Mental Hijacking: Taking Back Control Of Your Life

Learn how to free yourself from a hijacked mind and take back control of your life.

Discover the concept of the hijacked mind and how it limits you from living authentically in this eye-opening video.

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Summary

In this episode, Treveal C.W. Lynch discusses the concept of the hijacked mind and how it relates to not being free to be ourselves. 

He explores the influence of what we think of ourselves, what other people think of us, and what we think other people think of us. 

Treveal shares personal experiences and challenges the idea of conforming to social norms and the pressures of our peers. 

He encourages listeners to be conscious and aware of their own thoughts and to make the choice to break free from the hijacked mind.

Takeaways

The hijacked mind is controlled by the idea of what other people think of us, and it prevents us from being free to be ourselves.

We are often motivated by what we think others think of us, which leads to conforming to social norms and pressures.

Becoming conscious and aware of our own thoughts and beliefs is the first step to breaking free from the hijacked mind.

Choosing to prioritize our own well-being and authenticity over the opinions of others is a powerful act of self-liberation.

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Transcript

Treveal C.W. Lynch (00:01.003)
Hey, hey, hey, you know what it is. You know where you is. Yes. Oh yes. It is that time once again, welcome to the, I am the possible podcast experience. The bonus track. Yes. This is the place where possibilities become perspective. Yes. Guys. Welcome once again.

To the I am the possible universe. Thank you so much for rocking with me in the place to be You know what we say there are always so many amazing things for us to see first off Guys before we get into anything today. I want to pause for the cause you are that cause you are the reason I do What I do I thank you so much for rocking with me for showing up for for every email for every For every text message for every download for every share for every comment for every like

Thank you for your engagement. Thank you for your questions, most importantly. Thank you, thank you so, so much, guys. As I always say in this place, right, your presence is the greatest present that you can give to me. So thank you, salute to you, and shout out to you. Guys, today, oh my goodness, this is a heavy one. This is a heavy one, guys. I start off with that energy, right, because I want to start off with that energy, right?

And you know, welcome you into the space, welcome you into the place. But I gotta be honest man, this one is one that I'm dealing with. And perhaps you're dealing with it as well. Today I wanna talk about this concept of the hijacked mind. The hijacked mind. I don't know what I'm gonna entitle this one. Or I'm gonna title this one, maybe that's the right word for it. Just give it a title.

I'm playing with the idea of naming this one, how to be free to just be, because that's really the essence of really what I wanna talk about today. And today, I may not do a ton of teaching. Today just might be one of those days where I just wanna encourage you through letting you know that I know how you might be feeling, what you might be going through.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (02:25.803)
because I'm feeling the same way and I'm going through some of the same things. Sometimes the greatest therapy is just knowing that you're not alone. Knowing that someone else understands. Knowing that someone else may be looking through the same lens. Knowing that someone else really gets you. And if you resonate with this, then I just want to let you know how much

I am connected with you, connected to you, how much I'm standing with you, how much I'm praying for you, and how much I'm empathetic, how much I'm engaged with the struggle. As some would say, the struggle is real. So today I wanna talk about the hijacked mind and how it relates to us not being free to simply...

be ourselves. First off, I want to start off with a question. This was a question that I asked my wife the other day. And I want to ask you the question as well. If you're watching on the tube, I would love for you to put the answer down in the comments. If you're listening by audio on a podcast platform, then just answer to yourself.

Which of these, from these three, which one would you say is most influential? Number one, what you think of yourself. Number two, what other people think of you. And number three, what you think other people think.

of you. So I'll say those again. Your first option, what you think about you. Number two, what other people think about you. And number three, what you think other people think about you. Which of those are most influential in your life?

Treveal C.W. Lynch (04:47.275)
which has the greatest influence, the greatest impact? Which of those three motivate you more? Which of those three has the greatest say over what you say and what you do in and through your life? Which one do you think it is?

is number three, is what we think others think about us that motivates the majority, not everything, but it motivates the majority of what we do, the decisions we make, the directions we take in life. Now, in this episode, I'm not gonna break it all down. I don't wanna bore you to death with the psychology of it.

