How the Mind Manipulates You

Everything you do, every decisions you make, and every action you take is filtered through the mind using a host of criteria. If the decision or action is not in line with the criteria, the mind will prevent action.

Luckily, all that doesn’t matter as much as how you are being held back. That’s because the mind isn’t going to tell you it is holding you back, or why.

If habits are the culprit, the mind won’t say “this thing you are trying to do goes against habits we’ve formed over the years, so we’re not able do it.”

Nope, that’s not what happens!

Inaction manifests other ways, and it is important to understand the manipulative tricks the mind uses to keep you from acting.

So, what are some of the manipulates tricks?

Well, the mind has many tricks up it’s sleeve, some include:

• Postpone: You will put off the activity for a later day, time, or situation. When that later day, time, or situation arrives, you’ll put it off again, and keep doing so until weeks, months, or years go by. Each time you put off the activity, you are convinced you’ll get to it next time. The reality is, the mind is playing tricks on you. It is making you think you will get to it next time, but it has no intention of letting you start next time or at all.
• Busy: Your schedule will fill up with so many things that you will not have time. The busyness won’t be random. It will be deliberate. It will seem like you naturally have a lot on your plate, but the truth is, your mind is seeking ways to keep you preoccupied. Things that were never a big deal, all of a sudden, become top priority. You’ll have an insatiable urge to clean the car, re-organize the closet, or build a new patio…in the middle of winter.
• Prepare: Instead of taking action, you will prepare. That means, you will go into painstaking detail researching and planning what to do, how to do it, and the best way to do it, instead of actually doing it. All the time you can put into doing the task will go instead into preparing to do the task. Preparation is deceptively devious because it seems like you’re making progress, but unless you take action on the preparation, there is no progress.

These are a some of the tricks of the mind. As stated, there are many reasons why the mind prevents growth, and it has plenty of tricks up its sleeve to keep you from doing so.

More importantly, the mind won’t tell you it is doing so. You have to look for signs. If you find yourself putting things off, getting unnecessarily busy, or spending more time in preparation than actual action, these are telltale signs your mind is trying to hold you back.

If you are spinning your wheels, struggling to move forward in life, or unable to make worthwhile progress, realize something internally is preventing action.

Source: MindLily