Line BreakAuthor: Steven Aitchison (442 Articles)
I am the owner of this blog and want to help you as much as I can through with the writing which will help you lead the life you really want. I offer Blog Coaching for bloggers who want to step it up a notch and Life Coaching to help you makes changes in your personal and business life.
Just like your computer your mind gets cluttered up with unnecessary or outdated code which makes it run slower or even ruins a few pieces of software and eventually causes your computer to shut down. So it is with the mind, only there is no debugging manual for the mind.
Here are a few suggestions to debug your mind of those little bugs that make your life less than perfect.
9 Ways to debug your mind
1. Know your own mind – Know your operating system
Not knowing your own mind is like not knowing what operating system your computer uses. Unless you know the operating system you can’t buy software for your computer and if you do chances are it will malfunction or not work at all. Knowing your mind is knowing what values and principles you live by. You might now know all your values and principles but you certainly know some of them. For example would you ever steal from someone, more than likely you wouldn’t, so that is one of the values you live by – I shall not steal from someone else. What about honesty? what about being authentic? What about having compassion for others? What about working hard? These are all values and principles you live your life by. By looking at and developing each value and principle you can start to strengthen each one.
2. Work on your beliefs – Learn the software
Are some of your beliefs outdated? Your beliefs about yourself and the world around you are constantly being updated but you can speed the process up and enjoy a fuller, richer life by knowing what your beliefs are and strengthening them to move you forward. Your beliefs are like the software you have on your computer, you know they are there but you might have not made the best use of them. For example I have photoshop on my computer but I really only use it for cropping, and touching up photos, when there is so much more I could do with photoshop if I only took the time to learn more about it. So it is with beliefs – I believe I am a decent writer but I have never pushed myself to put my writing out there and work on it more and begin to polish it and find my own voice. There are also some beliefs that no longer serve me well so I should drop them. For example I am now quite a confident person but beliefs from my past try and muscle their way in to my current belief, it’s now time to let go of the old belief and live the new belief.
3. Dropping past memories – Deleting old files
Memories you have which can be harmful to your well being are best dropped altogether. Easy to say, harder to do. Some people spend a lifetime in therapy trying to understand why something happened from their childhood, why? Acknowledge that something bad has happened to you and whilst you might never be able to delete the memory you can choose when to access the memory. It’s like having old files on your computer, that will never do you or the computer any good but you choose to go into the folder and open the files up every day. It’s time for the delete button. If the memories are still raw, then that is a different story but if the memories are years old then it’s time to hit DELETE.
4. Take time for yourself – Shutdown your emails, skype, and chat software
Our lives have become so busy with 1001 things to do for our kids, our families, our partners, our work, and friends. Sometimes you just have to shut the world out for a bit and take time for yourself and do something you enjoy. It’s like every time you go on the computer and there are people sending you emails, sending you tweets, wanting to googletalk or talk to you on skype. Shut everything down and take time for yourself. Take a day off work, don’t tell anybody, send the kids to school and spend the day reading, browsing shops, walking, in an art gallery, anything just to be yourself. The time we spend alone is time recharging our batteries.
5. Learn new habits – Upgrade your software
Our habits can also become outdated and if we do the same as we have always done we will always get the same results. Just like your computer if you use the same software without upgrading it you will be missing out on the true potential of the software. Your habits need to be constantly upgraded and new ones introduced over time. If your habit is to exercise only after you have noticed you are piling on the pounds and then stop exercising, then it’s time to look at this habit and rework it so it suits you better and saves you the anguish and pain of piling on the pounds.
6. Keep your mind active – Learn new software
Our minds can become dull with the drudgery of life and going over the same things day in day out. We become bored and settle for a less than perfect life. If we constantly learn new things about our world and the people in it the world and life will not seem dull. Imagine if you were to keep using the WordPress software which came out all those years ago, your blogs or websites wouldn’t be all that exciting, now there is so much more WordPress can do and the current version on 2.8.4 is so much more powerful. Our minds need to keep active and constantly learning new information in order to keep on working in later life.
7. Dropping the deadwood – Delete user permissions
As hard as it sounds there are some people in our lives who do not belong in our lives anymore, you’ve moved on perhaps they have to, but you still keep in touch for some reason, it could be pity, it could be guilt or misplaced loyalty. Whatever it is, if there are people in your life who drag you down, are negative, are not as committed as you, it’s time to say goodbye to them. Change the user permissions on the computer and lock them out. They will move on and you will move on, it’s called life and you will both feel better for it.