But I do want to invite you to, if you don't believe me or if you're challenged with that, maybe you chose one or two and you're like, nah, I don't think three is right. I'm not here to debate. But I will invite you into a moment of introspection, taking time to pause and to think about the things that you normally do in the various spaces and places that you find yourself.

Maybe it's at church, maybe it's on your job, maybe it's within your family. Think about the most consistent decisions that you make. Think about the most consistent directions that you take. Think about how you behave around that person or that person. Think about how you behave, the things you say, the things you do around the person or the people that you find yourself around.

I'm finding in life that I don't have to prove much of anything to anyone. I even heard it said, it's not our job to force anything or to make you believe anything. If anything, our job in life is to simply be of assistance in removing some of the barriers in your way. And so I'm really subscribing to that idea. I don't have to debate you. I don't have to convince you of anything.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (06:59.851)
If you're a willing participant, my only job is to help move some things out of your way, some of the stumbling blocks and some of the things that might show up and present themselves as barriers to the truth that already is within you. So why do I bring up this question? And why does it and how does it tie into the hijacked mind? Well, see, the hijacked mind is the mind, the thinking, the...

the perception, the perspectives, the narratives, the stories, right? It is the inner workings of a man or woman's mind that is controlled by the idea of what other people think of them and it's been distorted. It's been misled. It's been controlled. It's been tainted. It's been hijacked.

Here, let me give you the definition of hijacked. Hijacked is to steal, to seize, to take over. And this is the most interesting part. A part of the definition of hijacked is once you've stolen it, once you've seized it, right? Once you've taken it over, it's then to be used for a different purpose. Come on now.

In other words, the hijacked mind has been seized. It's been taken over by, it's been stolen. Your thoughts, the things you think, the things you believe, your values, your perceptions, your perspectives on life, yourself, others, God. It's been stolen, it's been seized, and it's being used for a different purpose other than which it was created for.

God, creator, source, divine, perfection, infinite intelligence. It created you and I as an extension of itself, to be an expression of itself for unique purposes in the earth.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (09:24.811)
But the hijacked mind is trying to conform, not to the purposes of its creator, but it's trying to conform, it's trying to appease, it's trying to please, it's trying to align itself with the social norms, the pressures of our peers, so that we might appear.

to fit in, to be a part of, to be united with, to be accepted by.

Let me make this make real sense. Basically, because we're so overly concerned with what other people think, or what we think other people think of us, because we're so overly concerned with that, rather than allowing creator to control what we do and say, or rather being free to be as we are,

saying and thinking and doing as we are divinely inspired to do, rather than doing that, we've been compromised. We are overly committed to and we are overly concerned with pleasing our peers and appearing to align with the social norms and with the culture and with the society in which we find ourselves.

and this creates a conflict. It's one I'm dealing with. How about you? I've been brought into this consciousness of it, this awareness of it, and I don't like it. I don't like it one bit. I don't like the fact that I can feel divinely inspired to be a certain way and to express a certain thing, but then I have this wrestling within me to try and...

Treveal C.W. Lynch (11:31.947)
people please or try to conform to the culture. And I find that as I reflect on this, the culture is winning more often than my creator. I don't like that. And I'm making a change. And maybe you're ready to make a change. And maybe this is the message that you've been waiting for. You know, sometimes when people come across a message, it acts as almost like a permission.

Some people call it a sign, confirmation. However you name and frame it, maybe this is something that you needed to hear so that you can begin to make a change in your life concerning the mind that you operate with.

Let me share this story with you guys. I was recently asked, blessed, afforded an amazing opportunity, and I won't share any specific details. And I wanna put people on blast and I don't wanna get messy. As we say in our culture, I don't wanna be messy. But I was recently asked to speak at a university for a group of individuals.

