f you agree that the mind is all ‘powerful’ then the following exercise is a simple experiment to assist you with some influence and control over that power.  The  ‘mind’ has been likened at times to a wild horse with you the bare-back  rider where your sole task is to ‘tame it’ or ‘break it in’, or, a ‘river in flood’ that drags everything under with its strong current. For many this is why the mind seems ‘to run its own race’ unless or until it’s trained differently;  hopes of mind training and taming seem so unrealistic that not trying to begrudingly becomes for many a hollow ’victory through surrender’.  However victory comes more from knowing about the way ‘all minds operate’ and knowing what you’re surrendering from.

Firstly know that the mind will usually want a say in most things!

It is important to surrender yes,  not from what the mind produces but from the way it keeps producing all ‘the wanting, all the desires’! Commonly minds are impatient, critical, reactionary and love complaining. Wouldn’t it be great to surrender from some of that?

There is however a subtle experiment you can perform, especially if you are one of those people who would prefer to be in control rather than surrender. But it’s not that easy. As soon as you close your eyes you’re dealing with it. That is UNCERTAINTY. The experiment is to simply close your eyes and observe for 30 seconds. Just observe and see if you can count the presentations. About how many were there? Could you follow them all? Did your mind jump around at lot? Did your thinking slow down or speed up?

Now try this exercise again and just practise ‘counting’  each breath you breath in and then out for a total of 30 seconds. Each breath is breathed in.. and then breathed out, not forcing, holding, or ‘doing’ anything, but just watching and counting in a calm and relaxed manner (being interested and curious). So whatever number of breaths you wish to count, let’s say 3 breaths it would be breath in 3, breath out 3, then breath in 2, breath out 2, breath in 1 breath out 1.

Now which of the two exercises was easier?

Instead of ‘trying to continually run the whole show, tame the horse and being caught in the current,’ this exercise allows ‘dismounting  from  the horse’ and ‘getting out of the river’, concentrating on something else. The ‘mind’ will probably resist and jump around initially while you train it differently but that’s just the way they react due to strong ‘imprinting’. MMP thinks that you can have real influnce by focused attention on something you can monitor,  your breathing and watching from the river bank! Don’t be surprised if this seems impossible at first, it’s not, but rather over time ’you’ will be training your mind to concentrate on dismounting, getting ‘you’  out of the river, allowing you to ‘dry’ off, and becoming more ’aware’ while you’re doing it. A great gift to give yourself!

Practice daily and the benefits are yours. It’s simply one of the ‘microskills’ we teach at MMP, allowing you to slow down and and your mind to concentrate, watch and let go! Be patient!

s we age it can be increasingly difficult to both maintain a healthy lifestyle and corresponding stable weight. Statistics see an ever increasing risk of obesity in many developed countries. But if you are overweight, don’t despair, you are not alone. For example sixty-six percent of adults in the U.S. are overweight or obese. Achieving a healthy weight can help you control your cholesterol, blood pressure and blood sugar. It might also help you prevent weight-related diseases, such as heart disease, diabetes, arthritis and some cancers.  Yet we all know these facts. The important thing is: achieving a healthy weight may help you ‘like’ yourself some more and if you actually ‘like’ yourself more often you’ll be much more inclined, over time, to put in ‘effort’.

But the question remains; why are we generally so overweight? Is there a common cause? Is it something so obvious that we disregard its influence?

At Mind Management Psychology weight loss as well as weight gain comes back to one central thing: your mind. It is not ‘rocket science’ but based on the knowledge that although theoretically the ‘mind’ controls the behaviours we all engage in, and we control our minds, for many this simply is ‘not the case’. If you are busy most of the time, time poor and reacting or following what your mind wants or suggests then it’s of little surprise that the mind wants ‘more’ and you follow.  

Eating too much or being too physically inactive will cause you to be overweight. To maintain your weight, the calories you eat must equal the energy you burn. To lose weight, you must use more calories than you eat. A weight-control strategy might include

• Choosing low-fat, low-calorie foods
• Detoxing from too much alcohol, caffeine and medications
• Eating smaller portions
• Drinking water instead of sugary drinks
• Being physically active

NIH: National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases

At Mind Management Psychology we go straight to the cause of  excessive eating which is two fold. Firstly, it’s following the mind tuned to ‘channel more’ and believing giving it what it wants will satisfy it, and secondly, it’s simply the body demanding to feel physically satisfied. If you are already overweight, then the body has provided you with additional ‘storage capacity’ for this extra food, it has ‘renovated’ itself. So don’t be too surprised if you feel ‘continually hungry’, it’s just the physical body saying it still has empty space ‘available’.  Again don’t despair, it’s about becoming ‘sensitive’ to what you’re doing, including eating.

