“The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe.”
- Nietzsche (Beyond Good and Evil)
Picking up where we left with the Episode I. The Incomplete Promise in today’s Premium Episode you’ll get TOP 3 “Weird & Effective” Exercises to break out of the Herd Mentality.
Ready to become a sovereign thinker?
No incomplete or empty promises on our part!
Let’s get into it.
1. The Mirror Walk – Observe the Automaton
The first exercise to break out of the loop combines physical and mental activity.
The Mirror Walk is a special kind of a guided meditation, best done during a lone walk in nature.
The trick of this method lies in the word mirror.
Usually, when we go for a restorative walk outside we either drag our mental baggage such as unfinished work looming on our desk, stress about several other things in our life like our relationship, health issues, financial problems etc. Only seldomly are we able to disconnect for a little bit and think about nothing at all.
The practice
This time, however, neither will be the case. During a Mirror Walk we focus intently on ourselves.
We position a kind of mental mirror to our self and watch it as if it was a stranger. When I say our self I mean specifically the voices in our head that just won’t shut the hell up. The thoughts that live their own life even when you didn’t ask them for it (by focusing on something). This automated inner chatter is what we today often refer to as “thoughts living rent free in our head”.
Don’t get it twisted, it’s not easy.
Especially if you’re trying out this for the first time. Believe me, it takes some practice. But once you gather up the focus and direct it towards your automated inner chatter, you’ll be shocked by the amount of mental clutter that you actually carry around every day.
What you are going to hear will be a mixture of:
your own repressed thoughts
words and sentences you heard recently from others
content you consumed (videos, books, movies…)
and (sometimes) voices you can’t really categorize to either one (most terrifying yet often most profound)
The more you consume mainstream media or socialize with large groups of people the more Herd Mentality will contain your inner chatter.
Mirror Walk Rules: 1. Walk alone. 2. No phone 3. At least 1h
4. Don’t focus on anything particular, just self-observe the inner chatter.
Give it a try.
You’ll encounter thoughts you always kind of heard, but never listened to.
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