8. Recharge your mind – Putting your computer on sleep mode
We are living in an age of information overload and as we learn to adapt and evolve to this we have to find a way to recharge our minds. One of the best ways of doings this, I find, is some form of meditation. 20 – 40 minutes per day will do wonders for your energy, productivity and creativity. When I have mentioned this in the past some people object stating that they cannot get 40 minutes to spend on meditating. The 40 minutes spent on meditating will free up at least 1 hour of your time during the day by recharging your mind and being able to think more clearer, more more productive and have more energy. So if you look at it from the point of view that you are saving at least 20 minutes per day instead of losing 40 minutes per day this might change your mind about meditation.
9. Developing thinking skills – What language is your computer using?
Your computer software is only as good as the language it is written in. Imagine if all software was still written in an old computer language how far would computing have evolved – not very far at all. As computer languages have evolved programmers have written software with the ability to predict what may happen and ‘if’ something happens what to do about it. Our thinking skills are vital to be able to communicate with each other to get our thoughts across to someone else. whilst we were not taught thinking skills formally, we have developed thinking strategies over the course of our lives. It’s important to look at thinking as a skill in order to develop it. Using cognitive brain enhancing programs are one way to develop thinking skills as is reading more on the topic, which is way to big to go into in a post this size. Another thing I would recommend is reading about philosophical issues, I think this is a great exercise to develop thinking skills and can lead you to places in your mind you didn’t know existed.
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{ 37 comments… read them below or add one }
As a software architect and designer, I love this analogy and its important to think of ourselves along lines we understand and can relate to. Thanks for the 9 steps or areas. Not sure these all relate to debugging or not, but they can certainly help software based systems and obviously then the mind as well. Thanks!
Mike King´s last blog ..100 Ways to Simplify Your Life and Mind
Nicely done Steve. I think it’s important to remember that man created the computer in his own image. Of course, the human mind is far more complex. But doesn’t it make sense that we would design into artificial intelligence similar vulnerabilities as our human model? I think that’s why this analogy works so well.
Jonathan – Advanced Life Skills´s last blog ..When Lightning Strikes
Hello Steve,
Nice one here again!!!! It was simplified for easy understanding and I enjoyed every bit of it. In the last few weeks I have found myself focusing more on taking time out for myself, “upgrading my software” and “experimenting with new software”(learning new things, trying out new ideas/suggestions …..)
Thanks for this.
ayo´s last blog ..6 Ways to Break Out of Prison
Deleting old files… Good advice, but not so easy to implement. Forcing yourself not to think about painful old memories can often make your inner critic scream even louder. It’s better to confront it head-on.
The reason your subconscious brings up painful old memories is a defense mechanism to help you cope or react better if that situation comes up again. For childhood memories it’s even harder because you’re often dealing with a childlike inner critic. People deal with it in many different ways, but sometimes just understanding why painful memories resurface is enough to keep them from wreaking havoc in your life.
I think you should update your own thinking by not seeing everything in term of computer. Also, anologies are bad because deceiving.
While #2 in this post seems simple and not very life-changing, it is THE most important step for “debugging” your mind.
There is a book I wholeheartily recommend to anyone looking to “debug” beliefs: “Sacred Choices” by Christel Nani. It changed my life by questioning my long-held beliefs.
You can find it in your local library or Amazon:
Sacred Choices – Thinking outside spirit
Great article. I love that analogy.
@Mike thanks for stopping by Mike and your comments. When I wrote this I thought I would get some flak from coders and software people alike
@Jonathan, thanks mate I appreciate your commetns as always.
@Ayo Glad you liked the analogy Ayo, how’s your blog writing going?
I like the computer slant, particularly liked deleting user permissions.
I would add installing some search software in you to be able to find what you want quickly and filter the trash.
Jarrod – Warrior Development´s last blog ..Slaying Hesitation
wow,really?!it is very interesting!
Deleting the old files is paramount, memories from the past can be a very major problem for many people I would guess.
I do wonder though, with these memories that haunt many people from perhaps 20 or 30 yeras ago, how much they get distorted over that length of time ?
Do you remember then how they were in reality, or has the effect of time made them worse or distorted them in any way.
I would argue it is impossible to “delete” a memory.
