Your Mind lies to you. A lot.
The human mind is both a really fascinating and also an equally annoying mass of neurons and other cells. Sometimes, it really helps us to reach our goals and even supports us no matter what, but other times, eh… it’s known for sending out false alarms, because that’s how the human mind evolved.
The part of our brain called the amygdala, is also known as the fear center of the brain. It constantly scans our environment looking out for threats. However, the amygdala has not significantly evolved since the times of the cave people. The cave people always lived with danger all around them. I don’t know about you, but I am not surrounded by tigers or lions all the time. We simply do not need these evolutionary features anymore. Yet for some, it’s no fun. Anxiety disorders are common in today’s world.
The human mind is built around survival. It will sometimes even skew, magnify, or fake things beyond reality. An experiment was conducted by Dr. Robert Cleck, a psychologist at Dartmouth College. He asked makeup artists to paint a big scar on a few womens’ faces. Then, they were asked to have a conversation with strangers. Before they walked in, the makeup artists said: “Your makeup needs a little bit of a touchup”. After they finished their conversation, the women came out saying that they were feeling awkward, and that the strangers were staring at the scars. Nothing surprising, right? but here’s what happened. Remember the little touchup? it wasn’t actually a touchup. During the so called touchup, makeup artists entirely removed the scar from the womens’ faces. They were pretty much having normal conversations with strangers. The women sat there thinking that they still had the scar on, and let their minds run freely.
It is now apparent that the mind can distort or skew things in different directions only to make it look more intimdating. Our mind lies to us on a regular basis, thinking that it’s only trying to help us. We see ourselves being tied by a rope. Many times, these ropes were just part of our imagination. The only ropes that existed were the ones our minds created. Now that we know so much, how can we stop taking everything the mind says so seriously?
We have to change our relationship with our thoughts. Taking everything our mind says as true is only a recipe for an anxiety disorder. Instead, we accept the thought and let it stay. Think of it as a cloud in the sky. Did your mind produce another “what if” thought? think of it as a cloud. It’s there, but it won’t hurt you. Thoughts are pretty much meaningless. We add meaning to thoughts, which allows space for our minds to misinterpret things. This doesn’t mean that we have to push our problems under the carpet. We just need to stop trusting our mind as much as we currently do. A study was conducted among 29 patients who had been diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder, where they were asked to record every worry and fear that they had, and whether or not it had come true. They did this for thirty days. And the results? a whopping 91 percent of their fears didn’t come true. And, for almost 25 percent of the patients, not even a single fear came true.
Let this knowledge sit with you today. Know that your mind is a big liar.
