Unlock Higher States of Consciousness, Understanding, and Being
Unlock Infinite Possibilities (A Creative Exercise)
We often fail to see just how many options we truly have. We may assume that we have two possible pathways, or maybe three, when the possibilities are actually infinite.
As a thought exercise, imagine this: You are trapped in a car and there is a large brick next to you.
We often fail to see just how many options we truly have. We may assume that we have two possible pathways, or maybe three when the possibilities are actually infinite.
As a thought exercise, imagine this:
You are trapped in a car and there is a large brick next to you.
For most people, it may be difficult to think beyond this brick. It is so prominent that it is practically shouting, “break a window with it.”
However, let’s think a bit more deeply.
Even though I said you were trapped in the vehicle, perhaps this was just an assumption. Maybe the doors seem to be locked or jammed shut, but they are so old that if you press on them, they may pop open with little effort.
Since I didn’t explain how you got in the vehicle, maybe this is your own vehicle, and you have the keys in your pocket or nearby. You may be able to start the car and drive it somewhere that you could ask for help.
Surely you are wondering what led up to this scenario. It’s unknown. Perhaps you were in an accident and suffered amnesia.
If none of the above options to escape work, of course, you could check if anyone is nearby currently to help you.
Unfortunately, no one is there.
Practically on a daily basis, I hear people say in response to problems that we can go with Plan A or Plan B. They identify two options, or sometimes, they only identify one possible option. And often, implementing such plans would require a great deal of time, money, or energy.
But sometimes, we don’t have any of that. Some people lack financial resources and work hard to get by – they don’t have much time, money, or energy. They need to resolve their problems quickly despite these setbacks, or they do not get resolved. They must be resourceful – if they cannot figure things out for themselves, no one else will step in to solve it for them.
Life isn’t always easy. Sometimes we are presented with new and big problems when we least expect it when we don’t feel able to handle them, even when we are already overwhelmed with other problems.
Nonetheless, we must deal with the most pressing problem in front of us. In this scenario, you are still stuck in this car, and you want to get out.
What if you already tried all the above options that I proposed? You checked if you could force the doors open, you looked for the keys, you checked around to see if anyone could help you, and you even tried to use the brick to break open the windows. They seem to be reinforced and not so easily breakable. Nothing worked.
What else can you try?
You look around for a cell phone, and you check the glove box for anything useful. Nothing. The car is not old enough where you can roll down the windows manually. It has an electronic switch that does not work unless the car is on.
At this point, most people might give up. It seems like you’ve tried everything.
Can you think of anything else?
Remember, there doesn’t seem to be anyone around. You’re welcome to try banging on the glass to get attention, but I can tell you that will accomplish nothing as the creator of this scenario.
If you would like, take a bit of time to come up with one more thing you could try. I will come up with 7 more ideas to escape. Do not use Google to get ideas (or any search engine) – I am not. If you are struggling, keep in mind that these do not need to be good ideas. They need to be ideas that may have a chance at working.
When you are ready for my solutions, scroll down.
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1. Check if there is a sun or moon roof. In some cars, there is a sliding door you can open at the top. If you are lucky, the glass part could have been left open or partially open for you to escape.
2. Look for a pen, screwdriver, or any equipment that may help you to force the ignition to start, functioning as a sort of key. I know I said there was nothing useful in the glove box, but perhaps there were other compartments to search, or there may even have been something under the seats. By starting the car, you may drive it somewhere that you can get help.
3. Alternatively, if you find anything like a pen, screwdriver, or something like this, you may try to force a window to slide down.
4. Rather than throwing the brick at the windows or knocking it against them, lay the brick against the windows and then use your feet to kick the brick into the window. Your legs can exert more power, so this may be more successful. I’m aware that getting into a position to accomplish this may be challenging if the brick is heavy. (Doing this has some risk of causing injury, unfortunately)
5. Move the rear seats out of the way so that you can climb into the trunk. There, look for a way to open it or force it open. Perhaps if you are lucky, it will be unlocked, or it was already left open. (While you are there, look for any equipment that may help you escape).
