Alrighty then…how is it possible to quiet your mind when the poor thing has got so much coming at it at once? Well, for starters, most folks don’t think their mind needs quieting. If anything, they want it to be more stimulated. Like they’re competing with their computer, don’tcha know. And in a sense, that’s what they really ARE doing. ‘Cause our minds are very much like computers. Or, I like to think of it as an old fashioned cassette. Remember CASSETTES?
Well, if you do, then you’ll remember what happens when you keep recording over and over earlier recordings. Eventually, they bleed through. It’s the same with our minds. We take in so much mental, visual, and audio stimulation that our inner processor works overtime trying to sort it all out…and then while we’re doing something pretty mindless like washing the dishes or sitting with our pet bear, our mind just keeps on going like the Energizer Bunny, don’tcha know. In fact, we are no longer using our mind…IT is using US!
Now I don’t know about you, but ol’ Maybelle doesn’t take kindly to THAT equation…and neither do the Buddhists.
Why Buddhists teach being “mindful” of our thoughts…to WATCH them. And oh boy, sometimes I don’t like the thoughts I see. But, the good news is … I CAN see them…and being conscious of them, I can CHANGE them! Move back into the driver’s seat. Create a new “default” that’s positive and self-empowering.
Of course so many people have trouble sleeping. We wake up to news, emails, music, weather … sit at our computers for hours and/or text, Twitter, iphone, Skype …later on, watch television, speak with friends via Skype, text, phone then repeat repeat repeat. And we wonder why we have trouble sleeping?
Our poor mind needs a break…from all stimulation! It needs the nourishment of COMPLETE AND TOTAL SILENCE. A good solid 20 minutes minimum of sitting quietly, unplugged from the world and connected to our true source within.
Ahhhh sweet silence.
I think it’s time to go there right now.
Shhhhhh!