What is the Danger Room????
Your mind can imagine scenarios and images much like the X-Men’s Danger Room.
When I was younger, I was a HUGE fan of the X-Men. I’m talking early-to-mid 90s here. Well before the Marvel movies. Back when the first animated Saturday morning kids show was all the rage. When they were split into Blue and Gold Strike Forces in the mainstream comics back in 1992-ish.
Anyway….
At that point in the book’s history, they trained in Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters. (“Gifted Youngsters” was for outside appearances in the comics, I saw no youngsters apart from Jubilee and certainly didn’t see any classes being taught, so it was code for “mutants”.) It served as their “home base”. Inside the school, they used the “Danger Room” to train when supervillains weren’t striking, and their presence wasn’t immediately needed.
This “Danger Room” use holograms and computer-generated images of their enemies and scenarios to keep their wits, skills, and physical health sharp. It was the X-Men’s training ground. They used these holograms to train, condition and maintain their mutant powers and physical prowess in their spare time.
Many of those images were very lifelike. In fact, it was very possible to get hurt and even killed in the Danger Room if no one was supervising the sessions. It was sometimes Professor X who was supervising, or a senior member of the team. If no one supervised, things could get disastrous. It wasn’t just harmless images, they were versions of their enemies that were every bit as dangerous as the actual supervillains, if no was overseeing what was taking place.
How your mind functions in the same way as the Danger Room
Keep the concept of this Danger Room in your mind when you consider, well, your mind and how it operates.
Do you know that what you imagine and visualize is every bit as real as actual event, according to your brain? The brain doesn’t know the difference between what you envision and reality.
Much like the Danger Room, if no one was standing guard, your mind can make you think the best or the worst of situations. Let’s say you were wanting to talk to a pretty girl, but then you imagine her shooting you down in the worst way. You imagine how horrible you would feel. So, you don’t do it, and you don’t take the risk because of your imagined fear. You may even STILL feel rotten even when you chose the “safe option” of taking the risk.
That’s because, in your mind, she already rejected you. Think you chose the path least resistance? Think again!
She might not have rejected you at all. But you imagined it. You made up your mind that it was a 100% probability. Maybe she was secretly noticing your male attention and was hoping you would make a move?? Now you’ll never know. And you made yourself feel like dirt because your mind went to the absolute worst-case scenario. (emphasis on ‘scenario’).
That would be as if the Danger Room version of Magneto was summoned to fight the X-Men, and since no one was supervising, the whole team gets slaughtered and killed. Meanwhile the real Magneto doesn’t need to lift a finger.
Just as there’s no difference between the Danger Room Magneto and the real one, there’s also no difference between events playing in your mind and the actual event unfolding according to your brain. The Danger Room is an impressive idea and is a powerful contraption, so is your mind.
In order to prevent Magneto or any other enemy of the X-Men from killing off the team, the Danger Room requires supervision. The same idea applies to your mental frame of mind, as well. Your brain, deep down, knows no difference between something imagined and something real.
Start taking charge of your mind and the images it conjures up!
‘Nice’ people tend to imagine the worst in many scenarios (notice I keep going back to the word ‘scenario’. It’s important.) that involve stepping outside their comfort. Your own personal Danger Room is between your ears – your visualization and self-talk. Right now, as a ‘nice’ person with a limited comfort zone, your Danger Room is filled with your fears. To step in and face them all is something that feels next to impossible.
So, start supervising and taking charge of your mind’s direction. Just as Professor X can make holograms disappear with the press of a button, so you can start taking charge of your mind (Danger Room) and prevent negative thoughts from taking over.
Taking charge of your Danger Room isn’t easy. Your goals around this are two-fold: Turn your mind towards positive outcomes, and train yourself to step outside your comfort zone. While I suspect this was the last thing Marvel had in mind with the whole X-Men/Danger Room concept, the analogy perfectly fits.
Instead of imagining the worst in new situations, start visualizing good outcomes. Stop “worst case scenario” thinking and look at what could go right.
Then, rehearse in your mind taking a chance and going for what you want. For example, imagine yourself standing up for yourself. If it helps, write out how you’ll do that in a journal. Take note of how what makes you feel. Keep playing that movie of yourself taking a chance repeatedly. You’ll start to feel pleasurable emotions just from thinking this, even when you haven’t actually done anything yet. Why?
Again, your mind doesn’t know the difference between your thoughts and reality, deep down.
You’ll also start training yourself to take chances on things that terrified you in the past. So that even if you don’t get the imagined outcome, or even if the worst happens, you’ll have the satisfaction of doing that action.
You’re using your Danger Room to train you and help you grow, not kill you. You’re supervising it to help you grow and make you stronger and more whole.
All of this is easier said than done, but it’s very possible.
If you need help getting your Danger Room ready and up for proper training, please reach out to me and let me know how.
Stay whole, my friends.
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