General Escapism is an effective way for a generally minded person to escape most of the pressures they face in day-to-day life. However, even this method isn’t always enough to get the job done. Truth is, the pressures of life come in many shapes and sizes, and while an escape to nature or a good movie may be enough for basic pressures, these tricks fall short for the heavier varieties. That’s when stronger ‘medicines’ are needed to alleviate the symptoms brought on by a heavy mind.
But when that doesn’t work properly you naturally turn to the outside world for more help. I know I do. Perhaps you take aim at the calm setting of nature in the hope that something grand yet simple will stand out and put you in a good mood. For a lot of us folks in the developed world who are constantly exposed to a stronger range of signals, media, drama, etc., either in or around our technological jungle, we often require something much stronger to help put these annoying thoughts to rest. This is because we are so used to receiving a certain flow of sensationalised information that we don’t appreciate any disruption from it. We like to maintain a steady line of buzz to help us through each and every day, like an addict does.
And when salvation can’t be found at home, in the peacefulness of nature, or perhaps from the innocence of a pet or child during a small interaction with them, the next thing you do is look for someone else’s happier thoughts to help blanket your own, along with a serving of comfort food or a vice of some sort to really calm things down. Since your thoughts and nature’s soft touch won’t soften the scene at this particular time of frustration, someone else’s will surely have you lost in no time with a little help of sugar, protein, caffeine, alcohol, or some other mind-altering substance at the right dose.
There’s No Place Like Phone
The knee jerk reaction in today’s world is that salvation can almost instantly be found in our pocket, which is where we keep our very smart phones. When on the go, the easiest way to turn our thoughts around is to tap into someone else’s using a device. Whether it be reading an article or listening to a podcast, friend, peer, companion, psychologist, guru or priest, either in real-time or in something recorded, there is an infinite array of captivating stories that await your eyes and ears (and pleasure centre), all of which are only ever a few seconds away.
Social Media, which boasts a collection of minds, is the best way to get the distraction needed because you are already primed for the thoughts shown on your screen, which makes them ‘targeted thoughts’ based on all of your activity that previously marked your interests with their algorithm (aka our Tech God).
“A simple distraction at first will suffice”, is what you say to yourself as you begin scanning your news feed. Each post or page is an opening to someone else’s life of success and failure (or that which they would like you to perceive). But none of it really matters other than the distraction which you aim to extract in order to help ease your mind of its troubles. Otherwise, as you make comparisons between your life and those on your device, this could stir you up instead, creating even more annoying thoughts that bring chaos.
Either way, it doesn’t matter as you are kept in the vicious circle as the algorithms of today are designed to capture your attention by showing you the content that you desire or are triggered by. And within that targeted content, which we often compare ourselves against, is also the opposite energy of jealousy, envy, anger, shame and so on.
It’s the same old story each and every day. We find captivating thoughts to put the annoying thoughts down, but only for them to pop back up soon after because that is the reality of a bi-polar world.
And the Backlash for Me?
Without fail, my mind would always return, yelling and demanding “More fuel!” once it runs dry of desirable scenarios that the other minds helped to produce. This is when the freaky More-ish Mindset shows its true colours. When things are good, it’s good. Otherwise, Medicinal Social Media loses its effect and I’ll soon be in big trouble. Therefore, my mind was sooo needy and greedy in its up and down uncontrollable ways. I would end up wanting MORE, MORE and MORE artificial space from targeting people’s thoughts when mine had none left inside them.
Like with real dope, there was NEVER any chance of attaining freedom in my world, since true freedom arrives when you overcome your problems, not when you run from them.
So what better way to kick off this new discipline than to cut back in a backward move (one of a few). And really, there have been no regrets since entering the Level 2 system.
A Fresh Breath of Mindless 2.0 Air
My strength today comes not from abusing my mental medicine as much as I had my entire life, but by not converting my emotional energy into unnecessary space-making sensations. Admittedly, these sensations work well for most, but not for me in a habit. Instead, I need to save my energy for things that don’t have such a catch or flipside.
Like…
Since I now truly know what it means to carry a default/typical mind around on top of a Highly Sensitive SUPER NOISY Mind, as significant pressures or the weight inside my thinking that eventually causes discomfort and disrupts life, then I absolutely had to get my act together if I were to have any real chance at Long-Term Lessening.
If I were to relinquish this Short-Term Escaping Habit that plagued my life for so long, then I had to be on my emptiest ball.