I suggest rather than trying to suppress negative memories, work on building more positive memories.
Nik
Suppressing negative memories is very difficult and can be damaging in the long run. Some of my most hurt clients are those with traumatic memories that they have simply tried to bury and suppress. I usually try to work with these clients to learn to better understand traumatic memories, reframe them and accept them. Unprocessed negative memories can be very bad for your mental health… the more traumatic the more dangerous they are.
There are a number of therapies that can be used to help process negative memories. Depending on the level of trauma some can be processed fairly quickly with basic reframes, while other may take years to fully resolve.
NLP has some good techniques using submodalities and reframing, hypnotherapy and gestalt are often useful, and then there are cognitive-behavioral and psychodamic approaches as well.
With proper and enough therapy people can learn to accept and view negative memories in ways that minimize the damage they inflict.
Chris Akins´s last blog ..7 secrets of self-motivation
@random – I see what you’re saying however if you’ve been trying for 20 years to confront something head on, it’s time to stop confronting and start living again.
@Alain – I appreciate your comments
@Reif I changed you affiliate links as I don’t like promotion in the comments however thanks for the book recommendation.
Great post! Nice analogy.
I liked your “user permissions” comment. Very true!
And the habits point is well taken! Some of our habits that served us when we were younger are not helpful as we get older!
Thanks Steve
One important question though…?
What is the most effective way to delete your old software – “beliefs”. It is easy enough to talk about and to say that you will delete them but it is another thing to actually get rid of them when they are hard-wired into your subconscious. Maybe that’s a belief system as well…
I use a technique called EFT – Emotional Freedom Technique – where you tap certain areas of your body and repeat affirmations to yourself.
Perhaps you could write a post on how you release belief systems?
Thanks
Jai
NLP has some interesting techniques for this. One good method is using submodalities to change the way you perceive your beliefs. You can find one technique here: http://www.chrisakins.com/overcoming-limiting-beliefs
Learning new things is a great way to expand your viewpoint and your life, the search for information can take you to places that you did not know existed, and perhaps your ideal world.
Start with a wide viewed search, then narrow down once you have found an area that appeals.
Life is all about learning, and new experiences, this will lead to a more fulfilled life for you and your family.
Great post, Steven! I love the analogy between perspective and technology! One of the most common “bugs” that we need to address is not being as happy as we should be. The steps you outline are a great way to get at the root of the problem and make an improvement. I particularly like “deleting user permissions.” Energy robbing people can be such a drain and the analogy to user permissions is clever!
Vin – NaturalBias´s last blog ..Are You Sacrificing Your Health for Appearance?
@Kaizen – Thanks for visiting and your comments
@Jai Kai – I don’t think we should necessarily delete them but to acknowledge them and shift our focus when we start thinking about them. Over time we will no longer think about them as often.
@LD – thanks for your comments and your continued contribution to CYT. Can I just say that your user name is very spammy, so I would change this to your real name.
@Vin – Cheers Vin. You can spot an ‘drainer’ from a distance and I agree it’s best to avoid them if we can.
Great bunch of ideas! And I heartily endorse the daily meditation! It’s changed my life.
Another practice I personally use every day, during my exercising or standing in line waiting @ the bank, post office, etc., is to listen to one of Brian Johnson’s 20 minute MP3s of PhilosophersNotes. These are real perspective-stretchers, essentially the audio equivalent of “cliffs notes” of books by great philosophers from Plato to Emerson to Carlos Castaneda to Wayne Dyer. Amazing range and humor. See my unsolicited (and unpaid!) YouTube video on the topic: “Six Business Reasons for Listening to PhilosophersNotes Every Day!”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYgBQa-EF8s
Keep up the good work! I enjoy and learn something from you all the time!
Cheers!
Mike G.
Mike Greer´s last blog ..Tend Your Gardens of Thought
This is an awesome article, thank you so much for writing it! I have two mantras that I try to live by:
1) “Shit happens, but that doesn’t mean I have to stand in it”
2) “Let go of the belief that the past could have been any different”
These two mantras have helped me let go of the old and embrace the new, and all the while being resilient to the situations that occur in my life on a daily basis.
