The act of a mental state shift isn’t quite what I’ve previously thought. I’ve always thought of my mental state as a vertical or horizontal movement depending on the type of outcome you were trying to achieve. I’d imagine it like moving a block or two (three if you’re brave) in a jeopardy grid in my mind depending on what you needed to do. Shifting through my mental state, I’d go through an array or a table of blocks with a big ‘YOU ARE HERE’ cursor. If strategic, I’d move vertically upwards. In my mind, this is why they call it ‘high level’ speak. If different than the current train of thought, move horizontally to a different category. If tactical, move vertically in a column downwards to get to the nitty gritty ground floor work that needs to be done.
However, I was close but wrong at the same time. The act of shifting your mental state is not a grid, but something much simpler. Access to information, in my brain, may operate like a grid to retrieve information from an archaic filing cabinet system but that has nothing to do with shifting your state of mind. There is no category for focus that I can move my cursor to in my mind. Instead, I think of it now as narrowing or broadening your view. This makes more sense, as you contract or shrink your view…your vision will change.
As an example, you can think of strategic thinking of broadening your view in a 3D plane to see more. Instead of using my grid system as an example of climbing a tower. That, in it of itself, is a very narrow 2D view from a tower type of perspective. Only when you look down AND around your surroundings can your view truly expand. So again, my initial thought / perception was close but yet so far.
The reality of your mental state is that it is the culmination of your latest reference point of experience. Your day / recent events have the largest influence whereas the past week may have less. You may find yourself still lingering on last week. However, when you broaden your view – does the last week seem that big of an issue? This is how we change our mental state. By narrowly focusing on issues, we become overly fixated on the nuances of that particular problem. Great for focus, but terrible for living your life.
The solution? Think big things and dream even bigger. Adopt a positive mindset to avoid narrowing your views. Drink water. Be happy. Or, find happiness but do not put on blinders.