{"id":8419,"date":"2013-05-04T13:33:05","date_gmt":"2013-05-04T18:33:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/2013\/04\/29\/"},"modified":"2013-05-04T13:33:05","modified_gmt":"2013-05-04T18:33:05","slug":"get-a-grip-on-your-mind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/?p=8419","title":{"rendered":"Get a Grip on Your Mind"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Eric Maisel<\/p>\n

Creating depends on having a mind quiet enough to allow ideas to bubble up. Living a successful, healthy life as an artist requires that your self-talk align with your goals and your aspirations. Your job is to quiet your mind and extinguish negative self-talk. These are your two most important tasks if you want a shot at your best life in the arts. Here are some handy tips:<\/p>\n

1. \tRecognize that you are the only one who can get a grip on your mind. There is no pill to take. There is no one to consult. There is nothing to read. You must mind your mind. You can let your thoughts do whatever they want and go off in any direction, or you can say, \u201cNo, that thought doesn\u2019t serve me.\u201d Only you can do that work.<\/p>\n

2. \tRecognize that you do not have to accept, tolerate, or countenance a thought just because you thought it. You may have the thought, \u201cWow, John really made me angry at work today!\u201d Then it is your choice whether to brood about John or whether to get on with your novel. It may be easier to brood about John than to write your novel, so you may have powerful reasons to stay angry. It\u2019s your choice.<\/p>\n

When we say something to ourselves like \u201cMy novel stinks\u201d or \u201cI won\u2019t play well tonight,\u201d we believe that thought just because we thought it. But many of our thoughts are simply not true, and even if they are true, they may not serve us.<\/p>\n

3. \tListen to what you say to yourself. If you can\u2019t hear your own thoughts, you can\u2019t get rid of the ones that aren\u2019t serving you. If you can\u2019t admit to yourself that you are constantly thinking that life is a cheat, that you\u2019ve badly disappointed yourself by wasting so much time, or that you hate to be criticized, you won\u2019t be able to dispute and extinguish those thoughts. Yes, it can be extremely painful to admit to them, but it is better to grapple with them than to let them cycle endlessly.<\/p>\n

$\"\"$ <\/a>4. \tDecide if what you are telling yourself serves you. You are not looking at the truth or falsity of a thought but rather at whether the thought is or isn\u2019t serving you. Countless true thoughts do not serve us. All the following may be true thoughts that nevertheless do not serve you to think: \u201cI might have written ten books by now\u201d; \u201cWriting a novel is hard\u201d; \u201cSelling a novel is hard\u201d; \u201cI\u2019m not sure I have it in me either to write a novel or to sell a novel.\u201d None of those thoughts, even if true, serve you. The only thought that serves you, if you want to write a novel, is \u201cI am off to my novel!\u201d<\/p>\n

5. \tWhen you decide that a thought doesn\u2019t serve you, dispute it and dismiss it. It can seem very strange at first to dispute your own thoughts. Yet dispute them you must. Get in the habit of saying to yourself, \u201cThat was an interesting thought. Does it serve me?\u201d If you know or suspect that it doesn\u2019t, dismiss it out of hand. Do not linger over it! This sounds like \u201cThat thought doesn\u2019t serve me and I am dismissing it!\u201d Mean it when you say it!<\/p>\n

6. \tWhen a thought that doesn\u2019t serve you lingers, actively combat it. Some thoughts just won\u2019t go away. Maybe it\u2019s \u201cNo one wanted my first novel, and my second novel is an even more difficult sell, so why in heaven\u2019s name am I writing it?\u201d You may not be able to get rid of this thought simply by snapping your fingers. Then do more than snap your fingers \u2014 fight the thought tooth and nail. Maybe you\u2019ll have to write out the ten reasons why this book may be wanted. Maybe you\u2019ll have to chat seriously with yourself about self-publishing. You must battle brooding, clinging, disabling thoughts \u2014 or else you will be thinking them regularly.<\/p>\n

7. \tAfter you\u2019ve disputed and dismissed a thought, think a thought that does serve you. Creating thought substitutes is an important part of the process. These substitutes can be tailored to the situation, or they can be simple global affirmations that you create once and use over and over again, such as \u201cI\u2019m perfectly fine,\u201d \u201cBack to work,\u201d \u201cRight here, right now,\u201d or \u201cProcess.\u201d Because for so many of us the default way of thinking is negative, self-critical, and injurious, we want to create and use thought substitutes that help prevent our brain from conjuring up its usual distortions and distractions.<\/p>\n

8. \tGet in the smart habit of extinguishing unproductive self-talk even before it arises. Often we know when a thought is coming. Maybe you\u2019ve been waiting to hear from an editor who said she would call on Tuesday, and now it\u2019s Friday. You know that if she doesn\u2019t call today, you are certain to begin thinking thoughts like \u201cShe\u2019s never going to call,\u201d \u201cShe\u2019s about to reject my work,\u201d and \u201cI can\u2019t stand all this waiting.\u201d You know these thoughts are coming. So extinguish them now and replace them with \u201cI\u2019m spending the weekend working on my new pet project! And I won\u2019t think about that editor until Monday!\u201d How many times have you known that a thought that doesn\u2019t serve you is coming and let yourself think it anyway? It\u2019s time to stop doing that.<\/p>\n

9.\tEngage in active cognitive support. This means creating the thoughts that you want to be thinking and then thinking them. These thoughts might include all of the following: \u201cI paint every single morning\u201d; \u201cI\u2019m going to succeed\u201d; \u201cI know how to make meaning\u201d; \u201cI\u2019m lavishing my love and attention on my current painting\u201d; \u201cI\u2019m not afraid of process\u201d; \u201cI show up\u201d; \u201cI take the risks that I need to take, with my work and in the marketplace\u201d; \u201cI am creating a body of work\u201d; \u201cI am a painter.\u201d You can think thoughts like these if you choose to think them.<\/p>\n

You may never have thought about the possibility of getting a grip on your mind. I hope that you\u2019ll seriously consider it now.<\/p>\n

$\"\"$ <\/a>About Eric Maisel:<\/strong>
\nEric Maisel is the author of \u201cMaking Your Creative Mark\u201d and twenty other creativity titles including \u201cMastering Creative Anxiety\u201d, \u201cBrainstorm\u201d, \u201cCreativity for Life\u201d, and \u201cCoaching the Artist Within\u201d. America\u2019s foremost creativity coach, he is widely known as a creativity expert who coaches individuals and trains creativity coaches through workshops and keynotes nationally and internationally. He has blogs on the Huffington Post and Psychology Today and writes a column for Professional Artist Magazine. Visit him online at http:\/\/www.ericmaisel.com<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Excerpted from the new book \u201cMaking Your Creative Mark\u201d \u00a92013 by Eric Maisel. Published with permission of New World Library http:\/\/www.newworldlibrary.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"