Mind Traps - Part One

The last two weeks, I wrote about getting on the balcony and being centered. The next few weeks, I’ll be writing about mind traps in complexity. Why? Because being on the balcony and being centered involves understanding where your mind is at.

Being on the balcony means seeing the big picture; being centered involves thoughts, feeling, behaviors, relationships, and change. If one’s mind is trapped, it makes life and leading more difficult. Let’s review the five mind traps as noted by Jennifer Garvey Berger and then a few I’ve noted. I’ll also review potential consequences.

Let’s understand what I mean by complexity. The world is a complex place. Have you ever thrown your hands up in the air and exclaimed, “Why isn’t anything simple?!” Because it isn’t. I can list variables here, but it would only scratch the surface. People, policies, beliefs, values, processes, relationships, expectations, deadlines, culture…. You get the drift. It’s difficult to be rigid in our complex world. That’s where mind traps keep up – rigid.

Trapped by rightness.[i]

As humans, we can confuse feeling right with being right. When we do this, we lose curiosity and openness to data. If we are RIGHT! with a closed mind, we lose the opportunity to learn new information, see someone in a different light, evolve, grow, feel differently about a new or ongoing situation. We can also treat people differently and may not engage with them as in ‘they are trying to tell me something different than what I KNOW to be right.’

Can you see how this mind trap may keep you stagnant? Take a minute or two to really think about this.

As always, how do we begin identifying this is happening and counter the trap? Questions.

Question 1: What do I believe and how may I be wrong? With this question, you begin to expand your options and opportunity for new information. You may be able to welcome others in to offer differing perspectives.

Question 2: How can I listen to learn rather than to win or to fix? You may find you’re learning from unlikely people or events. Imagine for a moment a time when you were arguing with a colleague, or anyone really, to prove you’re right without fully listening to what they were saying. Would the results have been different?

i Meet the Mindtraps, Berger, Jennifer Garvey