The Elevator Mind

Are you going up or down?

There is a new job vacancy at the House of Parliament - lift operator: £17,000 PA with a pension plan....

I was in an elevator today at the fantastic Maple House  conference centre and before we knew it we had reached one of the lower ground floors. Not the floor we wanted to be on.  We ended up there because we hadn't been paying attention.

In Part 1 of the Increasing Confidence, Reducing Depression series we look at the way to stop the trigger of depression firing into the mind - through practicing mindfulness, being attentive to the play of the mind and watching out for negativity...

Easier said than done - sometimes the negativity slips through the customs check of our mind and can start to take over our thoughts. 

So at this time we need to be on the look out for ways to stop negative thinking getting out of hand - even if we are being influenced by negativity we don't have to be taken in by it.

When we see the lift of our mind going down we can try this....

Sometimes when we hear a noise we don't really connect with it...
Or somebody is speaking to us but we are not interested so we don't listen- we can hear something but it just isn't registering.  We can do the same with the negativity in our own mind.

To be able to do this then at first we must be able to distinguish the difference between our reaction and the circumstance - this is where meditation practice helps as this gives us some perspective. This helps us to start to look within the mind and see the way it which it reacts and responds. 

Depression arises from a cycle of negative thinking - a lethargic mind.  Keeping the mind sharp and active is important, meditation provides a workout for the mind.

So even though there is some negative influence in our mind we don't have to believe it or be taken in by it - if at this time we can start to engage in a meditation practice then it is possible for us to learn how to redirect our mind.  It is almost like our mind drops and we learn to lift it back up  - and then again.  

For example thinking that we are a failure/loser - we can stop this thought and focus on what we have accomplished - what we can accomplish and what we will accomplish.  We turn our mind.

Meditation practice empowers us to strengthen our resolve to turn our mind around....

With training we can see our thoughts going down and like in an elevator press a button and go back up...