As Porous as Your Mind

You are meditating, like it or not.

“The energy of the mind is the essence of life.”

— Aristotle.

As long as every part of our body is functioning, then every minute, whether we like it or not, whether we are conscious of it or not, whether we are tired, or hungry, or sick, or happy, or sad, or angry, we are processing information. Our mind never stops working, so irrespective of whether we are attentive to it, it is working.

As we go through each day, we come in contact with people, with animals, with things, with events, we listen to people talk, watch people’s actions, see movies, listen to music, we are always engaging the pathways into our mind, whether we like it or not. The same way night comes whether you want or not.

When we hear about meditating, we think that it's one big deal that is so beyond our standards, whereas, our minds, without our alert attention and permission is meditating actively on information we let seep into our minds every second.

Many times, we aren't even aware of it, but what we let cross the pathways to our mind; our eyes, ears, mouth and heart, stays in our mind, gets brooded over, and many times even lodges there, oblivious to us, until one day, we start acting some kind of way, speaking some kind of way, doing some kinds of things that we didn’t even know we were capable of.

Aha! The mind has been working behind the scene with the brain! This is why you’d hear a lot of speakers say that you eventually become what you meditate upon.

Whether you like it or not, my friend, you are meditating. Meditating can be in form of consistently speaking something, or consistently listening to something, or constantly seeing something.

Anything that you continually let get seeped into your consciousness, into your mind, through your eyes, ears, mouth, heart, your mind won't have a choice but to think on these things and produce whatever fruits that seed can bear. This is the truth.

And this is what separates men into hierarchies. Some are intentional and specific about what they let get into their mind because they know their mind is what informs the actions that shape their lives, while some others just GWTF (go with the flow). They listen to anything that comes, watch anything that comes, say anything that comes, and their lives gets out of their control.

Your mind is very permeable. If you’re not intentional about what you let get into it, just anything will get into it, your mind will meditate on that ‘just anything’, and then use that same thing to inform the things you do and say, and eventually, your live starts shaping up to be ‘just any other life’.

The quality of materials that permeate your mind will shape and inform the quality of your life.

The key is to be intentional. You are intentional about the picture of your ideal self, are you not? You know what you want out of your life, or at least the kind of person you want to become. If you aren’t very sure, you are certainly seen or met people who have awoken something inside of you, that gave you a pointer to the kind of person you want to be.

It is time to start tailoring yourself towards that picture. Ensure that the materials that constantly get your mind and your attention are the kinds that can shape you into that ideal picture.

You have to be intentional about what gets your attention. What gets your attention will eventually, invariably get your life, and depending on what it is, you are either finished, or made.

So, understand that your mind is meditating on something, whether you like it or not. Be specific and intentional about the kinds of content you let into your mind consistently. Because you start to become what you consistently surround yourself with, that is, what you say, do, hear, watch, and all of the other pathways.

Remember, what gets your attention will eventually and invariably get you.

Get yourself into the category of men who are intentional about what gets their attention. Be deliberate about what you meditate on. For whether you choose the content or not, your mind will meditate on something. So why not choose what it will meditate upon?

To your growth,

Your Coach,

Abiola Okunsanya,

Handzinspired.