Train the mind to be in the moment. Listen to how you project life onto others. Here’s the first step necessary for a calmer mind.

Generally, we live life outside of ourselves. It’s an automatic reaction to place life experiences out there. In conversing with others, you can see this more profoundly.  Here’s an example, you, the reader, are sharing experienced with a friend, and instead of using the word “I,” as in I am having a great time, you use the term “you” instead.

We aren’t aware of how we speak and project personal experiences outside of ourselves each time we talk. We speak about ourselves as though we are someone else having the experience. It’s as if, we want to give another person our personal experiences.

Three Pronouns

• First-person pronouns usually refer to the speaker in the case of the singular (as the English I), or the speaker and others in the case of the plural (as the English we).
• Second-person pronouns commonly refer to the person or persons addressed (as the English you); in the plural, they may also refer to the person or persons being addressed together with third parties.
• Third-person pronouns regularly refer to third parties other than the speaker or the person addressed (like the English he, she, it, they).

For example, a person says, “You know when you go to church, you can smell incense?” What they are saying is, “When I go to church, I smell incense.” It gets confusing who is having the experience: you or others.

Living a mindful life means everything begins with you. It means you live in the present moment and take complete responsibility for your words and feelings.

Projection

How much do you project your experiences onto others? In the next conversation, listen carefully to what is said. Are you projecting your life onto someone else? Then turn the pronouns around.

Have fun living your life.