Context

This exercise is one of the easiest ways to start building your awareness.

Essentially, it involves slowing down your mind so that you can open yourself to the opportunity of being aware.

One of the most common ways we weaken our ability to be aware is by losing control over our thoughts.

And the reason why we lose control over our thoughts is because they can be almost impossible to track when they’re zooming around in our head at a million miles per hour.

In other words, because we’re overthinking.

In most cases we don’t even realise we’re overthinking, because we’re so consumed by our thoughts that we don’t even allow ourselves the opportunity to realise what’s going on.

Which over time can form into an instinctual reaction towards dealing with our negative feelings and emotions.

Certainly, for most people, porn addiction is merely a subconscious response.

And this exercise is designed to help break that cycle.

Rather than attempt to identify and qualify these thoughts, what we’re going to do is simply going to focus on the raw process and sensation of thinking.

And in doing so, embrace the physical sensation of what it actually feels like to be in control of our minds, in order to create a strong foundation for being able to control what we think and feel.

Because when we're in control of our mind, it's almost as if everything is moving in slow motion.

The key thing to understand about maintaining control over our minds is that isn’t necessarily about being able to react to what’s in front of us.

Instead, a large part of maintaining control is about being able to prepare ourselves mentally for the events that will take place in the future.

The idea being that we can then catch ourselves before we begin overthinking, and identify these patterns before they become unmanagable.

Because when our mind is racing at a million miles per hour, it can become incredibly difficult, if not impossible to slow it down.

Which is why people inevitably relapse.

Because at that point, you’ve already lost control.

By practicing Slow it down you will learn how to slow down your mind on a regular basis.

In order to demonstrate control, and create those neural connections in your brain.

In addition, it will help you understand how to become a more calm and collected person, exposing in the process the futility and self-destructiveness of letting our thoughts control us.

Instructions

When you have a moment, just slow down your mind.

This tends to work best when you’re in the middle of doing something, because that’s usually when your mind is engaged and requires relaxation.

Keep in mind that there are two different aspects to this exercise: Mental and physical.

For example, when I’m walking down the street, aside from slowing down my thoughts, I will also sometimes physically slow down, even stopping where I stand.

The idea is to prove control over yourself, even when you have other intentions, such as getting to a destination on time.

An idea that will prove very important in following exercises.