Mindfulness
Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela, Gandhi, Susan B. Anthony, Albert Einstein, the Wright Brothers. How did they do it? How did they achieve their dreams? Each of these people did things no one else thought was possible. The Wright Brothers created human flight. Martin Luther King Jr. changed the way an entire nation thought and behaved. What was it about these people that enabled them to seize their dreams and change the world in the process?
"The difference between those who fail and those who succeed is that those who succeed fail more. Said another way, those who ultimately succeed have trained their mind to see failure not as something to be ashamed of or fear but as something to learn from and befriend." (Amita)
Amita Shukla, author of Enduring Edge, biochemist from Harvard, MBA graduate from Stanford, and founder of Vitamita has devoted her life to finding the answers to these questions. She realized that the most powerful tool we have is our mind. Think for a minute about the anomaly of the placebo effect. The doctor gives us a sugar pill, but we were told it’s medicine. Our mind believes that the pill is in fact, medicine. So, how does that happen? Our mind becomes the actual medicine, working to heal us, while the sugar pill simply takes a ride down our digestive tract. Amita outlines three states of mind that we live in. She refers to it as 1D, 2D and 3D. All three are important and essential for success.
“The potential to transform how we use our mind rests not in a few ‘gifted’ minds but in how we each use our own. The power to attain our highest potential is within each of us…. And, the sooner we master our mind, the more we can use its powers in our lifetime to conquer challenges and realize dreams…. Because, those who learn to harness the power of their mind do more than transform their lives—they change the world.”
The 1D mind is all about survival; it's our ‘animal’ mind. This is where we feel the need to fulfill the basic needs of life such as love, belonging, safety, health, and security. It controls emotions like anger and fear. It is ever on alert, ready to engage the fight or flight response. It's fast-paced and short-term. Our 1D mind is shaped by our senses and our learning from past experiences. Amita describes it as driving in the car. It is fast and efficient, but we can only see outside the car window. Our view is limited.
The 2D mind is our intellect. It runs on logic, analysis, facts, and rationality. It is responsible for most of the success we achieve in life. However, if over-used the 2D mind can lead to dead ends in cases where complex decisions require creativity and innovation. Amita describes the 2D mind as walking through a city. We can interact with people, walk through shops, and really get to know the ins and outs of the city.
The 3D mind is innovative, creative, and intuitive. It's in this mind that passion is realized, and success is met. It's a state of mind that leads to a sense of flow in life. We may forget about time, place, and self. This is what people experience when they feel 'in the zone'. Remember all those world-changing, history-making people mentioned earlier? The 3D mind was the key to their ability to make lasting changes and reach their dreams, thereby unlocking their potential. The 3D mind is not on the ground. Rather, it is a helicopter flying above the ground. It is the ability to see a larger perspective than if we were down on the ground. This idea of living in a 3D mindset and seeing beyond what is directly in front of our eyes requires mindfulness. Mindfulness practices such as yoga, meditation, and mantras have been used since ancient times. Practicing mindfulness brings peace, calmness, and wisdom into our lives. Taking time to still the mind and rise above the 'city' so to speak, helps us see things from a new perspective where creative solutions can be identified.
“True intelligence rests not in mastering any one dimension of our mind but in balancing how we use all three.”
Quotes by Amita Shukla from her book Enduring Edge. For more information on this topic visit vitamita.com.