One Person, Many Paths – One Mind and Mindfulness
I am just one person. But there are many paths I can choose from. Practicing mindfulness is the key to Pathwalking and like philosophies.
Many people believe that life is beyond their control. Shit happens, you go with whatever comes your way. You do what you gotta do – and unless you are somehow special, expect nothing but the bare minimums.
Let’s just dispel that right off the bat. Every. Single. Person. On. The. Planet. Is. Amazing. The potential and possibilities aren’t limited to a lucky few, geniuses, or those born to certain privilege. Everyone has the power to take control of their destiny and choose their paths in life.
Outside influences make this look like a lie. But that’s because you have ZERO control over them. All your control lies in yourself – and that is a LOT more control than most people realize.
To gain control, you need to begin with the small and obvious to tap into the big picture that is the beliefs and habits that are you.
Altering what you believe and the habits you practice are how you change. More specifically, since change is inevitable, it is how you direct the changes you experience in life.
The key to choosing any one or many paths is practicing mindfulness on all three of its levels.
While I have written about this in the past, new experiences and occurrences have altered, some, how I look at and work with this. Further, reminders are part of how beliefs and habits get built.
All that written, let’s explore the three aspects of mindfulness.
The surface
At the surface, mindfulness consists of your thoughts, feelings, actions, and intentions.
When it comes to what you think, what and how you feel, how you act, and the intent of your actions, they belong to only you. Nobody but you can think your thoughts, feel your feelings, or act for you.
It’s easy to believe that other people can make you think and feel a certain way. Also, your actions may be direct reflections of those foreign thoughts and feelings. While outside influences can influence – you make the choices. You choose one or many paths on your own.
This is why blame is pointless. So what? If I am the only one who can choose how I think, feel, act, and intend – then all that I do is my responsibility.
This can be a bitter pill to swallow. Particularly when our fear-based society LOVES blame. Don’t be accountable – blame “them” for the problems. Look familiar?
When you acknowledge this, you empower yourself to choose. Hence, becoming conscious of your thoughts, feelings, actions, and intentions are how you become aware and mindful of your present self.
Additionally, this serves to help you leave the past in the past and focus on the future with a clearer sense of the present. Because a future lacking present knowledge is nothing but supposition.
All this is yours to control. It requires being conscious and aware, rather than operating by rote and routine subconsciously or even non-consciously.
Once you better understand the surface you can start probing the depths of mindfulness.
The mindset/headspace/psyche
Thoughts, feelings, actions, and intentions are windows to your mindset/headspace/psyche. This is the overall isness of who you are.
Mindset is how you approach life, the Universe, and everything. It is the base level of vision for how all the world works concerning you and your life. Further, this is where positivity and negativity become yours to control.
A negative mindset begets negativity. A positive mindset begets positivity.
That’s not to say you fully dismiss one or the other. They are both necessary elements. But you can choose direction and placement for yourself.
Headspace is your mood and frame of mind. It tends to be fluid and easily influenced by what you consume.
I don’t mean food. This is where news, social media, interactions with people, and the environments you are in get into your head. Like mindset, you can focus headspace positive, negative, or neutral.
Frequently, headspace is the first deeper element impacted by outside influences. Bad things happening can put you in a bad mood. Mindfulness of this allows you to assert control over it.
Psyche is the deepest of these three elements. It is comprised of a combination of mindset and headspace – but also taps into beliefs and habits.
Psychologically, the psyche is your spirit. It is the truth of who you are and is how you get into your deepest depths of personality to analyze and change habits and beliefs.
All three of these notions work together in mindfulness practice. To access them, you use the surface elements of thought, feeling, action, and intent.
The deepest depth of the aspects of mindfulness is a bit more challenging.
Beliefs and habits
Everyone has beliefs, but we don’t all call them that. Some people refer to them as convictions, ideals, notions, and the like.
But they are deeply embedded in our minds. Many were created long, long ago in our childhoods. Some are good, some not so good.
Some beliefs become outdated via new information. As a human being, you are capable of continual growth, education, and evolution. Hence, something you KNEW ten years ago you KNOW is no longer the same. Beliefs work in this manner.
For example, let’s say as a child you believed the moon was made of cheese. However, once you began formal education, you learned it is made of rocks, minerals, and other substances.
Perhaps, as a child, your parents shared their belief that women are lesser than men. You held that belief for a long time, probably through much of your primary schooling. But then, when you reached college or the real world, you realized that women are NOT lesser than men. Now you believe that they are equal.
All beliefs can be changed. However, it’s important to be in control of that belief. You need to make sure – when you desire to change an outdated belief – that you are changing it according to your mindfulness. Get the facts and figures for yourself rather than relying on the opinions of unreliable sources.
Habits are formed by practicing beliefs over and over. Most habits are almost unconscious and neutral – getting out of bed in the morning, putting on deodorant, eating, etc. Of course, some habits are bad – like smoking, chewing your fingernails, making fun of people with disabilities, etc.
Any habit can be changed, and new habits can be formed. Like beliefs, habits are the most in-depth aspect of mindfulness.
One person – many paths
What has mindfulness and its layers got to do with the Philosophy of Pathwalking? Everything.
The philosophy is simple: Consciousness creates reality. Mindfulness makes you consciously aware and empowers you to create. This allows you to choose the paths to take your along.
Everyone has options for how they get to live their life. You, him, her, them, everyone. While I am just one person, there are many paths I can choose from. Practicing mindfulness is the key to Pathwalking and like philosophies.
When you are aware of your conscious mind you gain control. Then, you can stop outside influences from upsetting you as much as they could. You get to choose where you are going, here and now, and how you will get there. There is no One True Way™ – but many options and choices. You, and you alone, get to decide what that looks like for you.
Finally, I want to acknowledge a very important fact. While this is an everyday practice, you will fail at it from time to time. Shit happens that you cannot control. Specifically, other people are not inside of your control.
For example, something you did may have hurt another’s feelings. Presuming that was never your intent – there’s not much you can do about it. But that doesn’t mean YOU, in turn, won’t feel bad about making another feel bad.
Congrats, you are human. Car accidents, break-ups, deaths, and job losses can and will occur. And you can’t do a thing about it.
Allow yourself to feel what you feel. It’s a necessary part of life. But choose when, where, and how to release it and return to your mindful paths.
You have all the power. What one or many paths have you chosen/are you choosing?
This is the four-hundred and sixty-fourth exploration of my Pathwalking philosophy. These weekly essays are ideas for – and my personal experiences with – mindfulness and walking along a chosen path of life to consciously create reality.
I share this journey as part of my desire to make a difference in this world along the way. Additionally, I desire to empower myself and my readers with conscious reality creation.
Thank you for joining me. Feel free to re-blog and share this.
The first year of Pathwalking, including expanded ideas, is available here. My additional writing, both fiction and non-fiction, are available here.
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