A man may conquer a million men in battle but one who conquers himself is, indeed, the greatest of conquerors. ~Buddha
The human mind has being described as the most powerful system there ever is. It is the engine house of the human body. And whatever you and I become, do or aspire to be – is prompted by the consciousness of the things we have in our minds. So, the mind dictates our every activity. The control the mind exerts on us come through thought suggestions that we take in, mainly through our senses of sight and hearing.
That said, it’s been reported that we have about 65,000 of these thought suggestions flowing in and through our minds daily. With this, coupled with everyday life’s pressures – the mind is constantly bombarded with all sorts of things. And as a result, the bombarding leaves many with worry, fear, stress, anxiety, frustration, depression and a worn out feeling.
When the mind runs along each and every day like this, without order, we tend to lose our motivation and the joys of living. Frankly speaking, no one can afford to keep living their life with a ‘confused mind’, because the results are far too contrary to the true purpose and yearning of our hearts.
If you’re always in a rush, your mind is confused. If you’re always anxious, in worry and fearful, your mind is confused. And if you’re always stressed out, depressed and not able to enjoy the things that you cherish, Your mind is confused! A car engine can not be left to keep running without order and direction.
Why, because the result would be unpleasant. The same is true of the human mind. Your mind can not be left to keep running on a cruise control or autopilot, so to speak. When it does run without order, it picks, receives and absolves all the ‘free gifts’ available that it can – both pleasant and unpleasant.
For you and I to experience a truly successful, happy and fulfilled life now, there’s an urgent need to tame the mind chatter. How?
3 Clever Ways to Tame Your Mind Chatter
1. Learn To Shut Your Mind Up
When you experience a situation which tends to bring along a feeling of worry, doubt, anxiety, and stress – ask yourself a view point question to quiet the mind and shut it up. Personally, I have noticed that, when I ask myself questions such as: ‘How does this feeling help this situation?’, ‘What exactly can I do now?’, ‘Is it really worth it being worried or unhappy about this?’.
Immediately, the order is restored to my mind, and just then, I can choose to direct it to a particular desired end, only after having felt inner calm and peace. Think about what strategies suits you, and do remember to always shut the mind up when it makes the move to ‘bark’ freely like a dog.
- Learn to tame your mind and never spoil the mind of others. ~Zambala Khenpo Jigme Phuntsok Rinpoche
2. Feed Your Mind Daily
Just as the body needs food to be nourished for optimum look and performance, the mind needs its nourishment too. Find time each day to give the mind its food. Daily activities such as sitting next to the window at night and observing the sky, moon, stars and the movement of the cloud have helped me.
The point here is for you to give your attention of sight exclusively to nature, i.e. objects which are not as a result of a human handiwork, and let your mind get lost in the moment of sheer amazement of the universe we live in. If you can incorporate this practice into your everyday life, even for few minutes, you will be very glad you did that to yourself.
3. Refresh Your Mind
Before you retire for bed at night, you likely take a shower to refresh the body for a pleasant night rest. Your mind needs such daily late night refreshing too. Wash all ‘dirt’ off your mind daily, just before you retire for bed. You do this by letting go of hatred, anger and the anxiety which the mind has absolved during the course of the day. Set all negative thoughts and experiences off and let ’em go freely.
Then focus on the moments of joy you experienced in the day; amplify them, smile over them, and express a loving appreciation to the persons, things and the situations which made that day what it was. You can then go to bed and have a pleasant night rest. 🙂
The personal benefits of taming the mind are invaluable. You will become happier, energized, motivated, efficient, full of creative ideas and above all, fulfilled. In conclusion, I will leave you, a quote from Christian Bovee. He said:
Few minds wear out, but more [minds] rust out. Hence, You should ask yourself: ‘Is my mind rusting out?
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Benedict Emeka
Benedict Emeka is a motivational writer from Finland.
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