030 | How Much Of Your Mind Is Your Own? w/ James Mayer

Hello, good people, and welcome back to Life is Sound. With me, your host, James Mayer. Today we're going to be talking about how much of your mind is your own. Now, if you think about the times that we're in, as we all know, we're getting information overload left, right, centre every day. Now, we've got access to vast amounts of information in the palm of our hands. Sometimes this information is coming out of so quick. One day we're told our belief system should be this, the next day we're told it should be this. And our mindsets are being pushed and pulled from pillar to post on a daily basis. Now, sometimes this can feel quite difficult to deal with. And one thing I've become really aware of over the years is the power of asking questions. Asking questions is something that we do from childhood. Children are naturally inquisitive, so they'll ask questions and if they feel like you haven't made sense or you might not be telling the truth, they'll take a moment, they'll calculate and they'll ask that question again. They'll build on the question until something makes sense and that information sits with them. It becomes part of them. The more they repeatedly learn these answers, it programmes them and how they process information in the world. And I feel we stop doing that as we reach adulthood. Because when certain things happen, and the past few years has been a great example of this, sometimes it becomes uncomfortable to ask questions because you might start to seem like the OD one out or it might not be comfortable for the person hearing you ask questions on questions on questions. But this is actually the safest way for us to learn. That's what we used to do as children and that's what we can continue to do as adults in the real world. As an adult, sometimes it can be uncomfortable to ask questions. At the same time, it's the most wisest thing to do. So when I'm asking the question, how much of your mind is your own? What I'm asking is essentially is how much are you being influenced? How much are you being told what to believe? How much are you being told who to like, how to dress, what to eat, where to go, what to believe? We've been going through life events and we've seen information being restricted. We're being told not to believe this, to believe that that person has been cancelled, this person is not someone to listen to. And it's made me want to ask the question to you guys, how much of your mind is your own? Because the power of subtle influence is exactly that. Very powerful. Now, the greatest example, and the most simplest example of this is McDonald's. Now, for a lot of people in my generation, maybe a bit older and certainly younger, McDonald's as a kid was a treat. So you developed this relationship with the brand that when you went to McDonald's, it was exciting. You got your Happy Meal with your Happy Meal, you got your toy. This was a great market employee that McDonald's implemented, knowing that they're most likely going to be designing customers for life. You are giving children toys with food. That creates an emotional connection that when we go to get McDonald's, we also get toys. Toys make us happy. The food is called Happy Meals. The language and the symbolism of it all working together now creates a programme that operates for the rest of our lives, especially when we're not aware of it. So in adulthood, if you think back to McDonald's adverts over the years, you see the golden arches. There might be a truck driver on a long, difficult shift and he's tired and he sees the golden arches and he's like, respite, I deserve a break. I deserve a treat. So when you see that sign, the symbolism mixed with the emotion that has been programmed throughout your childhood, you deserve a treat that makes you happy. When you have McDonald's, you know what you're getting. It's familiar, that is really subtle but powerful influence. And that's just a small example of how we can be manipulated, how your mind and belief systems can be shaped via language and symbols so easily. So if a brand can do that via marketing, which many brands do and have practised since the dawn of salesmanship and marketing, then imagine what other people might be able to do to you and your mind when they shape information and words in the correct way. Now, the role of social media is heightening this type of mechanism where our minds now can be shaped in a new way a lot quicker. Years ago, think about World War II propaganda that was dropping leaflets via planes into towns. Here's the information for you to believe. That was like old methods. Now it's really direct information one day to the next. Belief systems can change. And the dangers of social media is we can create echo chambers where our belief systems are reinforced by videos and images and other people on social media that we actually start to get a false representation of how things potentially might actually be. And the past three years has been a great observation experiment to see people's behaviours about how they've been shaped by information and the disconnect between people and how divided people are. The information that's been thrown to us has left us all in a place where we have extreme beliefs, beliefs over here. And then we've got people in the middle that just don't know what to believe. Now, if you think about that, it's really easy to manipulate people when they don't know what to believe. We are getting information overload. Some of it's useless, some of it is useful. But what that can do when it comes time to be thinking critically is create overwhelm because you don't know what to believe. When information is coming from one place and then you've got opposing information coming from another and you've got a set of friends here giving you certain belief systems, family members here giving you belief systems and it can overwhelm us. We are in a time of overwhelm and it can stop us from thinking critically, which means then we just go with the flow of what's easiest and most likely that's just to follow the belief systems of everyone else. And that's where the importance of asking questions comes back in reconnecting with that childlike state of well, how do you know that? Why is it like that? Well, what's the reason it does that? What do you mean it does this? Children are great at this, they are the masters of it and we lose it as we enter adulthood because at some point somebody says stop asking questions now you're annoying. And as we learn, it becomes