Sometimes mind traps are of our own making. We get stuck thinking a certain way, frequently in a “this or that” state of mind. It’s what I call, “Failing to see the third possibility” in a situation. In the libertarian movement, this is sometimes referred to as the “left-right paradigm.” And, it applies to more than just political thought. It can be applied to everything.

Other mind traps are a result of our upbringing. Many people believe what they do simply because that is what they were told as children. They never thing to question the validity of childhood teachings. They don’t dare question parental or church authority.

Other mind traps are a result of our particular culture. In every country people are stuck in different sets of mind traps. They are the result of commonly held beliefs. Or, they are they exist because of certain frequently-repeated catch phrases that people hear so often that the believe them even when they are obviously at odds with other commonly held beliefs or reality.

The key to unlocking mind traps is to first recognize them. Do this be taking the trouble to examine your own beliefs, where they came from and why you hold them. If you find that these beliefs came from a source other than your own reasoning, then this is a possible mind trap.

Important mind traps revolve around moral codes that are not your own. It is important to discover who you are without a set of arbitrary rules governing you. This is a frightening concept if you’ve never come face to face with yourself before because you’ve been stuck in a morality trap of some kind. But, it is important to either establish your own moral code or toss the concept of a code aside, altogether, and simply live a life driven by your own free will. If you are a good person at your core, there is no danger in this whatsoever. And, it is very satisfying to escape such a trap.

Another major trap is the government trap. It is the idea that you must obey any and every law. This is an important trap not to fall into because so much of government is completely immoral and evil by nature. Therefore, to escape this mind trap, you must determine on a case by case basis if you choose to obey particular laws. Of course, you’ll want to keep the possible consequences of doing so in mind. Engaging in civil disobedience is an example of escaping the government mind trap.

Another important mind trap to escape is that you need to be anyone but yourself, serve anyone but yourself or do anything special to be valuable. Simply being is enough. You do not have to be constantly doing to be worthwhile.

There are many other mind traps you’ll discover as you begin to live a self-examined life in this way. You will see that you have a lot of thoughts that are not your own. To escape the mind traps, you have to confront those thoughts as they enter your mind. Determine if it is your own belief or if it has been planted there by some outside source. Recognize these unwanted thoughts and destroy them by thinking and acting independently.

What is Self-Criticism and How Does it Work?

Self criticism is the negative internal dialogue that you direct to yourself within your mind. It is the role and responsibility of our subconscious to constantly communicate with our conscious thought patterns in order to determine our behavior, feelings, emotions and ultimately to build and maintain our personal belief system. Our personal belief system are the boundaries and laws that we self create in order to make personalized decisions. If we hold negative beliefs then we usually have negative thought patterns to maintain and support these beliefs. These negative beliefs can also be termed limiting beliefs and are limiting because they are the ultimate judge of how we see things (our perception) and how we judge our personal limits and expectations. The more we reference ourselves to these beliefs the stronger our internal dialogue and thought patterns become to support this belief. Think of it like walking a path through the bush, the more you walk it, the more the path is cleared and the easier it becomes to take.

It is therefore safe to say that you attract what you believe. If you believe in something, your mind will search out information to support you. This is done by your sub-conscious asking the conscious mind to turn its focus towards all things that will help support your belief system. What this all means is that your mind will begin to perceive and interpret the information around you in a way that supports the beliefs you hold. The more you think about it, the more you believe it and the more your mind actively goes out to prove it. Here is an example, you believe you are fat and ugly and are unworthy of love. You don’t think much about this belief but you do catch yourself in the mirror or when eating dinner telling yourself that you are fat and should eat less or else no-one will love you. This feeds your belief, your mind agrees with you and inevitably your self esteem is lowered.

Where do these beliefs come from and why do we hold such negative beliefs about ourselves? Is it curable, and how do I change these deep set beliefs?

A lot of people who have had to deal with emotional abuse or abandonment as a child will often put themselves down as it enhances the belief that you are unworthy of love. If you were unloved by your father or any other leading role model whom you loved while growing up then it is easiest to believe you are these things. Why? Because if we were worthy of love then why did they chose not to love us?

Who Can Change It?

Fortunately, the power of change to your life lives within your own hands. You have every tool you need to change your life. All you need is an open and willing mind and a bit of time and energy for dedication.

How Do We Change It?

The key here is awareness. To know yourself is to know how to choose a separate path for yourself. A lot of people get stuck in old habits and are totally unaware why they do the things they do. Most of the time it is happening unconsciously. If you are aware of when you are verbally beating yourself up then you can make a choice to stop the internal dialogue in your mind and change it into something constructive and kind. Every time you look in the mirror and catch yourself saying “ew, I look fat in this, I am fat” you need to stop yourself and think about what you are doing. You are encouraging and strengthening your negative and limiting beliefs. You wouldn’t let your best friend treat you like that so don’t treat yourself I this way. After all you are either your own friend or your own enemy. Have the relationship with yourself that you would like to have with others, kind, compassionate, considerate and understanding.

You have to change the brain wave patterns which can take a long time but with simple awareness and by correcting your thoughts you can begin to walk a new “path” within your mind. Start be writing down three things you would like to believe about yourself for example I am worthy of true love, I am a beautiful and creative person, I am happy and I deserve happiness. Print this out and put it in places where you will read it often for example stick it on the mirror you get changed in front of, on the fridge, on the toilet door. And when you catch yourself being negative, repeat those three things five times until the negative dialogue disappears. Do this every time.

Simple daily exercises can change the way you think. When you are being positive you force your perception of the world and your internal beliefs to be positive. Think of tit as walking a new path through a new bush and every time you walk it, it gets easier to take. The brain is like a muscle, the more you train it, the stronger it becomes. I am therefore going to end this article on something I have said before… “It is therefore safe to say that you attract what you believe. If you believe in something, your mind will search out information to support you and in turn will prove you right”.

So believe in something positive, you are what you believe.

Negative thought patterns that can lead to physical ailments include stress, anxiety, anger and resentment. All of these have been shown to be a contributing factor in disorders and diseases such as cardiovascular disease, ulcers, blood pressure problems, headaches and respiratory problems. A lot of these ailments have to be treated with medications and in some cases very harsh drugs that have serious side effects. The thoughts that go through your mind don’t only affect what is happening in the moment but can affect your whole life. Another factor to consider is keeping negative emotional thoughts bottled up. Not dealing with these emotions in an effective way can put a person into a deep depression. So how do we deal with negative thoughts and keep ourselves healthy emotionally, behaviorally and physically?

The first step in changing your thoughts is identifying the negative thought. You can control what you think about. Taking a negative thought, identifying it and figuring out why you’re having the thought gives you the opportunity to change that thought into a positive one. Stopping to contemplate your thoughts also gives you the opportunity to make rational decisions. We’re quick to make decisions about things without thinking them through.

The second step is to surround yourself with positive people and positive situations. Being around negative people makes it difficult for you to be positive. And, even when you are positive you may be criticized for being overly optimistic. Don’t leave yourself in situations where you know the outcome is going to be a negative one. If you put yourself in these situations you are putting yourself at risk for having negative thinking patterns and possibly even for falling into a depression that could have been avoided.

The third step in learning to think positively is thinking for yourself. Just because someone is being negative it does not mean that you aren’t entitled to your own thoughts and beliefs. You are not obligated to accept other people’s negative opinions.

Changing your thought patterns to positive ones will have a dramatic impact on your life emotionally, spiritually, behaviorally and physically. Not only will you start seeing positive changes in your own daily life but you’ll also start to notice that other people around you are being more positive because of your influence.