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The Ability to Change Your Mind is a Superpower

Today we’re talking mind shifting.

Kind of like shape shifting, except better.

But before we get into that, lets define what I mean by superpower.

For one, the potential energy you house as a human being, is infinite.

Even Stan Lee derived protagonist have limits. I mean, Superman gets weak in the presence of some glowing green rocks guys.

We on the other hand, have no Achilles heel if we decide to inhabit a place of infinite power. The problem is, we often choose to hang out in areas of incompletion.

People often claim to be all knowing, celebrities and their respective fan clubs, experts and their narrow bands of knowledge, even witchcraft and its inherently limited selection of sorcerers.

The fact is, you didn’t create yourself.

There is only one true power.

Sure, “the universe” if you will.

Regardless, you have to plug in to put out.

Otherwise, you’re just fooling yourself –

Thinking you are doing something, when in reality you’re only exercising your positional influence within a grand Ponzi scheme.

Have fun with that.

Me? I prefer the real thing.

Even if that means chilling by myself for awhile.

So, ‘power’.

What does it mean?

Because today, I think we’ve got it all wrong.

But this couldn’t be further from the truth, though I can see how people are duped.

Classic Darth Vader tactic, simply; flex.

A lot.

But think.

What does it mean, if someone constantly needs to reaffirm their capacity?

Because to me, that only shows one thing — that there’s in an implicit insecurity hiding beneath their thin veneer of perceived power.

Okay, so what is it. According to Merriam-Webster, power is the ability to produce a desired effect.

So, to the extent you can control what happens both within and around you, is the extent of your power.

Power is creation.

Only, there’s a problem inherent in this description; if you don’t have the power to affect your thoughts (i.e. yourself) — than you’re just reacting from a place of emotion.

This is the antithesis of true power. In fact, it’s something else entirely.

Even if you do manage to “win” through fear or intimidation, you’ve only displayed your ability to be manipulated into being something that is opposite your true nature.

To me — real power lies in one’s ability to think critically, assess consciously, and conclude without prejudice.

That is, to strive to be objective in a world that is subjective.

To see the chaos, and not to fear it.

This also means, the ability to admit that at some point in the past, you were probably wrong. That’s the hard part for most, because to admit such a thing implies weakness — right?

Well.

Depends on what you perceive as ‘weak’.

If weakness is being wrong, then we’re all pretty vulnerable. As humans with an abbreviated existence — we can only know so much. And to be sure, even what we ‘know’ is up for debate. Therefore, it is not in being wrong that one becomes weak, but in staying wrong.

― Confucius

So, mind shifting.

Sort of like shape shifting, only more potent.

Whereas with shape shifting, you can only manipulate matter that exists ‘out there’, when you upgrade to being able to mind shift, you gain mastery over your own neurological framework.

Dead serious. This is not a joke, or even a hyperbole.

Changing your mind is akin to changing the structure of your brain, and doing so is a lot more possible than you might think.

All it takes is focused thought, and practice.

Instead of entrenching yourself into old paradigms of thought and strengthening already formed neural connections, begin to branch out in different abilities. Perceive through recreation and reformation, jump start neurons that were previously dormant, and transform your being into one you enjoy spending time with.

How is that not a superpower?

Honestly, I think we sell ourselves short.

Being malleable yet firm; both open to what’s new yet convicted on what’s true. It’s a tough balancing act, no doubt.

For one thing — most of us can’t do it at all.

The reasons for this apparent difficulty seem to be three-fold.

For one, it’s a widely held fallacy that we first look at facts and then come to a conclusion. The evidence for this view is nonexistent.

According to Robert Sapolsky, professor of neuroscience at Stanford University, we tend to perform this process in reverse.

We first come to a desired conclusion — often based on things as fleeting as group affiliation or life experiences. Only then do we look for evidence, and only the kind that supports our ready-made position.

This is another instance of humanities propensity towards confirmation bias. We simply refuse to see what is true, in part, because it doesn’t match with what we already “know”.

Another sneaky version of this bias is called the overconfidence effect. Researcher Pail Slovic found that when giving horse betters increasing numbers of data points (like; rider height/weight, horse record to date, racing surface etc…) their confidence also increased — from about 18% confidence when offered 5 pieces of data, to over 30% confidence when offered 40 pieces of data.

In the end, those with more pieces of information had virtually no increase in accuracy over those with the minimum.

Yet, because of the illusion of insight compounded by the bettors possession of more raw data, they ended up losing more money.

In the end, they would put up bigger bets in line with their higher levels of confidence, and because they were right about the same amount as those with less confidence, they overshot their own predictions and had to deal with the repercussions that come with an inflated sense of knowing.

Pretty sure the Bible warned us about this…. (Proverbs 16:18)

Essentially, we are very good at convincing ourselves that we know more than we actually do.

And this can be dangerous. Especially, when we’re dead wrong.

A second reason humans find it tough to achieve mind shifting capabilities, is because of the our continual rejection of new information.

Our filters get clogged, and we fail to let anything of value pass through.

We age out of our inborn curiosity, and become hardened to life’s experiences, therefore opting for our ready-made frameworks.

In one example, he claimed that those who hadn’t had sushi by the age of 30, continue on that trajectory 95% of the time.

Meaning, 19 out of 20 non sushi eaters on their 30th birthday will simply never try the tasty treat ever in their lives. And what a shame.

To close yourself off from a world of experiences simply because you haven’t tried them yet is perhaps the epitome of self-sabotage.

Yet, we do it every single day.

The third and final stumbling block we encounter on the journey to becoming super, is our collective need for a sense of belonging.

Essentially, the bar gets lowered.

Therefore, incentives for community become warped as we turn from real relationships rooted in love, to fake ones that only provide an occasional boost to our ego.

The result is our formation of cliques.

Or, groups of ‘friends’ that are usually only held together by shared hatred of a common enemy, and not by increasing appreciation for the innate differences present within the collective.

This practice isn’t necessarily intentional, but that’s the problem. It seeps into our subconscious modes of friendship and quietly becomes the norm everyone adopts.

We all know it’s unhealthy, but absent anything else, we’ve decided that it’s ‘good enough for now’.

But, it’s not.

We’re killing ourselves for political points.

The stakes for changing your mind are so high, that today, nobody dares to do so… but in creating a climate where being able to consider new information is deemed a negative attribute, we have also made it impossible for people to engage in critical dialogue unless they are willing to look stupid.

And of course, nobody wants to look dumb.

So, in our quest to not seem stupid…

We’ve successfully fostered a populace full of confidently fools.

Intellectually superficial, and superficially intellectual.

The absolute worst kind of person to get into a Twitter argument with.

Really quick, because I’m starting to ramble.

1. Learn from past failures.

2. Learn from future scenarios.

The first is self explanatory — simply look back.

Often times, if you’re being honest with yourself, you’ll see a trail of incorrect decisions and missteps that can allow you to recalibrate and become a better mind shifter for future situations.

The second is bit tougher.

Consider various potential chains of events, contemplate how causes can result in varying effects, and in so doing, shield yourself from surprise and stupidity.

Leader #1:

“Damn, this didn’t go the way I thought it would… we’re f***ed.”

Leader #2:

“Well this didn’t go as planned, but I’ve thought of a few other possibilities, so let’s adjust and keep moving forward.”

Leader # 1 has sufficiently killed all forward momentum because they didn’t have the ability to change their original plan in light of a new reality.

Leader # 2 was able to redirect in a way that allowed her team to continue, despite a change in tactics.

Which leader do you want to be?

I suggest you start training.

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