Controlling the Controllables
You’ve heard me talk about the Mathematical Theory of Communication a time or two. Okay, it’s probably more than that. But it’s for good reason, as you’ll see in today’s episode.
We talk about being at cause, about living the life you want to live, about creating your own reality essentially...and all that stems from harnessing your 50 to 60 bits of information.
What 50 to 60 bits? Here’s a quick refresher. Your unconscious mind processes 2 to 11 million bits of information per second while your conscious mind only processes 50 to 60 of those bits. Only 50 to 60 of those bits reach your awareness.
Here’s the kicker -- you get to choose which 50 to 60 bits reach your awareness. This is powerful, because your internal representations -- how you interpret outside events -- is determined by those 50 to 60 bits.
Now, we all have a negativity bias. Our brain is designed to protect us, to look out for the bad stuff, to anticipate worst-case scenarios. If we want to see the positive, we’ve got to focus on the positive. And we need to work at it to counter that negativity bias.
By consistently shifting your focus, you’ll notice positive change in your overall life experience.
It all begins with focusing the conscious mind on what you want, which, when repeated often enough, directs the unconscious mind to reflect in your experience the object of the focus. The bottom line -- the unconscious mind will filter to your conscious mind what you’ve been focusing on. In essence, you’ll be choosing those 50 to 60 bits that come into your consciousness.
Where to start?
- Watch your language.
- The things you hear that come into your consciousness are a reflection of negative talk on the inside. Focus on what you want instead of what you don’t want.
- Watch what you say to others. Your unconscious mind takes everything personally, and complaints are just an invitation for more negative things to come into your awareness. So keep it positive.
- Watch what you say and believe about yourself. It all starts and ends with you. The people in our lives are merely a reflection of what we believe about ourselves. When you see beauty and awesomeness in others, it’s a reflection of what’s inside of you. Pause and bask in that reality.
- Notice your environment. After all, it’s a reflection of your inward state. When things aren’t going well, shift your focus. When things are going great, recognize that you did it!
- Choose your trance. As Milton Erickson said, “Everybody is in a trance.” We’re all filtering life through a set of beliefs. Get in rapport with yourself and decide what you want to believe. You can choose your trance!
Doing the above will help you control the controllables -- those 50 to 60 bits coming to your consciousness each second.
When you’re controlling the controllables, you can see the best in your children, find the positive things in that once annoying coworker, see the love in your partner’s gaze, and stop blaming external factors when things go awry.
No one else can choose those powerful bits for you but you. It has to come from you.
Thanks for listening!
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Links from today’s episode:
- Episode 2 -- We learned about internal representations
- Episode 3 -- We learned about perception is projection
- Have you taken the purely positive quiz yet?
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