Once Swamy Vivekananda watched a bunch of students taking turns to aim a gun at a branch of tree and kept missing their target.
He went up to them, grabbed the gun and shot the target in no time.
The astounded students asked if he knew how to fire a gun. The Swamy confessed he never fired one before. This puzzled and intrigued the students even more. They asked how it was even possible.
“Clarity of mind,” Vivekananda replied. “If your mind is clear, it makes learning easy. I watched the way you aimed the gun at the object and pulled the trigger. I merely followed with a better focus and succeeded,” the Swamy explained.
That’s what it takes to programme your mind to learn virtually anything: 30 seconds to de-clutter, focus and fire away. As author and motivational speaker Louis L. Hay says: “Self-approval and self-acceptance in the now are the keys to positive changes. When we really love ourselves, everything in our life works.”
So, what stops us from keeping a clear mind?
OUR EMOTIONS
You must have heard people talk about “the inner child” in all of us. I’ve heard some self-help gurus endorsing the idea of the “inner child” and some dismissing it as nonsense.
The “inner child” is nothing but the emotional core that almost remains the same as it was during your childhood. If you pay careful attention to this emotional core, you know that much of the way it thinks and acts are the same as it was when you were ten or twelve.
While much of it is helpful, like the core operating system of your laptop or smartphone, there’re aspects of it that’s limiting you.
For example, how many times when you want to write, or paint, does someone tell you that that’s something only a few brilliant artists can do? And doesn’t that stick?
It’s almost saying you can’t be a brilliant artist and you don’t have what it takes.
What would hurt you the most, or many when they were children, is the way people laugh at your pursuits or ask you to “get real” or “do something better.”
In South Indian families, it’s highly common to tell children that anything other than studying the textbook and being a class topper is a waste of time. So, it somehow gets into our heads that we’re wasting our time when we try painting, dancing, or singing.
Blind people are often discouraged about doing things they’re excited about due to their disability. It’s not surprising that they’ve doubts about their capabilities and have to work quite hard at things they like.
Now you know where the ‘’clutter’’ is coming from.
It could be something so interesting as solving crossword puzzles or cracking answers in a quiz, things that have no direct connection to your career or earning potential, but you still feel discouraged and even anxious to try. And what more, many escape saying, “This’s not my cup of tea.”
When you have a chance to participate in an activity like scrabble game or chess, there’s a side of you that feels excited and another side that keeps pushing you back from participating due to fear of failure or embarrassment of not knowing the game well.
In the first ten seconds of an offer to take part in such activities, if you throw the worries aside and plunge right in, you’ll learn things quickly, think on your feet and find ways to win.
GET EXCITED. SAY YES TO THINGS THAT EXCITE YOU
Recreational activities are sometimes the best way to rediscover your confidence. When you find the positive energy in you that makes you/your team win, it creates a positive pattern in your mind that stirs you to succeed in other, more serious, pursuits.
And even if you fail, the ripples of positive feelings will only help you understand quickly where you’re going wrong and fix it.
FOCUS
Yes, ok, I’ve decided to do something. What now?
You’ve got to focus. That’s easier said than done in some cases.
Why not?
If you have problems focusing, it must be resistance of some kind. Author Steven Pressfield describes resistance this way: “any act that rejects immediate gratification in favor of long-term growth, health, or integrity.”
And therefore, the acts that find greater resistance are anything related to writing/painting or pursuit of any calling; entrepreneurial venture; diet or health regiment; programme for spiritual advancement; exercises; all kinds of education; helping others; commitment or taking a principled stand in the face of adversity.
The best way to overcome lack of focus is to practice the habit of “living in the present.”
Like a tennis player who bounces the ball to get the focus back on the game and the ball he’s about to serve, get the focus on the immediate thought. Be aware that the past and the future don’t matter. What you do in the ‘’here’’ and ‘’now’’ would have an impact on yourself.
FIRE AWAY
Once you find the focus, don’t delay in performing the action.
Sometimes the confidence you feel could make you smug. You get into the totally false idea that you can somehow do it later. What you might fail to realise is that confidence is often short-lived. It’s like a ball thrown skywards. It could reach great heights but would start to come down beyond a point. Take advantage of the confidence when it’s still sky-high.
WILL IT TAKE ONLY 30 SECONDS TO PROCESS ALL THESE?
Remember these are just ways to programme your mind. Once you’re aware of de-cluttering, focusing, and firing away, they work quite easily.
Use Louise Hay’s “I Can DO It” audio lessons, especially the one on self-esteem, to reprogramme your attitude to learning. You’ll find the change amazing.