When we are born we have no mind. Just a brilliant brain that can be programmed. The question is how do our minds get programmed?
The early programme becomes the “Tunnel Mind”
The first programme is installed in our minds by our parents, the school and the world around us. I call this early mind the Tunnel Mind because it is conditioned to think and behave in certain ways as appropriate within the family and cultural structures.
You are told that a tree is a tree and you believe it. You are told that an apple is an apple and you believe it. Whatever you are told in your first years of life becomes your “reality” and to a larger extent your “truth”.
In the Tunnel Mind all mental processes work as programmed during your early experience in life. They shape your life. They become your life. And you become them.
There is so much to say about the Tunnel Mind. It is rigid and it keeps us in the darkness. We live underground, far away from the light of new knowledge and wisdom.
Relationships are highly challenged when we operate from the Tunnel Mind. Betrayal, loose boundaries, unrealistic expectation, poor communication, nonconstructive arguments, domestic abuse and other trauma, prejudice and discrimination – they all originate in the drakness of our Tunnel Mind.
The Tunnel Mind is limiting us, but is comfortable because it is familiar. The Tunnel mind lacks creativity. It is stuck in the lowest level of consciousness and operates on automatic pilot. The Tunnel Mind is the default mind. Simply put, the Tunnel Mind is our Ego.
Many people live in the Tunnel Mind most part of their life, and some for their entire life. The Tunnel Mind is a strong programming with a sophisticated firewall that makes any novel idea a threat.
We can upgrade and move from the tunnel into the “Village Mind”
Those that are curious enough to question their beliefs, values and behaviours step out of the Tunnel Mind. They become open to self-inquiry and instrospection and embrace new ideas that change their mindset.
This is happening through a process called neuroplasticity that allows new ideas to rewire the brain and create new neural pathways.
When we come out of the darkness of the Tunnel Mind we create a small network of alleys and avenues that form the Village Mind.
We move up into the Village Mind when we voluntary search for light, when we challenge the status quo and we dare to step into the unknown. The Village mind is at the surface and is able to access a slightly deeper level of consciousness.
The Village Mind acts like a transition space, a terminal or a buffer that allows communication between the 3 minds.
The Village Mind is the “choice mind”. We need to make an intentional choice to leave the Tunnel Mind to create a new mental programme and enter the Village Mind.
The Village Mind is the path to freedom. With regular practice of self-reflection and other forms of meditation we can learn to live more and more from the Village Mind.
In the Village Mind we start to change and adjust our identity to match who we really are and whom we want to become. We align to our inner self and we learn to be authentic. Even a second in the Village Mind is sufficient to set fertile soil for change.
Relationships start to be repaired and nurtured in the Village Mind. Understanding, acceptance, integration of past events, healing and forgiveness are the results of the awareness developed in the Village Mind.
Live from the Free Mind detached from desire and full of love
A small number of people transcend the borders of the Village Mind and step into the Free Mind. This is “the land of inner peace and personal freedom” and becomes the most advanced mental programme.
The Free Mind can be accessed through consistent practice and connection with the self. The Free Mind taps into pure consciousness and even 1 second in that space can be highly transformational.
We can look at the Free Mind as being “the mind behind the mind”. The Free Mind is the mind that can observe the Tunnel Mind and Village Mind from distance and detachment. The Free Mind is the mind that feels compassion for the Tunnel Mind and gratitude for the existence of the Village Mind.
In the Free Mind you do not longer need to discover your self. You have already done it, you are already your Self. In the Free Mind you do not longer need to heal. You are healing itself.
In the Free Mind you do not longer need to grow as a person. You are already the whole you, open to peace and happiness, enlightened, detached from desire and full of love.
Relationships thrive when we operate from the Free Mind. We feel free and happy in all our 4 relationships circles and we live from a place of peace – not tension.
Life is a continuous negotiation between the 3 minds
Would you like to know how this works in practice? In real life we shift back and forth on this vertical continuum of experience between the Tunnel Mind, Village Mind and the Free Mind in an organic way.
I am learning every day that life is a continuous negotiation between these 3 minds. Most times we live trapped in the Tunnel Mind. 95% of our thoughts are repetitive, the very same ones we had yesterday, the day before and so on. 80% of our thoughts are negative, self-sabotaging and self-diminishing.
Yet, we continue to recycle our thoughts over and over again, second by second, minute by minute, hour by hour, day after day, week after week, month after month, year by year, until the end of our lives or…until we awaken, whatever the closest.
And now that you learned how your mind gets programmed would you like to know what shall you do next? I say get friends with all your 3 mind. Find out from which of these 3 programmes you operate on a daily basis and make the changes you need to create the life of your dreams.
The skill is not to reside in one mind or another for good, this is not possible in our dynamic human lives. The art is to be able to acknowledge where you are at a given moment and be able to move smoothly between your minds as you wish.
When you reach that level of awareness you have unlocked your true potential and have transformed not only your life, but the lives of all the others blessed enough to know you and share life on Earth with you. You have become the real, the authentic YOU.
Share with us when you get there so we can celebrate together! And if you need guidance on the way I am only one click away →