I hope they help others, as well.
jennifer blanchard´s last blog ..Believe in Yourself and the Writing Will Come
Meditation truly allows one mind to think clear, sharper and better. Putting aside only 20 minutes a day on meditation can increase your energy level enormously. Positive thinking can also increase your productivity level and energy level. Its allow the mind to see things as half full instead of half empty. With positive thinking one benefits from higher self confidence, self assurance, high self esteem, higher energy, improved thinking and increased happiness.
Significant improvement are made as one begins to focus on the positive instead of the negative. So here is a tip fellow personal development students.
Keep that mind of yours focused on the end result which should be positive. Give more than you take and allow your self to appreciate the miracle we call life.
“Tomorrow is made for those who think about what they could of done today”
jonathanfigaro´s last blog ..How to Reduce Stress In 5 Simple Steps
Steve, excellent work! I liked the analogy.
“Developing thinking skills” – This is something that is often ignored in our modern distracted world.
Stephen – Rat Race Trap´s last blog ..The Best Ways to Not Sweat the Small Stuff – Part II
thank you very much for putting this article up.
Steve,
Another excellent post. I notice you are a drug and alcohol counselor, so you have a sound background in therapy. You can really tell in your posts. Im curious which therapeutic orientations you most relate to? I ask your orientation because Im curious about the techniques you would recommend for each of the steps you talk about in the post. I could see mindfulness based techniques, NLP, CBT and hypnotherapy working for some of these. What do you think?
Chris Akins´s last blog ..7 secrets of self-motivation
As a single mom working with technology and media in my career I know how important it is to work with a defragged computer that’s updated and how important it is that my mind be debugged and fully charged so I can get all the demands placed on my life completed in a day’s time.
I appreciate these thoughts, the 40 minutes of meditation, knowing my operating system, the me-time… all interesting analogies here.
Katherine SOLO dot MOM´s last blog ..Wonderment of this Relationship
“more clearer”?
Yes i like the post but our brain is not like a computer at all. It is because we have the emotion in us to handle. For example, past memories cannot be easily forgotten just by debuggin. It needs time and a compatible substitute. It is not easy to be human.
Gazzali´s last blog ..Creative Discussion
Great analogy. The human brain is a computer, after all. I think the key to all of this is definitely #1: Know Your Operating System. It seems like many people don’t ever take the time out to understand how their own brain works, or why they believe and think the things they do. You’ve got to have that understanding, or everything else on the list will be very difficult to achieve, if not impossible.
Steven I loved this article. It spoke to the tech geek in me and the self-help lover. I think that one of the hardest “debugging” elements in my life was what you called deleting user permissions. Letting go is something that rouses feelings of guilt and/or fear in most people, even when it’s clear that a goodbye is necessary. There may be hurt feelings or even a time of mourning the absence of those who must be kicked out of your world, but it is worth it in the end.
All 9 of your tips were extremely good. As always, I love your writing style. Thanks for the post.
Nea | Self Improvement Saga´s last blog ..Why You Shouldn’t Keep It Real: A Lesson on Unrealistic Living
A technician is a man who understands everything about his job except its ultimate purpose and its place in the order of the universe.
– Sir Richard Livingston
Bravo – Great analogy to get we enlightened geekiuses back on terra ferma!
Love the analogies. Can the computer be a Mac?
!
How about sharing our mind? Sometimes it helps with the debugging process to share with a trusted friend or partner the inner troubles of our mind. And the analogy to computers I suppose would be to shut down everything, email the note to a friend or open a chat session with them. Cliche and passe, perhaps, but sharing does wonders for the de-cluttering and clarity, methinks!
Thanks for sharing this post Steve.
I think it is very timely. It is an area that I am currently learning about, how and why the mind gets cluttered and how to overcome it. Your suggestions and analogies here have definitely helped identify some solutions to this. Thanks for the insightful post, your blog is a breath of fresh air.
I love the computer analogies, I can completely related.
It’s very important to always upgrade your mindset while retiring the legacy portions of your mind. We’re constantly changing every few years; we love things now which we’ll hate later.
As long as we understand this process and progress toward the future, we’ll always live a happy life.
Murlu´s last blog ..A Crash Course On Holding Your First Blog Contest
I think spending less time on the computer and tv, and more time with people interaction might go a long way in debugging our minds.
Colleen´s last blog ..West Pasco Washington Columbia River Postcard Day
Good analogy. We actually function like a computer. keep up the good work. you have really inspired me
hesbon kerongo´s last blog ..Jun 29- Successful life guide
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