The Mind of Alex Mason

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The Mind of Alex Mason

Alex Mason’s mind is, honestly, a messed up place to live.  The man was captured, tortured, brainwashed to kill his own president, and set free again.  Soldiers dealing with PTSD have it hard enough, without numbers triggers in their head, or hallucinations of their dead friend still being alive and fighting with them.  It’s difficult to draw parallels to these extremes of mental manipulation, but we’re going to give it a shot.

Your Head is Your Own Place

Alex Mason lost this luxury, this last bastion of his own privacy.  Someone got inside his head, took it apart, and put it back together as they saw fit.  You, fortunately, most likely haven’t had to endure this in your life.   Or haven’t you?  Believe it or not, people are telling you how to think every.  Single.  Day. 

Don’t believe me?  What do you call “advertising?”  Sure, some advertising is as innocent as getting a product known to the public, but companies spend billions of dollars every year paying people to tell you how to think, what to choose, and what you want to eat, drink, drive, live in, and exist around.  They are literally seeking to control your life, forcing you to buy things you wouldn’t normally buy by appealing to psychological triggers you don’t even know exist.  Sounds kind of similar to a form of brainwashing, doesn’t it?

Don’t think advertisers are the only ones doing it, either.  I don’t mean to demonize the marketing industry, here, there’s plenty of other people telling you how to think.  Your friends, for one.  Now, I’m not saying having friends is a bad thing, or that social influence is a bad thing either.  We all adjust our habits and behaviors depending upon who we surround ourselves with.  But, you still get to decide who you surround yourself with.

So what’s a person to do in all this stimulation and influence?  Well, for one, you should take a little time for yourself.  We talked before about meditation, and I want to state, again, that spending fifteen to twenty minutes meditating once or twice a day can do WONDERS for you as a person, and improve your quality of life in almost imperceptible ways.  Meditating in a quiet spot can give you separation from the assault on your senses by marketing, and some time away from other people to spend with yourself.

During these quiet moments, you should ask yourself what it is you really want, where you think you should be going.  Sometimes this is an easy thing to forget amongst the noise and clutter of every day life.  You deserve to have a plan, goals, and an ideal of life that you are shooting for.  If you find your friends pulling you away from these goals, and you know these goals are what you want, then maybe you should start trying to surround yourself with people who have similar goals.  I’m not saying abandon your old friends entirely, but maybe start spending time with people who don’t necessarily keep you from attaining your own wants and needs in life.

Similarly, use this quiet time to ask yourself if you really need to purchase the things you’re purchasing, and do the things you’re doing.  Any time you want to buy something over ten dollars, you should take a few days(even a week), let yourself cool off about it, and ask yourself if you really do need that thing.  Often when we remove ourselves from the moment, we find we don’t actually want or need the product we were about to impulse buy.  You save money, and keep yourself from being controlled by others in one fell swoop.

You Are Your Own Person

Alex Mason spent years resisting and recovering his own personality and privacy.  He fought hard to shake off influences and hallucinations, regaining control of his own mind.  Chances are, you’ve spent your whole life being told what to do and think by people, corporations, and politicians.  It’s going to take some time to shake this off as well.  Think for yourself, be your own person, and live by your own truths, goals, and ambitions.  Not someone else.

That’s all for today.  Sunday is our usual fitness journey update, followed by a double grab bag week.  Monday’s post is going to be a video post, a conversation about nutrition basics.  If you have ANY questions about nutrition, weight loss, or weight gain, feel free to ask them on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, or via email(all links are at the top, email is on the “About” page).  You can remain anonymous if you like.  I’m looking forward to doing this video, I hope you enjoy it as well.  I’ll see you all again on Sunday, until then, remember to live boldly, change the world, and continue to be awesome.

Dan “DaRatmastah” Wallace