You Can’t Turn Off Your Brain
You can, however, change your mind.
One of the biggest misconceptions when it comes to meditation is that you need to turn off your brain. Quiet the mind, silence the chatter, and so on.
This is, of course, almost impossible to do. Sure, you can get some peace and solitude of mind for a time. But you can’t turn off your brain.
The meditation that I practice is mindfulness meditation. I know, as such, that my brain is going to be active. The idea is to accept this, and not deny the thoughts that come. Rather, what you do is see them, acknowledge them, but then release them, rather than examining them or holding onto them.
Hence, when a thought comes in, I see it, acknowledge it, and then release it, usually with a breath out. Then, I breathe in peace and calm. That’s meditation.
But what about other times when you’d like to escape the endless chatter, the thoughts, the constant flood of data? You can’t turn off your brain.
You can, however, change your mind.
How to change your mind
You are always empowered to change your mind. How? Via active conscious awareness.
Yes, that means mindfulness.
Mindfulness is applied active conscious awareness. This is attained by recognizing and acknowledging what you’re thinking, what and how you’re feeling, what your intentions are, the positivity or negativity of your current approach, and what actions you are or aren’t taking.
Once you have the active, mindful, conscious awareness of these, you can change them. That means you actively change your mind.
Often, it truly is that simple. Alter your thoughts, feelings, intentions, approach, and actions and you change your mind.
How do you know your mind? Active conscious awareness begins by recognizing your mindset/headspace/psyche self, your inner being, here and now. Only in the now, the present moment, does this work.
Everyone is of three minds. First is the unconscious mind, which drives the beating of your heart, oxygen flowing into your blood, neurons firing, and so on. Second is the subconscious mind, wherein lies your beliefs, values, habits, memories, and the like. Then, third, your conscious mind, which is the current, present awareness of who, what, where, how, and why you are.
Only via the conscious mind can you change your beliefs, values, habits, and explore memories. It is, however, the subconscious mind that most people focus on when they consider changing their mind.
That, however, begins by changing your mind here and now.
Before we get deeper into this let’s acknowledge an important fact.
You can’t turn off your brain
Like it or not, your brain is always on. There is no off switch. That, however, is a good thing.
The unconscious mind keeps your body functioning. Without it, you malfunction and get sick, fall apart, and die. Then, the subconscious mind is where the primary blueprint for who, what, and why you are is stored. Fortunately, it’s not written in stone or with permanent ink and can be drastically altered/changed.
Your mind can be slowed, calmed, and examined, but never turned off. You can’t turn off your brain, no matter how much you might want to. But you can change your mind, and that’s really all you need.
This is referred to as part of neuroplasticity. If you’re not familiar with this, it’s the inherent ability you possess to grow, change, and reorganize your neural networks. Technically, this is about rewriting existing neural pathways with new ones. Philosophically, this is how you change your beliefs, values, habits, and any other subconscious elements of yourself.
Nobody is unchangeable. That’s partly because change is the only constant in the universe, and thus unavoidable. Anyone who thinks they can’t change is right. But they’re also wrong. It’s a choice you make if you choose not to change.
“Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t-you’re right.” ― Henry Ford
You can’t turn off your brain. You can, however, change your mind, and that’s where it’s at. Changing your mind is your right as a human being, whether the matter is visceral and immediate or deep and long-term.
You are the only one in your head. Hence, you alone can choose to change your mind. When you do that, rather than try to turn off your brain, you empower yourself to do amazing things.
Recognizing that you can’t turn off your brain isn’t hard
It’s all about practicing mindfulness of your thoughts, feelings, intentions, and approach to direct your actions.
When you recognize and acknowledge that you can’t turn off your brain, you can alter your intention/approach and focus to instead work on changing your mind. Knowing that you have the ability via active conscious awareness – mindfulness – to alter your thoughts, feelings, approach, intentions, and actions, you can change your mind as you see fit both in the now and for more long-term reasons.
This empowers you, and your empowerment can empower others around you.
Consciously choosing your approach to life towards positivity or negativity – from the vast cylinder that exists between them – shifts life in a way that opens greater dialogue. With a broader dialogue, you can recognize, explore, and share where you are between the extremes and how that impacts you here and now.
Choosing thoughts, feelings, actions, and intentions for yourself employs an approach and attitude of positivity for realizing amazing potential and possibilities for your life.
The better aware you are of yourself here and now, the better you can choose and decide what, how, and why your life experiences will be. When you empower yourself it can spread to those around you for their empowerment.
Thank you for coming along on this journey.
This is the five-hundred and forty-fourth (544) entry of my Positivity series. I hope that these weekly messages might help spread positive energies for everyone. Feel free to share, re-blog, and spread the positivity.
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