(Un)cluttered: Mind Space, Achieving Mental Liberation, and Inner peace.

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What if you could break free from the relentless cycle of negative thoughts and achieve mental liberation? Join us as we explore the transformative power of creating space between you and your thoughts, inspired by the wisdom of a world-renowned pianist. Discover how the space between musical notes can teach us to detach from our mental narratives, often colored by past experiences and cognitive biases, as highlighted by researcher Lisa Feldman Barrett. We share practical techniques to observe thoughts without judgment, question assumptions, and practice mindfulness to reduce stress and suffering. Ground yourself in the present moment with the 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 method, and gain tools to become more aware of your mental processes.

Unlock the secrets to inner peace through mindfulness and learn how to manage emotional dysregulation. By tuning into bodily sensations and anchoring yourself in the present, you can transform the fight-or-flight response into a state of calm observation. We cover cognitive detachment tools like labeling thoughts, helping you recognize them as fleeting events rather than reality. This shift fosters clarity and allows for more compassionate, thoughtful responses. Embrace progress over perfection and be gentle with yourself as you navigate life's challenges. With each step, gain a greater sense of awareness and stride toward mental liberation.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey everybody, welcome back to another episode
of man Uncaved, today's episode.
I wanted to open up with astory.
Now, this is about 10 or 12years ago.
There was this pianist, thisworld-renowned pianist, and he
was being interviewed for anupcoming concert he was about to

(00:22):
do.
Now, in the interview he wasasked people love you.
They come from far and wide tohear the beautiful masterpieces
you make on the piano.
We have to know what is thesecret.
How do you make these beautifulmasterpieces?
Make these beautifulmasterpieces?

(00:44):
Now the pianist paused, took amoment and replied it's not the
notes that make it, it's thespace in between, and where we

(01:08):
become alive is within thatspace, now, particularly the
space in between our ownthoughts.
So today we're going to diveinto a practice that I believe
can radically help transformyour experience, which is
learning to detach from our ownthoughts.

(01:31):
Now, how often do we findourselves caught in our mental
whirlwind, where we're battlingwith our thoughts?
Our thoughts can dictate ourmoods, our actions, even our own
sense of self.
Now, I know we've all beenthere.
A fleeting worry becomes afull-blown anxiety attack.

(01:53):
A casual observation morphsinto a judgment that fuels
resentment.
But what if I told you that youdon't have to believe every
thought that pops up into yourmind.
Now, what if you could create aspace in between yourself and
your thinking?
And it is within that spacethat freedom and liberation

(02:16):
lives.
Now, first, let's start byunderstanding the nature of
thought.
Modern neuroscience andpsychology are interestingly
revealing that our thoughts arelargely interpretations and
assumptions.

(02:36):
Not necessarily objectivetruths, but more subjective
truths.
Subjective truths, asresearchers like Lisa Feldman
Barrett, in her work onconstructing emotions, have
shown.
Our brains actively constructour reality based on past
experiences, social cues and ourinternal state.

(02:57):
Now, what does this mean?
This means that what weperceived as fact is often a
highly personalizedinterpretation.
So think of it this way yourbrain is constantly generating
narratives to make sense of theworld, much like a storyteller

(03:18):
weaving together fragments ofinformation.
Now, these narratives are builton assumptions.
Fragments of information.
Now, these narratives are builton assumptions which, in
essence, are unprocessedthoughts rooted in past
experiences.
If you've had a negativeexperience with a certain type
of person in the past, yourbrain might automatically

(03:40):
generate negative assumptionswhen you encounter someone
similar, even if that person iscompletely different.
Now think about that, someonethat triggers you, and yet you
don't know why this emotionalflashback from a past experience
could be the culprit.
Now, this could also explainwhy we tend to gravitate towards

(04:05):
relationships, romantic or not,that tend to have a familiar
essence.
Now, research in cognitivepsychology also supports this
idea, this idea.
Studies have shown that ourcognitive biases, like
confirmation bias andavailability, heuristic,
influence how we interpretinformation.
We tend to seek out andremember information that

(04:28):
confirms our existing beliefs,while also ignoring or
downplaying contradictoryevidence.
Now, this is why two people canexperience the same event and
have completely differentinterpretations of it.
And here's the crucial pointwhen we attach to every thought
without pausing to gather moredata or to observe with

(04:50):
awareness, we can create our ownsuffering.
We become prisoners of our ownassumptions.
Now, for example, if you thinkmy boss hates me and you
immediately react as if thiswere an undeniable fact, you
might become defensive,withdrawn or even aggressive.

