Mental Freedom (Stop the Madness!!)

It has been suggested that people think between 50,000- 60,000 thoughts a day. When I heard that, I knew that I would much rather be controlling my thoughts instead of having them control me. You see, every person has mental chatter, or mental madness, or a mental monster. Call it what you will, but the effect is the same in all cases. Let me explain. When you have mental madness, as I like to call it, it is like a voice in your mind  taking over your entire being. They are the thoughts that fester until new like minded thoughts show up and literally have a constant ongoing conversation.  It is the never ending voice in your mind that is continuously feeding off of whatever external factors it is presented with. It knows your fears, desires, weaknesses, habits, insecurities, and any other attitude towards life that you may have. These thoughts are many times undesirable, if not controlled, and may lead to hours of wasted energy, lack of attention or focus, and unproductive habits. Think about it, how many times have you woke up on the wrong side of the bed and it carried over throughout your entire day. Let’s say you woke up 20 minutes late, then you had to skip breakfast, then you couldn’t enjoy your morning coffee, then there was traffic, then your boss commented on you walking in late, and so on and so forth. Your mental madness feeds off of negativity and will cause you to make decisions that one might not make if they had a sound mind.

In order for me to gain mental freedom I knew that I needed to change at least half of my thought patterns to start.  My mental madness had taken over for the last time and I was fed up! I wanted a life of peace. So what were the steps I took?

1. I began to monitor my thoughts.  Having an awareness of the thoughts I purposely put in my mind and the thoughts that entered without permission helped me to know what I needed to change externally.  
2. I began to meditate everyday.  Meditation helped me to calm, relax, and control my mind. In my stillness, I was able to truly identify and embrace my purpose in life. My vision was no longer blurred. 
3. I began doing yoga 2 times a week. Yoga enhanced my mind by allowing me to fully utilize levels of concentration and focus that I previously did not know existed.  These levels of concentration and focus then carried over to my studies and other areas of my life.
4. I made myself a “LOVE” playlist on my ipod and would only listen to positive, uplifting music.  Music is a huge part of my life and this step alone put me in a much more positive vibration.
5. I completely cut out negative television, gossip magazines, naysayers, and drama.