Transforming Dead-End Thinking

Description

Dead-End thinking puts us into our reactive mind, closing off possibilities. If we can transform our mindset , we can respond to situations with creativity and open new doors. This video shows how!

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Tags: Kenton Whitman,ReWild University,Human Rewilding,personal rewilding,mindfulness,how to,bushcraft,survival,wilderness survival skills,how to survive in the woods

Video Transcription

all right you might be wondering what dead-end thinking is this is probably something that you know almost all of us have engaged in this before and dead-end thinking is the type of thinking and breed of thinking that really doesn't do us any service whatsoever and often we encounter this type of thinking when we ask can I do something can I I'll use a survival situation can I make it through the night rather than asking how can I make it through the night and in this video I'd like to talk about some examples of dead-end thinking how to transform it to a more creative way of thinking you'll notice that first question

can I make it through the night that the way that question is structured in our mind it allows for failure it's asking will I be able to do it the second question how am I going to get through this night you already assume success the only question is how that success is going to come about a survival situation gives us you know really actually being out in the woods at all or in any kind of natural situation gives us ample opportunities to explore this type of thinking because nature of loves to give us all sorts of situations where we can easily get into dead-end thinking let's imagine you're out you're hiking through the woods and it's been pouring all day long you're drenched you're shivering you're cold you're miserable and the sun is setting there's that first question right like how how am I going to make it through the night notice I've used that word I've done this purposely that how word that I've said is the good one but can you hear it in my tone of voice I've already said it in a way that assumes that failure is an option right how am I going to make it through this night not how am I going to make it through this night so how am I going to make it through this night or can I get through this night without being like frozen and drenched my mind is saying there's no way it's looking at the situation as it is it's seeing myself drenched and wet and cold and it's making a lot of assumptions and telling a lot of stories based on what it's presently singing instead of thinking what is possible the other way I can look at this situation is saying how can I make it to morning and ensure that i am both warm and dry now when I do that I've accessed a different part of my mind the same thing happens when we get lost that's a big fear for a lot of people when they go out into nature and we can feel like how how am I ever going to get out of here you know am I am I doomed my lost forever aww I can say how can I shift the situation so that I am found as soon as possible so in both these examples you'll see that the dead end thinking the thinking that leaves the possibility of failure open that type of thinking it it engages our storytelling line

that's the part of our mind that loves to go and tell all kinds of stories usually negative stories about what's going to happen and it's really good at this as soon as our storytelling mine starts getting engaged it's going to run with the ball and it's going to take over our thinking and so my storytelling mine when I'm lost start saying every tree looks the same there's I can't hear any sounds of roads or anything anymore nobody knows where I am this is horrible i'm lost and because it's using notice it's using so much energy for the storytelling it tends not to notice really basic things like oh okay i can i can see that by the Sun setting I can tell what direction it is now remember on the map that if I just go north I'm going to hit that highway so all I have to do is face myself north and keep tracking my direction wait though the North Star comes out and then stay on target it might be that simple because the author part of our mind the non storytelling part of our mind part of our mind that's engaged when we asked how am I going to do this that part of our mind is the creative part of our mind it's a part of our mind that looks at what resources we have those resources might be physical resources outside of us Lance that we could use for shelter or food places where we might be able to see or hear what direction would lead us back out of getting lost

it's also our physical body resources and our mental and our emotional resources it says it looks all those motions there are all those resources and it says how can I creatively combine those resources no way that's going to solve this problem it already has assumed that the problem is going to be solved because ninety-nine point nine percent of the time we can do it right it's just we have to figure out how and often if we're not lost in our storytelling mine will find that we actually have more resources available then we formerly believed this is something that comes up for a lot of us in our normal everyday lives as well so if you have a child or spouse or friends which I hope most of us do those people in your life they're sometimes going to engage our storytelling mind sometimes they do it a lot so as a father when my child is performing an action that I don't feel is right or appropriate my storytelling mine it has the option to kick into gear and it might look at that that this action that's being performed my kids don't have homework we're going to be all the schooling but but let's use the example of Homer a child who is just the consistently not doing our homework and the teachers are getting mad at them and as a parent it's easy to look at that situation and to get frustrated child and get frustrated with ourselves and we get frustrated with the child we can start to box them and say what is wrong with them are they do they have some kind of disorder why can't they pay attention we want to start to label them and as we start to box them that's when we start to close off possibilities I do with myself to when I'm looking at that child and I start to get frustrated then I can start to I can start to get frustrated with myself for being frustrated right and I can say what's wrong with me why am I such a frustrated individual I like my emotions just run all over me I'm such a loser and as I start to label myself like that again I'm closing off possibilities I'm allowing myself to start telling stories about myself I am a loser I can't control my emotions I just I'm a frustrated individual what if instead and look at that child or look at myself and I say how could I respond differently to these stimuli so with the child there's some reason that they're not doing their homework how can I creatively figure out what that is and help this child to start loving the process of learning what is the recipe because there's the recipe then I just have to be creative and figure it out if I'm getting frustrated at my child because they're not performing is I think they should at school same thing I can engage in that I am a frustrated individual mind dead-end thinking or I can say how could I respond differently to this situation and when I asked myself that I engage that creative part of my mind it's going to look at the resources that i have and creatively combine them the trick to shifting ourselves out of dead-end thinking is it's deceptively simple and all it takes is that we start to try to become aware of dead-end thinking it's good to have a label for it and to notice it dead end thinking it labels things it tells a lot of negative stories sets up that possibility i'm usually not just a possibility that a probability or assumption on failure recognizing that dead-end developing an awareness of it when we begin this like with many other mental emotional practices we're not going to catch ourselves until we're ten miles down that road of being in two different that's a funny little thing right ten miles down the dead end road but but there it is way down that thought process that's okay doesn't matter when we become aware that we're caught in dead-end thinking the thing is that every time we notice it that we stop and we ask that question how can I respond differently how can i combine the resources I have how can I creatively encounter and respond to this situation and every time we do that we start to retrain our minds and so 10 miles down the road we catch it today nine and a half miles down the road we catch it tomorrow and it keeps backing up and backing up and when we consistently do this practice then eventually we start to recognize dead-end thinking because dead end thinking has a very apparent feeling mental feeling to it we recognize it as soon as it starts to go in us and we stop right there because we know you know what dead-end thinking it gives me know where doesn't help anybody around me it doesn't help me it's it's pretty useless we stop there can we switch make the switch and we say how how can I shift the situation how can I transform this situation how can I utilize my resources in a very creative manner assume success and just ask yourself how am I going to get there that's the trip awareness and then flip flop the question transform the thinking process do it every time that you catch yourself in dead-end thinking no punishment doesn't matter you catch a 10 miles down the road no problem that's awesome you got it and then just keep slowly backing it up you know what if you're at five miles and then next week you catch it at 10 miles no problem every time you catch it you're making slow progress to transforming the way that your mind sees the world interpret situations and starts to respond to situations instead of react the situations

if you have explored this before in your life or you decide to take it on and start trying it share with me share with all of us in the comments your experiences your wisdom your thoughts as always thank you so much talk with you soon