uncomfortable to ask questions. We move with that behaviour more as we go through life and we just stay a bit more quiet. But what if we all develop the confidence to ask more questions as adults in times where we need to think critically? It's the wisest thing to do. And this is the importance of language and spelling. Now, I've said this many times on the podcast before. If you think about these words, spelling, what's the reason it's called spelling? Casting spells. Words are powerful, words are magic. If we use words in the right way, we can transform things, we can manipulate reality, we can change people's mindsets. This is magic. So then if we go one further from that and we look at things like the television, which is something that we've received information from for a long time, when the television was invented and it was started to be released to the masses, people were saying that is a tool to control minds. Those people were probably like seen as crazy people. And technology does evolve, it moves on. But if you think about it, television has been something that has shaped minds for decades and decades. Now, you may have seen things where people break down the word of television tell lie, vision. You can tell lies through vision. And if you think about the wording around the television, you have programmes, you have channels. So if you think about if you're channelling information on repeat, we know that information repeated creates new programmes which affects our subconscious. So programmes are something that run in our subconscious system, then that directs our conscious existence. So the greatest and simplest example of that is learning to drive. We consciously learn to drive until it becomes part of the subconscious. So when we get inside the car, we don't really think about driving, it's just something we do and that's how simple it is to programme the subconscious, the mind, the subconscious mind which drives us. It's really simple when you think about it. So we have to ask ourselves the questions, what is the reason these words are called these things around things like television, programming channels, programme guide. If you don't like the programme, change the channel, the thing you're going to receive. You're channelling information which is programming your subconscious, which is affecting how you perceive reality, it's shaping your mind. How much of your mind is your own? We have to start asking these questions in these times because the times are getting crazy. So when we think about something like mainstream media and the information they present to us, let's think about how that can affect us on a vibrational level. Now, we all know that news that we receive on whatever media type, whatever platform, is usually around 95% negative. Now, imagine two outcomes. Johnny wakes up in the morning, rolls out of bed, has a drink, turns on the TV, listens to the news for 30 minutes. Or another scenario, johnny wakes up in the morning, has a drink, goes straight out the door for a 30 minutes walk. Now, just based on those 30 minutes, who do you think has had a more positive start to the day? Now, imagine the first. Johnny was just watching the news all day, just consuming news all day, death after death, tragedy after tragedy, the world is on fire. All these doom and gloom information that starts to make you a bit fearful in the world as you're consuming this information on a regular basis, which starts to programme your mind and the way you perceive the world to be. Or Johnny, who has started his day with a 30 minutes walk. Off the back of that, he started to write his ideas and goals down, he's listening to a positive podcast or he's reading a book which has helped shift his mindset to create more ideas and get out into the world and start to thrive, which to you seems like the better existence. Now, we all know the saying you are what you eat, your diet is important. And it's the same when it comes to things like the internet, social media, what you consume, music, television, films, whatever you're consuming is shaping your mind. It has the ability to change your existence. If we think about consuming things like news on a daily basis, a lot of it being negative, that can start to programme the mind and keep us in a low vibrational state of fear. Now, when we are in a fearful state, we are easily manipulated, uncontrolled, we make irrational decisions, we tend not to think as logical as we could be doing. A fearful state is an easy manipulated state. So this is the reason why people who are in abusive relationships often stay in those relationships because of fear. The person's in fear, which means they are easily controlled and manipulated, so they stay in the situation that they don't really want to be in. But the fear clouds their judgement from seeing any way out. So how much of your mind is your own? Are you choosing to consume the information that is keeping you in a low vibrational state, in the fear state? Because the high vibrational state, choosing to receive information that is going to help our mindsets grow, output amazing things into the world, create great connections with people, grow great communities, think of new ideas, flourish, and just be a happier version or the best version of yourself. That is a great state to be in. This is high vibration. When you're in that state, do you think you're going to have any time to sit and watch the news? I very rarely spend time watching the news, and when I do, I do it purely from an observational point of view because I want to be here, operating in a high vibrational state, flourishing, thriving in the world, making the right choices. We have the choice to choose whether we want to receive information that's going to put us in a low vibrational state or help us reach a high vibrational state to complete different existences. And whether we're receiving information from TV, radio, online, social media, I've noticed that we're constantly being told, especially now, who to like and who not to like, who not to like, being a big one of them. There's numerous examples I've spotted of this over the years. Now. Years ago, I listened to Jordan Peterson. He was someone who really helped change my mind at a certain point of life, really helped shape my ideas and the way I perceived language and thought. And we reached a point where he started to talk about the dangers of language and how if we restrict the use of language, we will eventually arrive at the place of restricting thought. And I remember just by asking the