6. If you have any cash, line up the windows to attract people to the car – obviously, this is in complete desperation, but it may help you get rescued.
7. If you have tape, markers, string, etc., write SOS in big letters along the car's windows – this is also done to attract attention.
If you thought of some solutions that I did not mention, please post them in the comments.
The whole point of this exercise is to show us that in life, even under normal circumstances, we probably give up quite quickly on looking for solutions. Most of the time, I see people present one or two options, and if those don’t work, they are ready to give up. They may even claim that the problem can’t be solved.
We set limits on ourselves when we do this.
Another situation where we tend to set limits on ourselves is in competition when we are at a disadvantage or we seem to be losing. Most people give up when they should be taking this as an opportunity to look harder for pathways to win. You may be the underdog, but is it truly impossible for you to win?
When you come across a problem or situation, or you feel that you are the underdog, search deeper for ways to solve this or to win. Often, there isn’t just one solution to a problem. There may be 10 or more pathways forward. You don’t need to find THE solution. You need to find ONE way that works.
Keep in mind that the path forward could actually be to abandon your problem for another solvable one or redefine the problem in some cases. In this scenario, several of my solutions were not about escaping directly. Instead, they were about looking for ways to get people to help me escape.
The next time you encounter a challenging problem or are the underdog in a competitive event, look for 7 new ways to solve the problem. If you don’t think you’ll have a difficult problem come up today, then practice making up your own difficult scenarios and resolving the problems that you create in your mind – as we did in this post.
What helps me is I usually imagine that the possible solutions are infinite or near-infinite – this makes it much easier to come up with just 7 solutions. Also, this is a daily practice. It may not be easy at first, but this means you need to work at it. This creative skill can pay off in all areas of our lives.
The possibilities are endless.
If you feel like you could use some help in getting more creative and finding more possibilities in your daily life, I recommend reading:
Idea Hacks: Come up with 10X More Creative Ideas in 1/2 the Time
Build Up Your Mental Fortress
We all have a mental fortress that we are in charge of, and which operates to help us in times of difficulties and duress. I am not speaking of the mind itself, but rather the mechanisms which protect the mind from harm and falseness.
We all have a mental fortress that we are in charge of and operates to help us in times of difficulties and duress. I am not speaking of the mind itself, but rather the mechanisms which protect the mind from harm and falseness.
Just as a computer has a firewall to protect it from viruses and invaders, you have a mental firewall, or what I will call the mental fortress. Many of us have not given any thought to this, and so the mechanism runs on autopilot. We resort to old habits that have seemed to work for us in the past. Sometimes those old habits work in a way, but they may not always work well, or sometimes they cause us extra problems rather than truly helping us.
Your mental fortress kicks in any time someone offends you, you feel embarrassed, someone lies to you, you lie to yourself, you are going through a traumatic period, and if you are afraid, anxious, or sad or hurt emotionally in some way.
The mental fortress may tell you to get away from people who cause you emotional suffering. Or it may tell you to respond angrily or possibly even with physical force or to argue with whoever is hurting you. It may tell you that your goal is to harm them more deeply, whoever it was that tried to hurt you.
You may begin to see that there are productive and counterproductive parts of this mental fortress. Many of us go all our lives without thinking of any of this. Something happens, and we react. But it is important to proact – to have a set of actions or steps that you can take in advance, to avoid inviting problems and suffering into your life.
A computer anti-virus system may find vulnerable ports that are liable to be hacked and used maliciously and protect them or seal them so that they cannot be so easily infiltrated. Just the same, you should consider your greatest vulnerabilities and look for ways to mentally protect yourself from being hacked or controlled or falling into emotional turmoil every time one of these vulnerabilities is accessed. What we mean when we say people are “pushing our buttons” is just this – we mean that they have discovered our weak points and purposely probed them to get us to malfunction, to get us to react childishly and yell and scream, or to get us to feel scared and become easily manipulated.
Just as your immune system has many working parts to help protect you against infection, your mental fortress has many working parts to protect your mind against becoming contaminated.