And as I was speaking, there were two things that were brought to my attention that I found really interesting. I didn't know at the time that I would be sharing these stories as a part of this, but one thing I have learned in life is that you can use all things. Even as God is using all things, working them all to the good, we too, as an extension of God, we're able to, in our own way,

take all things and work them toward the good. Not just our good, but the collective good. See, I'm not the only one benefiting from the story that I'm about to tell you. Because I'm sharing it with you on this podcast episode, you now get to benefit. It is the collective, not just the individual. But I was speaking to this group of individuals and there was a moment where I was sharing with them.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (13:52.363)
how honored I was to be in their presence. And I said, I'm gonna look you in the eye. It was a gentleman. I said, I'm gonna look you in the eye and tell you that I respect you, that I love you, that I honor you. And when I said that, it was the phrase, look you in the eye, that triggered another individual in the room to say, under his breath, but someone overheard them, to say, pause.

It's the new term for basically you saying something that ain't acceptable, whether it's considered, I don't know, homosexual or if it's considered taboo, whatever you, you know, kids nowadays, people nowadays, we just come up with all these slangs and lingoes and different rules, right, for the things that we say and do. But this individual say a pause. What I found interesting was,

That's a social norm now, pause. It came from somewhere. Someone started it, someone said it. They associated it with a certain expression and they gave it meaning and then it passed on from person to person. So now it's in our culture, people say pause. Well, just because people say pause, that don't mean you gotta say pause.

See, the mind has been hijacked. So this young individual wasn't able to hear me speak to another man with love and with passion and not be able to. It just rolls off the tongue. It just comes up, springs up out of you, right? That's why the word of God talks about guarding our hearts, right? For life flows.

effortlessly from it. So this person was like, you know, pause. It just, it just rolls up out of them. They couldn't even help themselves. Why? Because it's been so ingrained. It's been so adopted. It's been so hijacked. That it was automatic. It was on airplane mode or not airplane mode. They call it just, just default, right? Automatic pilot mode, right? Just pilot. It was pause.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (16:23.051)
At another time as I was speaking, I said, oh, you know what? I didn't say anything. I was asking questions. It was some Q &A time. And I put the question out there and I asked each person to answer. And there was a moment where one person was answering the question and another person inserted themselves as they were talking and...

said, did you say no diddy? And then the person went back and was like, yeah, dog, I already said no diddy, no diddy. Now, for those of you who may not know what that is, I'm not about to burn up a lot of my time explaining what that is. Let's just summarize it by saying, you know, Sean Combs, Puffy Combs, diddy is in the news right now. And it looks like some things are being exposed about his lifestyle behind closed doors. But that lifestyle,

to our younger generation, for the majority maybe, is something that is shunned upon. So now you've got this code of conduct, right, that we have to preference our statements by saying no ditty. Huh? What are you talking about? It may not sound or appear to be a big deal, but I'm using this story as an example to show you.

how the mind gets hijacked so easily, subtly. It's not a big boom, it's subtle. So perhaps you can think of ways that your mind has been hijacked. Perhaps you can think of ways that you say things or do things because the culture has said this is what it is, this is the new norm. Follow us, follow this, do this, plug in like this, align like this, and if you don't,

If you don't preference it with no ditty, then maybe what you say is now about to be judged and criticized and critiqued. So we're always in this rat race. We're always chasing the carrot. We're always trying to keep up with the culture because the culture is dictating what's cool, right? That's an old school term. They surely don't say cool no more. I'm just showing my age, right? But they...

Treveal C.W. Lynch (18:50.539)
society, it controls what's on trend, what's a vibe, what's popular, right? I don't even know some of the newest, you know, vernaculars, but the idea is, and you can put this in your own context, I'm just using this story just to stir up the memories, right? Just to stir the pot a little bit. But you name it, you frame it.

Because it may not be no ditty, it may not be pause, it may not be no cap, it may not be any of these things, but it may be something else that you're saying or that you're doing that's not you. And that's really what I wanted to say today.

