In a previous article, we discovered the Mind Canvas model for personal mastery; a simple and intuitive way to master your thoughts, emotions, actions, and reactions.
We saw how most of our daily thoughts are influenced by these 2 lies we tell ourselves every day, which form the 2 dimensions of the Mind Canvas model:
- Mental Time: The illusion that time as we know it exists,
- Interpretation / Meaning-making / Duality: The illusion that things are “good” or “bad”.
And we saw that the key to eradicating suffering, removing limitations from our lives, empowering ourselves, and experiencing more well-being and joy, lies in understanding these 2 dimensions, and using them to our advantage.
The corners of your mind
The 2 dimensions of the Mind Canvas™ (Time and Interpretation), give us a series of quadrants or “corners of our mind”.
This is a very simple yet powerful way to categorize most of the types of thoughts you may have. And if you know where your thoughts come from (and whether they are self-limiting or self-empowering), you can then choose if you like that or if your want to change into more resourceful corners of your mind.
At any moment of the day, our attention is focused on one or more of these quadrants. Which quadrant you are looking at determines how you feel, your attitude, and therefore your actions, results, and impact.
So if you want to increase your impact, change your life circumstances, feel better and empowered, and experience peace of mind and well-being, you want to be able to know how your mind is working at any time and to shift it at will. The Mind Canvas enables you to do just that.
The different corners of your mind are:
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- Positive Past: This is our empowering memory
- Positive Present: This is our empowering perception
- Positive Future: This is our empowering imagination
- Neutral Past: Thinking of the past in a factual way, without interpretation
- Neutral Present: Perceiving the now in a factual way (mindfulness)
- Neutral Future: Thinking of the future in a factual way, without interpretation
- Negative Past: This is our disempowering memory
- Negative Present: This is our disempowering perception
- Negative Future: This is our disempowering imagination
The contents of your mind
Imagine you are in a dark room—the room of your mind. In each corner, there are ideas, thoughts, answers, and resources waiting for you to find them. Some are useful, while some can limit you. The things you find depend on which way you point with the light of your attention.
Each corner of your mind has different contents or resources.
“Every man is what he is, because of the dominating thoughts which he permits to occupy his mind.” – Napoleon Hill
Remember that what you think about determines what you feel so, for example, why not:
- Rejoice in your successes
- Discover your talents and passions
- Set your purpose, goals, and plans
- See “failures” and “mistakes” as “learning experiences”
- See your “weaknesses” as “opportunities for growth”
- See your “worries” as “information about what you don’t want”
The source of your feelings
What you think about (the contents of your mind), determines what you feel. Any feeling or emotion you can think of can be found in one or more of the corners of your Mind Canvas.
“The thoughts you think create your feelings and emotions. They are the Key factor in what you say and do. The entire quality of your life is dependent on the thoughts you choose to focus on.” – Zelig Pliskin
What self-limiting feelings do you feel more often than you’d like? What corners of your mind are causing these feelings?
What self-empowering feelings would you like to feel more often? What corners of your mind should you use more to access those feelings?
How is your mind working?
Do you have a resourceful mind? Do you use all of the quadrants of your Mind Canvas to your advantage?
You can find out by taking the free Mind Resourcefulness Assessment.
What quadrants do you use to your advantage? Which ones are working against you? Share your results in the comments below.
InJoy, Juan Campoo
About the author
Juan Campoo is a seasoned transformational coach and behavioral expert facilitating personal and organizational evolution. Creator of the Mind Canvas model for personal mastery and writer of the Amazon Best-Selling book under the same name. In the last 10+ years, he has coached, trained, and taught more than 12.000 people either 1-on-1, in groups, or through online courses. Check out other free resources here.