Mind Control: 14 Psychological Tips To Achieve It
It might seem like mind control has something to do with superpowers, something like telepathy or the ability to control the minds of others. But mental control refers to our ability to be aware of our thoughts and emotions so that they do not dominate our behavior.
When we have poor mental control, we may regret some actions or behaviors that we carry out, for example, fighting with our partner and saying things that we do not really think, things that at a certain moment, when anger dominates us. , they may seem true. On the other hand, when we think coldly we can realize that emotions have dominated us.
Mental control is a set of techniques or habits that allow us to better understand our emotions and thoughts and those of other people. As a consequence, it allows us to regulate our behavior.
In the following lines you can find a list of tips to improve mental control.
1. Connect with the here and now
Mind control is only possible when we are in the present moment, that is, in the here and now, connected with ourselves and what surrounds us. If we live with unrealistic expectations or simply let ourselves be carried away by our thoughts, we can carry out behaviors that we are not proud of later.
Being in the present allows us to reflect on what is happening at this precise moment, which helps us act according to the situation and what we want. We control what we do.
Living in the present moment does not mean that we should let ourselves be carried away by the situation without thinking about anything other than feeling, but that it is possible to make use of self-reflection, which It is very important in the development of a person and allows us to learn from experience
And self-reflection is linked to observation and therefore mental control. Reflecting and focusing attention on what is happening not only around us but also on our internal experience helps us have greater mental control.
3. Work on self-knowledge
When we talk about mental control we are referring to emotional regulation and therefore behavior. And you cannot talk about emotional regulation if there is not first an understanding of our emotions.. That is why self-knowledge is necessary to be able to control the mind and regulate our behavior
4. Improve your emotional intelligence
Self-awareness is an important aspect of emotional intelligence, but This type of intelligence also includes other skills that help regulate our behavior For example, empathy and the ability to understand the emotions of others.
5. Don’t live on autopilot
In the time in which we live and due to how the mind works, we can live on autopilot, that is, we go through the world without paying attention to anything. Our thoughts jump from one place to another and we rarely stop to observe or understand them.
We can wake up in the morning, turn on the television and not even know what our breakfast tastes like. We can get into the shower and not even feel the water coming out of it. For greater mental control, it is necessary to stop living on autopilot and experience the present experience with observation and mindfulness.
6. Be aware
And this is achieved by being aware of our experience, whether external or internal The key is often the will to want to be aware. For example, we can be talking to someone and be thinking carefully about what we are going to say even before the other person finishes speaking, or we can observe the other interlocutor carefully not only in terms of what he or she verbalizes, but also what he or she says. their non-verbal language tells us.
Being aware helps us control our mind. In this sense, controlling the mind is an act of will.
7. Meditate
Many people have the belief that meditation is simply a relaxation technique, in which we only need to put ourselves in the meditator’s posture and our mind will go blank.
But meditation, while it is true that it quiets the mind and relaxes us, allows us to observe our thoughts or our experiences (even unpleasant ones, as in the case of TongLen meditation) and accept the experience. This makes us much more balanced people and helps us improve our mental control capacity.
8. Practice Mindfulness
Although some people think that Mindfulness is a type of meditation, that is not exactly the case. It is true that Mindfulness includes meditation in its practice, but it also includes other techniques that help develop attention, compassion, the ability to be in the present moment, non-judgmental mentality and other characteristic principles of Mindfulness
As the psychologist says Jonathan Garcia-Allen In our article “Mindfulness: 8 benefits of full attention”, “Mindfulness proposes finding the essence of who we are. It is not simply a method to improve well-being, but it can become a philosophy of life that helps us relate better and more adaptively with ourselves and what surrounds us (people, events, situations, etc.)”.
9. When you see yourself losing control… stop for 1 minute!
A technique that can be very useful in many situations and that does not require more than a minute to practice is one-minute meditation. This technique is ideal, for example, when we are in the office and we feel saturated or when we want to take perspective on a situation that is affecting us (a fight with a partner, for example).
Below you can find a video that explains how to perform this exercise:
10. Develop yourself and avoid feeling frustration
People who are happier with what they do in their lives and feel fulfilled are more likely to relate better to other people, since They feel good about themselves and are not frustrated by who they are
Frustration generates conflicts with other people, because we can project our failures onto them, and we can even turn other individuals into our scapegoat. Being good with yourself helps you see the future clearly and continue along the same line without deviating.
11. Get out of the comfort zone
It is also good to stimulate our mind to leave the comfort zone to learn new things and be more aware of other situations that perhaps go unnoticed when we always do the same thing.
12. Do new activities
And this also includes doing new activities and discovering new tasks that we are not used to By doing this we put aside automatisms and therefore mobilize all our attention and our resources, we become more present and more aware.
13. Have a life plan
To enjoy greater emotional health too It is necessary to have a life plan, because objectives help us continue on the path we want and we will suffer less from some temptations that may appear on our path.
In addition, other objectives can also help us maintain mental control. For example, if we practice physical exercise and follow a diet because we want to achieve a slim body. Research shows that having clear, realistic and motivating goals also helps prevent depression.
14. Reduce stress
The mind and body are connected and, therefore, stress can cause many problems in our body as in our behaviors or thoughts. It’s hard to think clearly when we’re stressed, especially if we feel burned out.
Sadness or anxiety can take over us, and our concentration and also our mental control suffer. In times of stress, for example, people are unable to control their eating habits. For greater mental control, it is good to enjoy greater well-being.