You don't have to not be you. No, you can be you. You can be free to be you. And how do we begin to do this? Through consciousness, through awareness. It's a process. It takes time. It takes time. I'm identifying it in my own life. I'm going through just to be totally transparent. And I've been speaking with my wife about this and I'm gonna be getting some...

professional help, but I'm identifying traces of depression. Okay, I'm identifying some traces of depression within myself. Maybe it's not super urgent, maybe it's not high, you know, I don't know all those different things. You know, when I get my help, we'll unpack it, but I'm seeing traces of it, guys.

of some things that I have suppressed and not addressed over time. And I'm seeing some traces. I know that's certainly not popular within our community, the black and brown community, right? But it's okay. See, I'm learning to break free of what's not popular, not popular. I don't care nothing about popular. This is my life. I'm trying to live, man. Caring about no what's.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (20:56.491)
popular and maybe you need to start standing up and saying I don't give a damn about what's popular. This is my life and my life matters and I need to live.

I'm also seeing some traces now. I do a lot of inner work. I do a lot of reading, studying, working with mentors and mindset coaches. So I'm always engaged in this. So I'm unpacking a lot, constantly looking, seeing, identifying, and something else that I just really picked up on, which I thought I had been over. I thought I had been delivered of it, but no, no, no, there's still some work to do.

It's called people pleasing.

I still have people pleasing traits and it's been crushing me man. It's been absolutely crushing me.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (21:55.051)
How about you? The inability to say no, taking on too much, saying yes to everybody while inadvertently saying no to yourself, being Mr. Everything to Everyone, but not being balanced as my wife would say. Not having that balance, always trying to pour into and give out to and cover bases.

while my own basis within me are not being covered. See today, I told you, I just wanted you to know someone knows, someone feels you, someone understands you're not alone. Yes me, Mr. What What, yes me, Mr. I Am The Possible, yes me, Mr. Travell C .W. Lynch, right? I Am The Possible Universe. All of this, man, none of this matters. None of it matters, man. Maybe it inspires you, maybe it...

it does something for you, maybe it motivates you, but at the end of the day, I'm God's child and I'm God's creation and my life is unfolding, my life is being unpacked, my life is evolving, I'm learning things I've never learned, feeling things I've never felt, seeing things I've never seen, hearing things I've never heard, and I'm processing things that I have never considered.

Everything about me is being deconstructed everything about me is being torn down and built back up and my confession will continue to be all these things even the depression all these things even the people pleasing syndrome all these things even the even the Imposter syndromes all these things my troubles my tears my cares my fears all these things are working to the good My good

You're good. Because we're all connected. We're all affected.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (24:00.235)
So the hijacked mind, guys, it can play out in so many ways. But in essence, it's you doing the work, looking within you, and seeing where you would love to maybe do this, or you would love to be able to say that, because that's who you really are, and identifying where you're not free to say that or to do that, because you fear what other people.

will think of you. That's what's motivating us. That's what's driving us. And the freer we can get, the less we can care. Not in a, you know, not in some irresponsible maverick type of way. Like I just don't give a damn about what nobody say and take me or leave me and just F you and whatever.

give the world the middle finger. Like, no, I'm not saying just act a fool with it, but there is a certain tenacity. There is a certain, I don't give a damn. There is a certain F this that you have to kind of have because if you don't, you won't have the fortitude to push back and say, no, I'm tired of being dictated to and controlled and hijacked.

I'm tired of being used and my mind being used for a different purpose other than the one that I was created for, that it was created for. My mind was created so that it would align with the creator's intention for me.

And I'm tired of my mind being used for anything other than that. Yeah, it does take a tenacity. It does take a, you're not doing me like this no more. So I hope and pray, man, that this is speaking to you and helping you in some way. It's helping me. It's therapeutic to me. And get whatever help you need, man. I'm getting professional help, you know?

Treveal C.W. Lynch (26:17.675)
I'm gonna be on somebody couch, right? And it's okay. It's okay. We need each other. We help to heal each other. We help to inspire each other. We all have skillsets that can aid and assist other people. So it's okay. There's no shame in counseling. There's no shame in going through anything. And the more you can admit where you are with, and here's the bonus, with.

the blessed gift of choice. I know that I don't have to stay this way. I know I can choose better for myself. I can choose a different path. I can choose a different thing. I can choose to let go of some things. I can choose. And that's the greatest gift that we have a choice in the matter. Yep, that's the greatest gift. We have a choice.

in the matter. So I just thank God for my choice. Yeah, I thank God for my choice, man. And I thank God for your choice, because I believe that those of you out there listening, that if this is hitting home for you, that you're going to make a choice. You're going to choose to change some of these things. I don't really have a big CTA, man, as I look at my notes here. I don't have a real big CTA.

