The Power of Totems II: Mapping the Mind
Your mind is a world all its own, full of vast expanses and nearly infinite potential for a truly cosmic adventure. Understand that territory and lay claim to what is yours.
What You Will Learn From Reading
Identifying Distractions: Learn the many different ways the mind gets distracted, sidelined, and rerouted to habitual negative thought patterns. Identify, categorize, and resolve these patterns so that you can enjoy the peace of a relaxed mind.
Meditation Exercise: A step-by-step meditation exercise to assist you in identifying these negative thought patters to strengthen your ability to focus the mind to where you want it to be.
The Mapping Technique: A powerful metaphor that uses the idea of map making to literally map out the mental terrain of your mind, providing you with a colorful and high definition insight of the territory within.
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Securing Your Anchors
I recommend that you read “Power of Totems I” and practice the technique that accompanies it several times. It provides the necessary foundations of knowledge and practice required to move forward with these more advanced techniques.
In part one, you learned about the intrinsic power of totems as consistent physical reminders for breathing deeply and setting intentions to enter into, and remain in, general states of relaxation and mindfulness. In part two, we will be taking it a step further and learning about the power of observation. Bearing witness to your flow of consciousness and beginning to categorize and judge the qualities of those thoughts and feelings.
You may have noticed in the primary technique, that while breathing with intention, you struggled with maintaining your attention to that breathing, whether it was because you completely forgot what you were doing, or because a rogue thought or emotion entered your mind and took the place of intentional breathing and present awareness. Below are some examples of these “rogue impulses.”
An environmental distraction that causes you to redirect your attention (a sudden noise, an itch on your back, a pleasant or unpleasant smell that overwhelms the senses etc.).
A memory of the past that replays in your head. An example of this is could be an argument you had with someone or a traumatic event. It may play back just as it occurred or you might edit and alter the memory and your reaction to it as a way of trying to “solve” it.
A contrived scenario. Something that hasn’t happened plays in your head as the result of you anticipating what would happen or some repurposing of an old conflict; where you create a new scenario of an old problem or conflict and test how it would play out.
An argument with yourself or a sub-personality. This usually manifests in the form of a back and forth with the “little voice” in your head. It may say things like you are stupid for doing something, or criticize your fundamental character in unhelpful and even destructive ways.
General anxieties and fears about the future.
Depression, guilt, anger about the past.
Tasks that need to be completed. Cleaning the house, paying a bill, running an errand, etc.
Current troubles, either in your own life, somebody close to you, or in the world at large (A falling out with a friend, a sick relative or a war in another country).
Several other rogue impulses that may be unique to you.
Noting these experiences and becoming aware of their consistent interruption in your conscious state is at the heart of the next stage in totem meditation. All of these rogue impulses are unnatural to your peak conscious state, and are the result of unresolved trauma, grief and tension. In later lessons we will work on these stressors and how to resolve them at their core, though here, we are simply going to work on focusing your control over your thoughts, and redirecting your consciousness to desired flows.
Totem Meditation II: Mapping the Flow
Take your totem in your hand, one you have assigned “breathing” and “relaxation” to. Begin breathing deeply and feeling yourself relax, mind, body, heart and soul.
Every time you breath, it’s a reminder to re-anchor with your totem, which reinforces the mental connection you make to the totem: relaxation and breathing. Try to stay present and focused with this process.
With each breath, you feel yourself enter more deeply into a relaxed state, and as you do so, you examine your totem, thumb and finger its edges, notice its temperature, the colors and textures and all other qualities.
Now, pay attention to where your mind attempts to go. Sitting, standing or even walking around is fine, but don’t give yourself anything extra to do that could cause your consciousness to redirect to the task.
Spend a few minutes paying attention to where your mind tries to go. Take notes on what it does, what it thinks about and if it distracts you to the point of forgetting your deep breathing or intentional relaxation.
Even if you get distracted, the fact that the totem is in your hand should pull you back quickly. This has multiple benefits. One, it is building those neural pathways that will make breathing and awareness a natural habit. Two, it will show you how often your mind tries to slip away and what it slips away to.
Now, take it a step further and begin some active task. Cleaning something in the house, sitting down to do some writing work, anything that is common to you. Keep the totem close by or continue holding it in your hand if that doesn’t impede the task. Repeat steps 4-6 in the same way.
This time, you are trying to hold two flows of consciousness. One of breathing, awareness and intentional relaxation, and one of thinking about the task and its completion.
Again, take and make notes of the flow of consciousness. Think of it like a map of your travels, except instead of a physical traverse of a landscape, it is a mental traverse of the world in your mind.
Where did you go? Did you get lost in the forest of your mind? What did you find there? Unpleasant creatures? Difficult rocky terrains? Were you able to stay on course? Did your compass consistently point north, or did it spin from time to time, pointing in the wrong direction? Did you go in circles and end up where you began?
Close out this practice and take time throughout the day thinking about how efficient and effective you were in your “travels.” Think of how you will get better at staying on course. That course being, healthy breathing, present awareness and a general relaxed state.
Marking The Map
This metaphor of your mind as the “terrain” and your thinking process as your “travels'“ is a powerful tool. Below is a guide that uses this metaphor to help you “Map out your mind.” Again, imagining your discoveries in the meditation like a trip you took in the territory of your mind, consider the following.
Using a notebook or a word document on your computer, record notable details of your “travels.”
Map Marking: Record the number of times you went off track and got lost in your mind. Each time it happens during the meditation exercise, jot down a line or add it up numerically.
Topography: Document what the thought was. Was it a sudden desire for food, to check your phone, a concern for an unfinished task, an argument with yourself or a mental character you created?
The Legend: Categorizing the “Type” of thoughts. How many times did you think about food? (grabbing a snack, what you would eat for dinner, grocery shopping, etc) How many times did you start arguing with yourself in your head? What were the arguments about?
Redrawing the Map: Draw Conclusions. In reviewing what you learn, you will be able to paint a picture of the landscape in your mind. The pitfalls and traps, the tendency to get lost and in what places you get lost. Do you have an unhealthy relationship with food for comfort? Are you constantly antagonizing yourself with self-argumentation?
Advanced Cartography: Acknowledge your weak points and attach new anchors of thinking to your totem. If food obsession is an issue, attach the concept of strength, patience, discipline or even the idea that your hunger and desire is fulfilled by etheric energies. Build in these new anchors and repeat the meditation technique and witness how these new tools help your travels.
Looking Forward
In part three of “The Power of Totems” you will be learning more advanced techniques of a technical nature. Attaching multiple prompts to single totems, attaching prompts to multiple totems. Creating abstract totems like, “every time you feel frustrated” or “when a particular word is spoken.”
Additionally, you will learn the basics of mental transmutation, where you literally transform one mental or emotional state into another. Continue practicing the techniques from Power of Totems II until you become proficient and familiar, so you will be ready for the next step!
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