mixed in with the other things you are thinking about.
Imagine if pharmaceutical factories were to do the same thing, so your pills would could be made of whatever happened to be around as well as the chemical ingredients. It wouldn’t be long before they were sued out of business. But your thoughts determine your body’s biochemistry far more than one contaminated pill. So shouldn’t you be much more careful about the way you take in and consider new ideas?
Psychologist’s talk about the Cocktail Party Syndrome when they discuss Selective Attention. Basically the idea is that you could be having a conversation with Tom. Five foot away you are aware of Jim and Jane having a conversation, but your focus is on talking to Tom.
Suddenly you are aware of your name popping up in Jim and Jane’s conversation. It’s more important to you what they are saying about you – are they saying nice or nasty things? – than what Tom is talking about. So you cut off listening to Tom and try to pick up what they are saying. Then Tom finishes and is waiting for your reply, but you have no idea what he’s just said.
Now since the world always gets busier, more complicated and more to do. More and more people are trying to run around multi-tasking, there’s less and less focus on one thing. In a 2005 study, Glenn Wilson discovered that people taking an IQ test while answering email scored lower than while taking the test after smoking marijuana.
It doesn’t just have to be outside distractions either. I’m sure you’ve had the experience of reading something and then re-reading and re-reading it because your mind drifted.
Then there’s a slightly different effect. We don’t start every thought, or every activity, with a blank screen. There’s a momentum effect. You have a train of thought going in one direction, so unless what you read was very contrasting to your current thought path (like do you have a dirty mind?) it’s likely that you’ll interpret what you read in a way that continues along your path.
Then beyond this, there’s the effect that your mood has on how you interpret ideas and situations. If you were happily going about your day and someone grinned and asked you how you were you might think how nice that they cared.
But if you were having a bad hair day and were feeling paranoid that people were laughing and ridiculing you, you might interpret the grin and comment as them ridiculing you for some unknown reason. It’s the same reason that someone, feeling guilty, will have seen the title of the email I sent and wondered if someone had found out something they didn’t want others to know about.
People often want to argue about what is the best. Who has the best ideas, what are the best sources, what is the best product. The truth is that there is no definitive best. What matters more is you or more specifically your state of mind.
If you are receptive you can take any idea and see in it the most valuable insight.
The best seed is wasted if it sits on concrete.
The most beautiful item is wasted in the dark.
The most valuable product is pointless in it’s box.
Everything has a cycle, a rhythm, a season. Be mindful of what it is that you are seeking. If you come to seek ideas and explore your thoughts, clear your mind and do that.
If you seek in desperation, while simultaneously doing many other things, you’ll end up with a patchwork quilt of mish- mashed, half- baked ideas that contradict each other. Ultimately you’ll be moving further from your goal.
stop saying grose things about this! It’s your terrible way of thinking! Normal people don’t care about stuff like that
I thought it was well written….so what is normal?
Planner totally missed the point. Did she/he read the article?
What is normal, casey, is a cluttered, disorganized mind and lifestyle. People muddle through.
Interesting post.
So, how does a person become more receptive and clear their mind?
It’s funny you should ask Cindy, because I’ve been writing about that for the past few weeks. Here’s the starting point;
http://livewithoutconflict.com/blog/2008/06/24/what-is-stress-a-new-definition-of-stress-for-a-new-millenium/
Yea , it didnt really say what TO do to clear ur mind
Cristela,
That was the first in a series of posts that took you through a process to clear your mind.