This is really just about consciousness and awareness and you doing the inner work, right? Now I have a certification and I was even laughing last night as I was talking to my wife about this. We're all the wounded healers, right? Cause you can do that imposter syndrome stuff like, oh, I wrote a book about people pleasing. I wrote a book about.

you know, not feeling like I'm enough and, you know, and yet I'm still going through some of these things myself. And you can feel like an imposter, like, well, who am I to have written a book and who am I to have a podcast encouraging other people while I'm still going through it? No, the truth is we're all, and I don't give a, I don't care who you are.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (28:35.147)
None of us are anything more than a wounded healer. We are helping to heal others, but we're wounded ourselves. I promise you. I promise you. I'm over it. I'm over it, man. We all superstars. We all Superman. We are. We are. We're all superheroes. But with every superhero, there's always that law.

Polarity it's always the other side of the coin for every Superman. There is a Clark Kent That's right, man For every Superman there is a Clark Kent And that's what's up. We're all vulnerable We're all being touched by this thing called life So let's not get it twisted So that that doesn't discredit me So the reason I say that is is if you're not sure on how to get started with unpacking if you're not sure

how to get started with looking within and doing the inner work. I am a certified life coach and I like to think of myself more as a performance coach in terms of mental performance. And so I think I just recently read or heard that being able to confess or being able to say where you are, being able to ask for help.

That's not a sign of a weakness. That's a sign of strength. It's a sign of wisdom, right? It's a sign of wisdom to be able to say, I need help. And if you need help, I can help you through one -on -one coaching. But also, just do your research. If it's not me, maybe it's someone else that can come alongside you and be that other perspective, be that voice that you need to process.

through the things that you're going through, right? Just trying to think, was there anything else that I wanted to share on this? No, I think that's about it though. I covered the hijacked mind, the freedom to just be, the freedom to be ourselves. I think it's a process and we all have our own milestones and I think we all have our own epiphanies.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (30:57.739)
our own moments where the light bulb comes on and the shift is made. I think it happens at different times, at different ages and stages for us all in different ways. There's no textbook, there's no cookie cutter format. It's just, it happens as it happens because all of our lives are unique expressions of the single source. So I think it's gonna work out for you, however,

However, it needs to work out for you. But the first thing and the second thing is consciousness to the fact that it's even a thing, right? The hijacked mind, it's a thing, us being more concerned and being overly concerned with what we think other people think of us. And so because we think that other people think this of us, we try to hold to that ideal, that perfection.

We try to live up to that concept, that imagined image of ourselves so that we can continue to be what we think they think we are. Right? You might need to listen to that a couple of times, right? But we're trying to hold on and we're trying to maintain what we think they think we are rather than them just knowing what we are and us just being okay with it, right?

So that's the first thing, consciousness to how this thing is even working. And then awareness, levels of awareness, levels of awareness to you.

What are you really like? What do you really like? What do you really want? And once you begin to identify those things, then facing the fact that you are the only one stopping you through the narratives, the stories, the ideals that you have about what you think other people think about you.

Treveal C.W. Lynch (33:09.835)
including God and that's I'm gonna say that for a whole another show is not just people we're also hijacked by religion we're also hijacked by what we think God thinks about us and boy oh boy if we only knew what God really thinks about us how much more free

we would be. But religion, as one great man once said, religion teaches us what to think. Spirituality, a consciousness to your oneness with God. Spirituality teaches us how to think.

I hope and pray that we become more and more spiritual and less and less religious within our own hearts and minds. But again, I'll save that for another episode. That's it guys. That's my time. I love you guys. I'm praying for you guys. I'm believing in you guys. Until next time, let's continue to regulate. Let's continue.

to innovate. Let's continue to elevate. Continue to be encouraged. And as always, yes, and most importantly, continue to be your possible. God bless you.