Your title reminds me of John Lennon's Mind Games based on a book by the same name. Look at Life and all our problems this way: they're all Mind Games, meaning the Mind projecting itself for its own sustenance. I find that with this realization, it is easy not to allow any problem big or small to rock my world. I become more aware of what makes me upset, the current of anxiety that runs underneath the surface, etc. All problems are, in the end, small stuff.

I'd suggest four of the Best: E-Myth (or one of the series, i.e. revisited and others) (Michael Gerber), Jay Abraham's Getting The Most Out Of Everything You Have Got (or something like that), Why That Idiot's Rich and I'm Not (Robert Shemin), Secrets of the Millionaire Mind (Harv Eker). And For the Spiritually inclined, Power of NOW (Eckhart Tolle).

I found the PTFAR formula from the Secret of Millionaire Mindset by Harv Eker to be a good model. P = Program, R = Results. What we program from the early parts of our lives matter, i believe. I have lived through times when i checked myself, or my team first, whenever a problem occurred. I found that my team members became frustrated and tended to see "the buck stops here" move to be a disadvantage to the team. This happened within many organizations, i observe until today, as i work with people from many different companies.

But then, i ask myself, there are people who proclaim such programming coming from the Lives before this. To unravel all our past programming, they claim, we have to go back into THAT past as well. Although I believe in that as well, the practical application of this latter fact in my Life is something I never got around to experiment with. However, in the Power of NOW, Eckhart Tolle gave me a wonderful clue to overcome all those past Programming. The only portal we need, so said Tolle, is NOW. And WE ALL HAVE NOW.

I use that a lot these days, whether to help business clients or managers to solve their daily issues, BIG or small. It is not that people's views do not matter. It's just that all those Minds working Overtime can give you plenty of reasons why one small problem is giving someone a headache. I heard of a solution a long time ago from a wise Guru, i.e. Silence has all the answers. I believe in that also. But before Tolle, the answer was not as clear as it has become for me NOW. After coming through the wilderness of Life, I am glad to be able to face the rest of my Life with this enlightened insight. Just sharing.

Brother, watch out for the games the Mind plays with us. Whatever it is, whether it is within or without, as long as you truly want "to live this life out truthfully and rightly" and you manage to do that, you will truly be the one and only. From my limited knowledge, I have not seen anyone who can truly claim to have done that, even the great Aurelius himself. Not that i am fit to judge him or anyone for that matter. Just attempting to answer your question.Beyond self, do you mean this physical self or that self that the wise call the Watcher within?

You are already the Master of the Universe when you go within and become One with what is. The Thinker that agitates for action may think that something needs to be done. But that is always what the Thinker wants You to think. Then, you are within its control. The Watcher within, although passive, knows ALL. That is why the Alexanders of the World are gone before their time, and the meek inherit the Earth.

Most people tend to look at the Mind as the great Problem Solver, and hence all the discussions about Man's abilities and strengths are predicated on the Mind in such a role. However, from my own Life experiences, I found that the Mind is the Problem Creator, and if one learns to 'quiet' it, You have that Bedrock you are looking for... within yourself. Just saying.