What is mind fitness?
Mind fitness is about helping people to build a unique program using proven techniques that help them to understand their minds and find solutions to their mental problems. I often get asked what’s a Mind Fitness Coach. I tell them it’s like a personal trainer for your mind. When you enlist a trainer, they need to find out what your level of fitness is and what you can do in the gym. It’s the same with a mind fitness coach we must understand where you are now, and what your mind is doing. Our minds like our bodies are all uniquely different we need a program that will work for us.
Once you unlock the right program for you it's then about commitment and working through the uncomfortable. Like a normal fitness program, the mind can be fit and healthy if you put in the time. The great thing about mind fitness is that you always have your mind with you so no need to physically go anywhere. You can do your program any time or place and get great benefits quickly. Your mind can be changed if you’re willing to show up each day and put in the work.
It all starts with observing your mind which sounds easy until you do it. It’s like running for the first time you’re going to get tired quickly as you may have never done it. Most of us go around ignoring our minds or wanting them to stop when the overthinking starts. We fight with our minds and are often very critical wanting them to be different. We don’t consciously keep checking in to see what the mind is doing as we can be frightened of what we might find.
When I first started to observe my mind I found it was very judgemental of others and myself. It was hard to take on for example if someone did anything wrong I would stop speaking with them and find it hard to forgive them. Often because I was such a giver when they didn’t return it I considered them selfish. I never considered they were just good at receiving and probably thought why would I give so much if I didn’t enjoy it?
We are not taught to build a relationship with our mind to make it our partner rather than an enemy to conquer. It’s easy to blame the mind to label it a certain way it got that way because you programmed it unconsciously over the years. Mind Fitness is a way to start to program it the right way. Build a mind that you choose as an adult one that helps you to achieve the things that are important to you.
When we start a mind fitness program it feels tiring just like the gym. It doesn’t want us checking in all the time it believes we have programmed it and everything is working perfectly. It will resist just like the body does when you have to go for a run, it will make every excuse not to do the exercises. It’s why in my programs I make them so simple and easy to do at the start that you trick the mind into thinking it’s nothing.
To understand the mind you must know that survival is at the heart of everything. If you have done something before and you survived it then you will keep doing it again unless you have been conscious enough to say I don’t want to keep this anymore. Let's take overeating as an example we all know the healthy amount of food we should be eating but most people are exceeding this and gaining weight. Now if you do this enough times and you survive then the mind will say it's okay to eat that much and you’ve now programmed it.
The mind also wants to thrive, and food is often a form of pleasure if you are overeating food that gives you pleasure and there are no ill effects (survival) it will be very hard to stop this happening without working on your mind. The two things have been programmed I can eat this much food it gives me short-term pleasure and I have survived.
This becomes what I call a mind habit which would need reprogramming before you can ever be successful at long-term weight loss. Most of us are going around doing short-term pleasure that causes long-term pain.
This happens because we are not present in our everyday life to use the example of the frog. We are all frogs sitting in a pan of water and slowly over time the water is getting warmer because the heat is being turned up. If we do not realise we have the power to jump out of the pan ourselves it will be too late and the water will get to boiling temperature and will become someone’s dinner.
A Mind Fitness coach is a frog that has jumped out of the water and is on the countertop showing the other frogs how to jump out and start another life in a pond of their choice. They can’t pull the frog out; they can’t turn the temperature down, all they can do is keep shouting at the other frogs ‘Hey I know it feels warm and nice now but you're about to get boiled, why don’t you jump out of the pan and let me show you another way.’ hopefully the frogs listen and take action before it gets too hot to jump.
So, what is your boiling water? Is it anxiety, worry or overthinking? Are you stuck in a job, relationship or family battle that is slowly getting hotter and you want to jump out? The first step is to bring it to your conscious mind. Ask the question how do I get out of this? How do I find a solution? Questions are one of the best ways to start moving your mind in the right direction and get curious about your mind.
The next is to start to commit to a daily mind practice that is easy and simple to do. Lucky for you my five-day mindset reset challenge is completely free to join and will show you how to get started without adding on any time to your day. Get started now and be the frog that finds its pond to swim in.