Some of these components may involve our self-talk (how we talk to ourselves in our own minds). It may be our support network – feeling that we have people who can help us in times of need can make us mentally stronger. Other features may be our mental toolkit for approaching or solving problems – feeling that you can handle difficult problems can make you feel more mentally at ease. One type of problem-solving that is especially useful will be knowing how to think creatively, to generate possible solutions for difficult scenarios that we find ourselves in. For many people, a component of the mental fortress may be physical exercise to help get your mind clear and in balance. For others, it may involve religious beliefs or spiritual practices to help you feel that you are connected to something greater and that you are not so vulnerable and weak. Just the feeling that we are protected can help to shield us from harm and keep our mental fortress strong.
One of the greatest tools of the mental fortress will be our self-talk, as we can have some control over this. A young child needs a parent or some outside stimulus to help manage his feelings if he is scared or worried. However, as adults, we begin to learn to manage our own thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. Nonetheless, adults still struggle greatly with preventing their emotions from running out of control.
Many individuals now suffer from depressive thinking, which can involve depressing loops of negative self-talk. Similarly, many individuals suffer from anxiety, which can involve anxious loops of self-talk.
One basic mental tool to combat this will be to have positive, calm, reasonable self-talk scripts that we have planned for difficult situations. Such positive or neutral scripts can help cancel out the mental loops that keep us stuck in anxious or depressive or other harmful thought loops.
It is important to keep these written, as, during a stressful period, such positive scripts may be difficult to recall.
Here are examples of some of the scripts we may create and have ready to use when needed:
I am happy with everything and everyone I have in my life at this moment. I should not dwell on what is wrong but instead, think of what is going right.
I am in pain, but I have the power to think of something else to make myself feel better (e.g., my cat, my spouse’s smile, or a favorite memory).
I do not need to listen to my own mind – sometimes, it lies to me, and I can choose to observe the beauty in nature, talk to supportive family and friends, or engage in physical exercise to help calm my stressed mind.
I am at peace at this moment – nothing can hurt me or take my peace from me.
Love is all around me. I feel the love of everyone who has ever loved me, and I love them back.
I should stop assuming things will go badly and instead assume they will go well. This will help me to find ways to improve my life.
I am in control of what I think. I can take my mind to a better place.
Whatever this experience is that I’m going through, it is only temporary.
I love my mind and body in full. Even if sometimes my mind or body works against me, I love that every moment I am alive is a true miracle.
God is watching over me. Even in moments when I feel lost, troubled, and hopeless, God is always there for me.
These are just some examples. We all need to take some time to find positive scripts that we can use in times of great worry, anxiety, depression, or whenever it is that we feel we are losing control of our own minds.
Of course, feel free to use the ones I have proposed for yourself or adapt them in any way you find useful.
The idea is not to brainwash ourselves with false positivity. I aim to be truthful in everything I do, as I do not think lying to ourselves or others is beneficial. The idea, rather, is to counteract the negative forces of the mind with something positive so that for a moment, we can see that our negative train of thought is often incorrect. Often, there is something positive we can focus on to make ourselves feel better and more in control.
Keep in mind that I am not a mental health professional. My background is in psychology, with an emphasis in industrial-organizational and cognitive domains, but not specifically in the clinical or therapeutic domains. To any individuals with mental health concerns, I recommend seeking professional help.
My general point here is that even if you are usually mentally healthy and free from mental disorders, you should take some time to build up your mental fortress.
A large problem of modern society is that we wait for severe illness to take hold of us before becoming interested in our mental stability. Our mental health and general health experts usually know how to deal with specific illnesses, but we should take care of ourselves and build up our mental fortresses to help avoid falling into mental illness or severe mental turmoil.
The core function of your mental fortress will be to stop negative and harmful forces from coming into and affecting your life, yet being open and adaptable to receiving positive and beneficial influences into your life. A mental fortress that allows everything into your life, all the good and bad, is not functioning well. Likewise, a mental fortress that allows nothing into your life, neither the good nor the bad, is not functioning well either.
If you have a deeper interest in building up your mental strength and resilience for dealing with life and hardships, I recommend a couple of books: