It won’t be long before you have mastered your own mind! Every day as you remind yourself of your commitment to strengthen your power of thought by using the power of your own mind to step away from the usual banter, the chatter within yourself, you strengthen your spirit and its ability to lead and guide you. Every time you say no to the chatter of worry and failure and lack and loss and turn instead to the language of thanks and gratitude, to the prayer of peace and the stillness of heart, you step away from the old. Every time you stir the imagination to think positively, you bring forth new life. All of this is possible within yourself, by the words you say to yourself and the thoughts you elect to think. Change your thinking today and see what happens to your mood and your emotions, to your blood pressure and your heartrate. Give yourself a health cure, simply by thinking differently. No need to go to a spa, just change your words from the old negative to the new positive.
How is it that time seems to stand still when you are busy doing something you love or something that takes all of your attention? Have you noticed how time ceases when your mind is off yourself, off your worries, and off your personal tragedies? With the mind occupied elsewhere, time ceases and all that time carries with it ceases as well. Busyness is one of the best ways to absent the mind of its worry. Take your mind off yourself for a while and see what happens. You might discover that everything you think and feel about yourself disappears. You might have to question if they were ever real to begin with? Thoughts do have great power of persuasion, both good and bad.
Forget your worries for another day, they will always be there when you think of them, but give yourself permission to forget about them. Think instead of all the things that make you happy, all the things that you are grateful for, all the things that bring a smile to your face and a lightness to your heart. Surely there are more things than you know. Is not just the sun shining on the windowsill something to be grateful for? Is not the chirping of birds something to be cheerful about? Is not the fact that you have made it this far in life enough to be thankful for? Is it not wonderful to breathe, to smile, to sit in the stillness of the morning, or the evening, and drink in the wonders of a day to begin or a day gone by? Think on these positive thoughts throughout the day, between morning and evening, whenever worry slips in. Turn your face from worry and remember the sun on the windowsill that brought you a moment of joy.
In the late 19th century, the deeply insightful ophthalmologist, William H. Bates, discovered that the best method to improve all errors in vision was to simply relax. The demands of the then ‘modern civilization’, such as being asked to read print in its smallest font, crammed upon a page, invited the reader to strain and squint, as the eyes stressed to read outside their normal, fully relaxed receptive mode of seeing.
What became known as the Bates Method is a series of practices that restores the eyes to the autonomy of complete relaxation with the consequent effect of improved vision. Bates suggested that if we try to see anything, we are in error.
The speed and demands of our current modern civilization, as it wrestles with its pressing shadow of annihilation, is one of constant bombardment of the nervous system, with its deeply arousing thoughts and consequent emotions of anxiety, fear and fretful anticipation. Beyond the eyes, all the organs and structures of the physical body are subject to disease and dysfunction in this stressed mental atmosphere of turmoil.
Meditation is a practice which restores relaxation to the mind. When the mind is at ease thoughts are few, and largely ones of choice, versus the typical state of free association, driving a non-stop train of thought. We are hardly exempt from intrusive thought when meditating, but we do learn to calmly and definitely withdraw our attention from the unwanted thought invitations that confiscate our focus and tax our central nervous system.
When we meditate, we gather in our power of intent. Intent is the power of thought, as exercised, for instance, in the power of autosuggestion to the subconscious mind. We increase the power and effectiveness of intent through retrieving and re-channeling the energy wasted in attention to fragmented thoughts that siphon our vital energy and deliver mixed messages to the subconscious mind.
We live in a universe of thought. From without, our plugged-in generation is incessantly deluged with the thoughts of others, both human and AI generated. At the subtle level of what the shamans call inorganic life—beings or souls with mental powers but not a physical form—we are also telepathically surrounded by the thoughts of others seeking to influence our beliefs, actions and emotions.
We do have the power of intent to cast off these parasitic thoughts, but we must first purify our intent. Here, we must face our own attraction to the excitement that thoughts bring us, yes, even by religiously following the behaviors of those we find obnoxious and absurd. Like does attract like. If we want excitement, excitement will definitely find its way to us.
If we exercise our intent to detach our attention from that which excites and drains our vital energy, it slowly but definitely releases us, as the emotional food of calm that we produce is tasteless to its desire. As with the Bates Method, we are here not trying to do anything, but instead releasing ourselves from programs of thought that disrupt our true state of calm.
As we gather in our intent and power of controlled thought our nervous system slows down. Freed of activating thought impressions it releases the tensions locked in the body from the play of old thoughts, or those of others, that take up residence in the drone of our internal dialogue.
We may be naturally drawn to deepen our breath as our bodies open naturally to the oxygen and subtle prana that feed our minds and bodies. This attention to the breath takes us deeper into alpha and theta brain wave states, where, with intent, we might obtain guidance from our Higher Self, or other higher beings whose wisdom we are open and available to.
When we gather within and slow it down, all things are possible.
Let your inner calmness upon waking stay with you for longer than usual. Before you stir your mind awake with all the things you have to do and all the things you have to worry about, plan for and undertake today, hold onto the stillness you awaken with, where everything is calm and peaceful, where everything is equal and nothing needs attention. Step into the morning in this calm frame of mind and hold onto it for as long as possible. Each day from hereon in lengthen that calm state, holding onto it intentionally for another hour, and then another. Each day make this your first priority, to lengthen your inner state of calmness and peacefulness. Hold onto it for as long as possible.