questions and presenting the information, people started to defamate his character and really tried to cancel him because he was speaking truth. And we're seeing this with other people now. The most recent one is Russell Brand. We're seeing allegations about X, Y and Z. And he's also addressed on his channel Know. He's someone who's speaking about truth. He's challenging the stereotypes and the agendas of mainstream media and the systems that govern the world in many industries. And he's someone who I believe to have been speaking truth. And when you speak that truth and you challenge the systems, eventually the systems are going to try and bite back and silence the thing that is just a bit of a pain in the ass. And I'm seeing the people who seem to be speaking the truth are the same people who seem to be getting silenced, that are causing difficulty, that are reshaping minds, helping people arrive at new belief systems in troubled times. Because life is as simple as this. This is something I live by. When the world outside is chaos, go within, grow a deeper understanding of self. So no matter if the whole world was telling you who you are, you know who you are. You know what you believe in. You know what is good, what is bad, what is right, what is wrong. You know what your belief systems are. The wisest thing to do is spend some time with you. Ask yourself your own questions. How much of your mind is your own? So through platforms telling us who to like, who we shouldn't like, what then that creates is peer pressure, because a lot of people and a great example, if you look at someone like Andrew Tate, a recent figure who's popped up, grown a huge following, everyone seemed to know his name overnight. Everyone's talking about him. Now, these people that can, like myself, neutrally, sit and listen to some content or information and go, that makes sense, that makes sense. Not sure on that, but I like that idea. Not too sure on this idea, but what most people do is quickly make a calculation of information they've received in very short form from peers, social media, mainstream media, and they're told who to like. That's a bad guy, that's a bad woman. You don't like these people. Now imagine if we started to ask more questions, and we all started to think a bit more critical. Then if we all started to do that as a collective, imagine the shift we would experience on this planet. So the way to do that in your own world is ask more questions. If you see some information presented to you, avoid just taking it as gospel. Okay, I received that. I believe it. Thank you. Okay, I understand that. I'm going to process it. Now, let me look for the opposite. How do I know this to be true? Who's presenting this information to me? Could somebody benefit from presenting this information to me in that way? At this current time, is there any other information I can find out about this to get a wider, broader spectrum of information for me to make an informed decision? Now, ways we can reclaim our autonomy for when it comes to critical thinking is really simple things like meditation, getting to know yourself, spending time in nature alone, disconnecting from the information overload, and spending time with you, getting a stronger sense of self in the world. Now, if we could all get to know ourselves on a level that when information is presented to us, we have this inner knowing, this intuition, this gift that we all have the ability to enhance and grow. Just like when you go to the gym, we all have the ability to get stronger, fitter, faster. Now there's a real importance for this, and I'm going to cover this in another episode because I think we're all becoming aware of things like AI and how rapidly this is going to reshape our world and society. Now, I've seen this theory being explained, but I've got a theory expanding on that that I've not seen anyone talk about yet. Now, we know that soon we're not going to be able to trust our eyes and our ears when it comes to anything online. Things are going to be visually easily replicated and auditorily easily replicated. So we're going to get to the point that we don't know or won't be able to distinguish between real and not real. And what that's going to do? It's going to create more information overload. People are not going to know what to believe because there'll be a fine line between being able to spot the realness and the generated, the AI generated, and we won't be able to see the difference. Now, my generation has grown up with CGI films and movies, and even though parents, grandparents might go, whoa, that looks real wiggle. No, that's computer generated. Our minds, our brains can see it, we can see it's not quite real. That's going to get to a point where we just can't distinguish between it. Now, my theory based on that is I think beautifully that could create a renaissance of people having to connect in real life where they can touch the person and say, you're real. This is a real conversation, this is a real exchange of genuine information in real time, a real experience. And I think that's where we could be pushed as humanity, as we're not for the first time in our existence, going to be able to trust what we are seeing and hearing. We are not going to be able to trust our own minds via our senses. I think we're going to create a renaissance period where we need people right next to us, in front of us, real life, human connection and conversation so that we can make the best decisions in our worlds and realities. So living in the world as you at this current time, how much of your mind is your own? How much of your mind is being influenced from outside sources? And what can you do to reduce that influence if the influence may be a negative one? So I want to say thank you for listening to this episode of Life is Sound. Checking back in if you could like and subscribe. It really helps this channel grow in a way we can reach more people. The more people we reach, the more people we can help become the best versions of themselves. There's a free download in the description for a free Wheel of Life. The Wheel of Life is a tool that can help you figure out what areas of life you may need more balancing. And it's something I have used in the past and something I'm currently using to make sure all my areas in life are working at the most optimal to give me the best desired outcome. So I want to say a big thank you again for listening. No matter what you're going through, remember, life is good. Life is sound. See you on the next one. Stay blessed. Bye.