Get Into Your Head, Get Out Of Your Head

You can see it happen on either end of the continuum. And it happens all the way from white collar to blue collar, from elite athlete to couch potato, and all points in between.

Some people need to get out of their heads. And some people need to get into their heads.

I know plenty of people that are constantly existing within their own heads. They are mulling things over, pondering, obsessing about issues that are really non-issues and weighing the ramifications of the results of pondering those same issues that seem to be weighing heavily on … well, I think you get the idea. Paralysis of analysis prevents action and forward motion from taking place. Instead of just “doing”, there is drama. And lots of it.

Then there are the people who really do need to get into their own heads.

They need to stop and take a moment to reflect on their present, and their past, so their future doesn’t become a self-fulfilling prophecy. When you don’t understand what makes you tick, it is easy enough to simply ignore reality. There will always be a reason to not find a solution. Their lives are chock full of excuses – or potential excuses. Hey, if you stick your head in the sand, everything will go away, won’t it?

Natalie Merchant said it nicely in her song “Carnival” -

Have I been blind / Have I been lost / Inside myself and my own mind / Hypnotized / Mesmerized / By what my eyes have seen?

Have I been wrong / Have I been wise / To shut my eyes and play along / Hypnotized / Paralyzed / By what my eyes have found / By what my eyes have seen / What they have seen?

We can make our lives worse – or better – simply by the function of our minds. As Boris Pasternak noted with the words of Yurii in Doctor Zhivago (1965),

"Your health is bound to be affected if, day after day, you say the opposite of what you feel, if you grovel before what you dislike... Our nervous system isn't just fiction, it's part of our physical body, and it can't be forever violated with impunity."

I would say that Pasternak had an understanding of the central nervous system and it’s effect on self image and physical health long before “mind-body medicine” became avante garde.

I think Newton also had an insightful comprehension of life (and physics) when he noted in his First Law Of Motion:

Every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it.

Life will stay as it is unless compelled to change. But with that said, something has to take place for change to occur. Whether it is getting into our heads, or getting out of our heads, change involves a choice. Oh yes. Choice. That is the answer right there. Make a choice. Pursue a path. Learn. Grow. Do it now.

Photo credits: woodleywonderworks