Controlling The Mind
The education that we go through at school or college focuses almost exclusively on the external. It may be basic skills like reading or writing. It may be long term studies like law or medicine. What the formal education process does not do is look inwards and help us to learn about controlling our mind, yet this could be the most valuable skill of all.
Managing our mind can be struggle. We are often advised that the best way to meditate is to “stop thinking” or to empty our minds.
The mind is the aspect of our brain that evaluates our experience of life. As an example of how this works, we may think: “it’s very hot today”. The mind may then turn this into a wider story connecting the hot weather with climate change, and the impact of pollution, and traffic, and my garden is dying and needs watering… And very quickly a simple statement of fact has upset the harmony of our mind. So, we need to learn how to control the mind effectively.
The first step is stopping the thought from gathering momentum. We need to interrupt the thought that “it’s hot outside” and bring the mind back into the now, centering ourselves on something immediate, a word, a breath, or an action that stops the story in our mind taking shape. Like any skill this takes practice but after a while we will find that the stray thoughts don’t turn into anxiety breeding stories but leave us with space.
Bringing your thoughts into the moment, through taking a breath for instance, will give you two or three seconds of space to take control of the thought process and prevent it drifting back into possibly traumatic past events or forward into concerns about the future. At this point you will begin to control your mind; it will follow your instructions. As the state of your body reflects your state of mind then mastering these random thoughts and not allowing them to master you will have physical benefits. Your body will relax as it won’t be responding to the stressful situations manufactured by your mind. The result of this is an improved state of physical and mental health.
The philosophy behind Yugen believes that most, if not all of life’s challenges can be solved through a deeper connection within ourselves. On Saturday 17th and Sunday 18th September 2022 we will be running a 2-day Spiritual Development Workshop at a beautiful venue in the Lake District. The special energy we find at National Trust Footprint will help you to find your own peace, tranquillity, and connection with your own inner guidance, away from the distractions of the everyday. You can learn more about the Workshop here.
By working with the steps, we talked through above to start the process of quieting your stray thoughts you can be ready to receive internal the spiritual guidance that is available to help us all in our lives, in making decisions and helping to answer life’s questions. I would love to hear how you get on so do reach out to me.