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Writer's pictureReiner Kraft, PhD

Fundamental Knowledge for Upgrading your Mind

Updated: May 5, 2020



If you want to really grow as a leader to achieve mastery, 90% of that growth will happen by upgrading your mind set. It requires a focused effort of systematically training your mind to raise two important capabilities:

  1. Increasing your Self-Reflection and Self-Awareness

  2. Raising your emotional intelligence (EQ)


Over the years I have learned through extensive study of the literature and research on the topics of mindfulness and spirituality the following basic laws and rules that can be helpful with your consciousness growth and the process of upgrading your mind. Once you get started digging into relevant books and literature, you will quickly realize there is a plethora of information with countless ideas, sometimes overlapping concepts, or the usage of different wording, referring to the same ideas. It's a mess. For me, useful knowledge has to be crisp, clear, and simple in its essence.


I am primarily interested in knowledge to support my personal and consciousness growth. My attempt is to locate such helpful knowledge, distill and organize it to make it accessible to a broader audience. Through my own experience I have tested and validated this knowledge for myself. I encourage you to examine this knowledge with a critical and skeptical mind. You may have questions about some concepts. Be open to new ideas. Not everything seems reasonable at first glance. Let it sink into your mind and watch your mind do the work.


1. You have no control over your Surroundings, other People, your Body or your Mind

You often think you have control over many things in life. However, control is an illusion. You can't even control what you think. A simple experiment confirms this. Try not to think for a minute. Nevertheless, thoughts still arise.


Why? You also cannot control your body. You can only take good care of it with proper nutrition, sleep, and exercise. But you have no control over what exactly happens within it. There is a higher intelligence inside of you doing the work to keep you alive, which you do not need to fully understand. No matter what happens in your environment, objects, people, you can not control any of it. Try it and prove me wrong. What you can (partially) control are your own intentions and actions.


2. Nothing is permanent except Consciousness

Consciousness is immutable - always. Everything else, your body, mind, and the world around you is subject to constant change. Imagine: You are a child. Look at your body. Then quickly move forward in time. Your perception of yourself is unchanged. However, your body is subject to aging and therefore changes over time. Along with everything else that happens around it.


3. Your Life always takes Place in the Now

Everything you perceive always happens in the (everlasting) now. If you are concerned with happenings of the past, you will review them now. Your thoughts about the future only exist in your mind. And you will review them now.


4. Your Mind (or Ego) is there so that you can experience your Life with the help of Consciousness

Be glad that you have an ego.


This allows you to have experiences that you can subsequently perceive with your consciousness. Not much would otherwise happen without an ego. It is the object of your perception. When we train the mind, it becomes gradually calmer and lighter. But it will never go away completely, and it doesn't need to either. Ideas about getting rid of the ego, or the “death of the ego” therefore do not make much sense. If you believe them, they may cause you simply more stress.


5. If you do each of your Activities with Patience and a calm Mind, you will Maximize your Impact in this World

The two components of "patience" and a "calm mind" are a powerful combination. This creates a certain quality that flows into all of your work. We cultivate both components with the training and application of mindfulness.


6. Realize the Unlimited Nature of your Consciousness

One example being “Creativity.” If you tell someone to paint a picture of a sunrise, you will get a unique result. Even with more than 7 billion people, each drawing will be unique.



7. Never worry about the Result or Outcome


When working on your consciousness growth to upgrade your mind, don't worry about the outcome or results. You cannot control the result. So it makes no sense to think about it or worry. My advice:

What happens, that happens. Just do your best.


I expect the list of fundamental knowledge to grow over time.


Other ideas or knowledge that you find helpful?


Looking forward to your comments below!



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