(05:12):
This creates a negativefeedback loop, reinforcing your
initial assumption and impactingyour work and relationships.
And simply, what we want to see, we will see, even when it is
causing us to suffer the most.
So how do we break free fromthis cycle?

(05:38):
How do we create that space inbetween ourself and our thoughts
?
Well, the first step isawareness Practice, observing
your thoughts without judgment.
Imagine your thoughts are likea cloud passing through the sky.

(05:59):
Now you don't have to grab ontothem or try to push them away.
Simply notice them, acknowledgethem for what they are and let
them pass.
The next is question yourassumptions, asking yourself is
this thought really true?
Now, what evidence do I have tosupport it?

(06:21):
What evidence contradicts it,and are there any other possible
interpretations?
This process of inquiry canhelp you see your thoughts from
a more objective perspective.
If you are very interested inmore of this work, byron Katie
does a lot of great practicesthat she actually calls the work

(06:44):
and how to separate from yourthoughts with certain questions.
Another powerful tool ismindfulness.
Meditation is a great mechanismfor slowing down your thoughts
being still getting connected towhat's real in the moment,
because when we meditate, you'reactually training your mind to
focus on that present momentrather than getting caught up in

(07:06):
thought about the past or thefuture.
Getting caught up in thoughtabout the past or the future.
This practice can help youdevelop a greater sense of
awareness.
I always hear a lot when I runsome groups around practicing
meditation and it's alwaysinteresting that people say well
, I'd meditate, but my mind justwon't sit still.
Well, that's the point.

(07:26):
We're not here to slow down ourmind.
That's impossible.
We're talking here to slow downour mind.
That's impossible.
We're talking about a hundredbillion neurons just firing for
whatever reasons they're firingfor, it's to be more of the
observer.
How can I step away from mythoughts without attaching to
them as the ultimate truth?
Some other techniques aregrounding techniques, bringing

(07:48):
you more into that presentmoment.
Many of you may have heard thisbefore.
It's the 5, 4, 3, 2, 1technique.
Name five things you can see,four things you can touch, three
things you can hear, two thingsyou can smell and one thing

(08:09):
that you can taste.
Two things you can smell andone thing that you can taste.
This technique actually pullsus in engaging in our own senses
, pulling your focus away fromyour mental rumination and into
the present physical environment.
I'd use a lot of thesepractices when working
individually with clients andgroup.
When an individual can beemotionally dysregulated,

(08:33):
they're captured into theirfight-flight response Instead of
going more into the story,which could obviously be more
activating and dysregulating.
Pull them into the presentmoment where in the body.
Start, bringing them into thesensation level where they can
learn to create a window oftolerance and be more into the
sensation level, where they canlearn to create a window of
tolerance and be more of anobserver, where they can think

(08:55):
and feel simultaneously.
So here's some tools you canpractice for yourself Focusing
on the sensations.
Can you feel your feet on theground?
Can you notice the feeling ofyour clothes against your skin,
maybe the temperature of the airon your skin?
Now, these sensations anchoryou into the present moment,
really, neurologically.

(09:17):
What you're doing is you'regetting out of your limbic
system and back into the presentmoment.
Another cognitive detachmenttool could be labeling your
thoughts Mentally.
Labeling the thoughts asthinking could be labeling your
thoughts mentally, labeling thethoughts as thinking, worrying,
judging or remembering.

(09:38):
This can help create distancefrom your own thoughts, helping
you to see it as a mental eventrather than reality.
So, instead of I'm going tofail, think I'm having the
thought that I'm going to fail,thus creating an awareness that
all I'm doing is thinking.
And when we recognize that,when we're thinking, we are able
to create that nice, beautifulspace in between our own

(10:02):
thoughts.
Practicing these techniques, youcan cultivate a sense of inner
peace and freedom.
You can learn to respond tolife with greater clarity and

(10:27):
compassion, rather thancontinuously to react from a
place of fear and assumptions.
So this is not aboutsuppressing your thoughts or
pretending they don't exist.
It's about recognizing them forwhat they are Transient mental
events.
And with that recognition comesthe freedom to choose how to

(10:50):
respond.
So that's today's episode ofman Uncaved.
I hope this was helpful in howwe navigate our own life and
making conscious choices anddecisions through awareness and
practice.
Practice does not makeperfection.
It just makes progress.

(11:10):
So, as you're journeyingthrough your life and you are
practicing certain techniques asdescribed here in today's
episode, be gentle with yourself, be gentle with others.
Life is a journey.
I am shane.
This is man uncaved.
We need to come out of hiding.