The Selfie Mode
(This is my first attempt in doodling using oil colour pastels.)
The latest trend or let us put it this way, the obsession of selfie: taking the photograph of oneself using mobile phones has even cost many youngsters their own precious life. No, this is not the subject of this write-up. The purpose of this write-up is how one can increase one's power of concentration, the span of attention, take control of own mind by de-cluttering all the thoughts that crowd the mind to eventually cause mental stress, physical fatigue leaving one emotionally drained out.
Selfie Mode of mind management is an effective way to take care of the following issues you may experience:
· Mind is always crowded with thoughts and worries.
· Unable to concentrate on anything, even a simple activity like reading is difficult.
· Need to improve the power of observation.
· Unable to prioritise work or activities, even in the form of daily chores, leading to unwanted multi-tasking.
· Easily get distracted by external sound, visuals, etc.
· Tend to get stressed easily.
· Are susceptible to hurt and mental agony or vice versa.
· Easily get affected by gossips and rumours.
· Any site or sound elicits a negative response, for instance, if you find people speaking to each other in a whisper, you think they are discussing you if you hear the phone bell ring at odd hours; your immediate reaction is not a positive one.
· Tend to react, rather than respond to challenging and adverse situations.
What is ‘Selfie Mode’ and how does it help to overcome the issues mentioned above?
Selfie Mode is to keep the conscious mind on recording mode; to be observant and conscious of your thoughts and actions, as well as the external stimuli, in the form of sight, sound, smell, taste, memories that may be connected to the sight, sounds, smell, etc. Initially, Selfie Mode causes a lot of physical and mental stress, because, one needs to be conscious of a moment of oneself.
You may ask how does one remain in Selfie Mode, what does one do? It is simple:
o When you wake up in the morning, spend at least five minutes to do controlled breathing. Involve your mind completely in breathing in and breathing out. When any thoughts creep into your minds or you hear any sound, then make a sound while breathing in and out to draw your attention back to your breathing activity. You can even listen to and concentrate on a piece of meditative music during the exercise.
o While doing any activity, be it eating, bathing, reading, writing, attending any discussion, meeting, gardening etc. make your mind aware of every passing moment of your activity, so that you do not allow any thoughts or worries to creep into your mind and distract you from your work, in this way, you will be able to enjoy your activity too. So, always begin the day with an activity you like to do, like listening to musing. This will help you to easily tune in your mind with your body setting a positive frame of mind and flow of thought and emotions; this will eventually help you to take full control of yourself for the rest of the day.
o Try to get into the habit of going on morning or evening walk. Enjoy your walk by observing each and everything on either side of the path or road you are walking on. Compare your observation with all that you had observed the previous day. When you have walked a distance and decide to return home, then pause for a while, close your eyes and try to recall all that you had seen and heard while you had walked the stretch. Then resume walking back home and check on all that you were able to recall and all that you had missed.
o While reading, writing, or doing any work, be conscious of each passing moment and your action along with the total involvement of your mind in your actions. When any thought or any external stimuli like any sound, viz.e your colleagues speaking, or you suddenly remember a work you have forgotten to do, then immediately prioritise the activity you and your mind have to attend to; for instance, you have kept the water tap on to fill a jug of water, in the meanwhile, you began reading a book, then you know, your priority Is to immediately turn off the water tap. While reading a book, thoughts and worries creep into your mind, or you tend to get distracted by people talking in the other room or sounds and sights like people watching a TV or talking in the same room, then you know what to do. While reading a book, if your mind tends to wander, then read the book loud enough to listen to yourself; in this way, you will be able to take control of your mind and the thoughts arising from it.
o While you are doing your work and your colleagues are talking to each other that is inaudible to you, that elicit negative emotions and thoughts in you, to control them from disturbing you then politely explain to your colleagues that their discussion or conversation is disturbing you and make sure they do not react negatively to your request.
o When someone is talking to you with negative emotions like anger, sorrow, or is gossiping with you; on the other hand, is speaking to you in a positive way viz. expressing happiness, gratitude, discussing an idea or plans or sharing the excitement of their achievement, then listen to them carefully, while remaining in self-recording mode. Do not let your mind generate any positive or negative emotions that can overpower you to react negatively or positively to the communicator. Listen carefully and do not immediately get your mind to react by negatively interpreting the message being conveyed. After listening dispassionately, then comprehend and interpret the message in a positive manner so that you respond positively to the communicator and not cause any hurt to one another. Ask questions to clear any ambiguity in the message and allow the communicator too, to ask questions to understand each other. The purpose of any positive communication will not be to prove the communicator right or superior but understand each other. Do not remain passive either to later brood over how you should have responded to the communication.
o If you have the tendency to dwell in the past and relate every present situation with your past experience, then the Selfie Mode will help you to contain yourself to the present and not establish a negative relation of your present with your past experience. Therefore it will help you to get out of the vicious circle of negative emotions of your past experience. This will help you to dispassionately observe the present situation and circumstances and not overcome by the prejudice of past experience, handle the present situation pragmatically in a positive way. This will also help to save yourself from being a prisoner of your past.
o Meditation is the best way of Selfie Mode. Breathing and observation activities are simple forms of meditation. You can also follow any easy way of meditation is to listen to a piece of relaxing instrumental music and dance to its rhythm. There is instrumental music, even for meditation available, you can listen to them and gently tap your feet or dance to their rhythm and have your mind completely tune into to the music along with the movement of your hands and feet. True, this is quite similar to Tai Chi and it is the best way to harmonise your mind with your body to reverberate with positive energy.
o You feel caught between people, both at home and outside, who love to gossip, then do not react negatively to it. Use the Selfie Mode to be an observer: listen and observe them dispassionately and positively garner the positive communication from the gossip as that will also help you to comprehend the nature of the people, who indulge in gossip and their views, opinions, beliefs, and idiosyncrasies. The Selfie Mode of observation will help you to understand the people better.
- To make Selfie Mode of self-management even more effective, try to maintain Learning Log of how you successfully overcame any challenge or transformed your failure into success. (To know more about Learning Log, please refer to http://sunipslearning.blogspot.in/)
I can use Plutchik's Flower or Wheel of Emotion to explain the Selfie-Mode of regulating my emotions and make a conscious effort in self-management.
References for Plutchik's Flower of Emotions:
https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Motivation_and_emotion/Book/2014/Plutchik%27s_wheel_of_emotions
http://thisisindexed.com/2012/07/plutchiks-wheel-of-emotions/
http://msaprilshowers.com/soul/emotions/attachment/plutchik-flower-5/
https://www.tumblr.com/tagged/plutchik
http://study.com/academy/lesson/robert-plutchiks-wheel-of-emotions-lesson-quiz.html
https://www.videoblocks.com/
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