Through the application of ‘microskills ‘MMP’s  participants get the opportunity to improve their sensitivity skills. For a part of each day (2 minutes) it’s ‘jumping off the merry-go-round’  allowing you to ‘be’ more. This practise is critical. In terms of weight loss, it’s beginning a practice of some stillness, not always following what the mind suggests and not always ‘filling the body’ to its capacity. It’s  like a ‘circuit breaker’, you have choice, it may surprise. These microskills, combined with a moderate degree of exercise and eating ‘naturally’ will enable you to ‘want less’ not ‘more’. Over time weight reduction follows. Be patient!

Then ‘liking’ yourself more follows and becomes self-reinforcing. You’re beginning to ‘train’ your mind differently and it will ’serve’ you better!

Should you decide to particpate in the program seeing your doctor for a check-up prior to commencement is recommended.

And you may like to experiment. Remember the most important meal BREAK-FAST doesn’t always have to be eaten early in the morning! Yes it’s about breaking the fast, so why not experiment and have it say at morning tea time, or, even at lunch time. You won’t die, and remember hydration is the key, progress in stages. You just may not need 3 sit down meals a day so try 2……………..

ll readers are aware that the physical body seems to operate more efficiently when it’s looked after.This can be in spite of our tendency to give the body some severe punishment especially when growing up.

Whether that be drug taking (including alcohol, nicotene and even caffeine), always going out, seldom stopping or slowing down.

It may have been exessive partying where we smoked too much, drank too much, or some combination of licit or illicit substances etc. Although this can be put down to ‘experimentation’ for many though it just doesn’t stop there. At MMP we are aware of this tendency to ‘go overboard’ and do things to ‘excess’ at the expense of the body. Of course you know where you live, what suburb, what street and what number. This is a given. At Mind Management Psychology we suggest a different address for us all, every single one of us.

Your true address is where you actually live, is ‘IN YOUR BODY’. This can be in spite of the fact that you ‘hate’ it or ‘loath’ it; the extension of this if true may see you not wanting to spend any time ‘at home’, where you live.  Very understandable. You may feel too fat, too thin, too weak or some part of your body is ‘not quite right’, your thighs, your calfs, hips, buttocks, chest, neck, face, chin, nose, ears etc. etc., we could go on. 

If you want to actually ‘know where you live’ then some physical exercise is non-negotiable. The critical engredient is ‘enjoyment’. You MUST actually enjoy what you’re doing. This takes time.  At MMP we design a program for you to begin a ‘graded’ exercise program so that you keep your ‘mind’ onside. As you keep your mind  onside, your real address, where you actually live may become something you begin to ‘appreciate’ more.

Over time you become both patient and persistent with physical exercise! Benefits then begin to flow.

igarette smoking provides an ideal gateway behaviour for drug taking (nicotene) without the apparent obvious consequences.  It has all the necessary ingredients to both focus the smoker on their breath (because you can’t smoke without firstly breathing) and yet keeps you distracted from the usually ‘busy’ doing mind. This is why in times of intense stress or dealing with boredom, after work/workout, when having a drink,  coping with shock or dealing with a traumatic life threatening event, for smokers an automatic response can be to ‘light up’.

Yet every reader knows about or through advertising  has been exposed to the negative health consequences of smoking.

MMP knows the negative effects of something is not in itself a powerful enough deterrant to sustainably change behaviour.

Maybe smoking in a time of crisis does in fact appear to calm or quiten an individual’s mind down, perhaps changing it psychologically enabling an increased ability to cope. Following on from the importance of the breath could it be an almost unconscious acknowledgement of the fact that there is breath awareness? Breath awareness in disguise.

While the breath is contaminated with smoke, the act of smoking helps individuals to cope, almost silently meditating on the breath. For all former smokers of which the founder of  MMP is one there was quite some satisfaction in breathing out the smoke, as well as lighting up, then breathing in the first breath and general awareness centered on the act of breathing. Although you cannot smoke if you don’t have some awareness of smoking, you can certainly smoke with little awareness of breathing.

It’s doing a behaviour without being aware that becomes imprinted causing brain changes (Schwartz and Begley, 2002) where autopilot lays the foundations for mindlessness. This enables dependent behaviours to continually get the oxygen they need to grow. And they do. We all do it sometimes. Breathing without awareness of breathing, taking drugs (alcohol, caffeine, medications) without awareness of taking drugs, drinking without awareness of drinking, smoking without awareness of smoking. In fact dependent behaviours can only thrive through a degree of low awareness, if you had high awareness you both wouldn’t do it as much and being ‘dependent’ on anything would be significantly reduced.

Mind Management Psychology places additional emphasis on slowing down, gaining awareness on what you’re actually doing for a part of each day. Through a daily short practice the likliehood of maintaining ‘smoking cessation’ is improved. You learn how to ‘smoke the breath’ instead! Even chain smoke it! As a result you begin to ‘train’ your mind giving you, once again, all the benefits.