Trent RhodesIn my previous post, I offered the position that it was possible to attain a state of mind free of self-destructive thoughts and those habitual mental tendencies that eventually result in stressing out. I described this state as being consistently “in the zone,” a permanent state of flow that keeps you in the present moment with a balanced dose of foresight. And I explained this type of peak mind was a goal for top performers trained by specialized coaches to reach it. With access to accurate knowledge and certain lifestyle patterns, you can attain it as well and apply in your daily living.
“One day being the best version of your self can compensate for one-hundred days of feeling low.” – TR
In this post, I will share specific paths to accomplish this.
Detoxification
It’s time to clean house. See your mind as you would your home. Do you keep things in your house you have no use for? The usual response to junk in the house is to throw it out or give it to someone else. Or donate. The end result is it’s no longer in your house. Why keep content in your mind that’s taking up space and providing no value? I believe we know this on an intellectual level. We hear phrases like, “Think positive” and “Keep away from negativity.” We know what it means but the challenge is having the strength to follow through.
Eliminate from your life those influences that bring you down. Simple. Put down the magazines that fill your mind with garbage content. If it’s not helping you move forward, it’s not helping you. If you wouldn’t fill your car with poor gasoline, don’t feed your brain solely with junk media.
Check your friends. No matter how long you’ve known them, they’re either propelling you forward or holding you back. And if they’re holding you back, perhaps “friend” is not the best word to use. You will outgrow some friends. New people will enter your life and become friends. You’ll meet people who are beyond your development and they may want to help you. You might be in a position to help someone else. People will flow in and out of your life and everyone isn’t meant to be there with you forever; some people provide a purpose for your growth for a fixed time period. It’s important to understand when you cleanse yourself this way that there will be sacrifices. But “sacrifice” doesn’t mean “bad.” It means you’re trading or giving up one thing in exchange for another, something better.
Embrace solitude. In this high-tech world, more people are involved with their devices when physically alone. Observe how many people in public transportation resort to throwing their attention to their phones or pads to pass the time. Some people have a hard time being alone without it feeling like a loss. But you will find this pattern among the eminent figures of our past; they realized great insight and learned to know themselves while alone.
This doesn’t mean avoid a social life. It means you need a balance between being in people’s faces and spending time to understand your inner dynamics: your needs, desires, strengths, improvements, fear, what you’re willing to put up with, choices. All of these inner levels are required to be understood before you can move on to an authentic level of maturity as a human being. And if your goal is an invincible mind, you must be comfortable experiencing these and knowing how to tap them for growth.
Watch your language. You don’t need to speak like Shakespeare, but you do need to be mindful of the words you use. An entire article can be written on how words have power to affect you mentally, physically and spiritually. For this post’s purposes, I suggest training to remove certain statements from your vocabulary like:
“I can never learn how to do this.”
“I’m sorry I just can’t do it.”
“I don’t know what I’m good at.”
“I wish I could be like that.”
“If only I could do this.”
“I suck.”
“I wish I wasn’t born.”
Mix up the words, use any statement you’d like but you can see the pattern. When you say these statements and believe them, you’re setting your mental state up for weakness and that will flow into everything you do. And your actions will influence people to do the opposite of what’s going to help you grow. When you say statements like these, you shouldn’t be surprised when you receive exactly that. You’ve called them into your existence.
If you catch yourself saying these, immediately change it and speak it again positively.
“I can learn this.”
“I may not know how to do this now, but in time I can learn how.”
“I’m going to find out what I’m good at.”
“I can be like that in my own way.”
“When I have what I need I’ll be able to do this.”
Speak from a position of strength and you will act accordingly. People will respond to you accordingly.
Courage | Fortitude | Backbone | Guts | Audacity | Boldness
Boldness is a requirement for an invincible mind. Use any term you’d like. They all speak of that assertive energy needed to push things forward. It’s that oomph that makes your opponents stand aside. The tenacity that destroys your obstacles simply because of your eagerness to face them. You take risks despite the potential consequences because you know your outcome is worth it.
Nothing will change for you without having the audacity to take a different path and being unafraid to model it. An invincible mind could care less about the negative points of view determined to bring down its vision.
Spine is a bit lacking these days for want of political correctness and this enhanced sensitivity to differing opinions. Do you have the guts to stand by your passion and see it develop fully in the world? Your tests will come quickly and easily as you start sharing your ideas.
Don’t run away from difficulties. One of your main rites of passage to developing an invincible mind is handling situations that don’t go your way. Needless to say we live in a quick-fix society, so you also now have this tendency in man to deal with. Working long in the trenches for something you’re so passionate about you’d die for just isn’t quite the fad today.
Muster up that moxie. You will make attempts and they won’t work. You will try and nothing will seem to change. It’ll feel like no one supports you. You keep trying and trying and trying until…something changes. You make progress. Whatever this thing is you progress with, it’s important to never give up on it. Your fruit isn’t in the actual success. It’s all of the grunt work and setbacks you put up with to reach that point that makes the success sweeter. A master of her craft reveals her mastery to you, but you won’t see the hours of rugged effort that inevitably caused her to ascend. An invincible mind recognizes adversity is not only part of the journey, it’s a necessary part of the journey.
Passion for Something
Search up the cases where willpower beats illnesses in cancer patients and others and you’ll find plenty of proof that passion can literally keep you alive and strong. And lack of purpose can cause you to fade away. An invincible mind remains consistently resilient because it’s acquired an unbeatable Why. Think about what you do or have done and what moves you out of bed everyday. What’s your Why for being on the earth? What can you contribute that’s unique to you, that only you can provide?
This is deeper than romantic love. This is about recognizing your love of self-expression and how much you want to express yourself in that specific way everyday, all day.
Find a physical activity. Tennis or ping-pong, swimming or surfing, it doesn’t matter. When you have a physical activity you can become totally absorbed in, you integrate your mind and body. Mine has always been martial arts training. This unification enhances your abilities. You become more balanced and you achieve greater command of how you use your body.
Succeed at something and repeat. The scale of success here doesn’t matter. Start with a small accomplishment at some skill you have and feel what it’s like to start it and finish it. Repeat this process. Set the goal, work through and accomplish. You’re practicing the habit of creating a mind that can visualize some end and do whatever it takes to see it manifest. If you can do this with small goals, you can do it with larger.
Read the auto/biographies of great figures. I cannot stress enough how important it is to understand the histories of great people. Find free eBooks if you choose not to buy. Visit a library. Search the Internet. Borrow books from your friends. Past or present, when you learn about their trials and achievements, you notice patterns that they tended to experience. They gained invincible minds by undergoing similar challenges. Time periods don’t matter; their paths crossed timelines yet how they developed and rose to prominence follow consistent themes.
These are just a few methods for reaching the mental state that dramatically enhances quality of life. They can be applied without paying for any materials, calling a specialist or joining an organization. This power comes within and you already have the means to call it forth.
What’s your next move?
