f you agree that the mind is all ‘powerful’ then the following exercise is a simple experiment to assist you with some influence and control over that power. The ‘mind’ has been likened at times to a wild horse with you the bare-back rider where your sole task is to ‘tame it’ or ‘break it in’, or, a ‘river in flood’ that drags everything under with its strong current. For many this is why the mind seems ‘to run its own race’ unless or until it’s trained differently; hopes of mind training and taming seem so unrealistic that not trying to begrudingly becomes for many a hollow ’victory through surrender’. However victory comes more from knowing about the way ‘all minds operate’ and knowing what you’re surrendering from.
Firstly know that the mind will usually want a say in most things!
It is important to surrender yes, not from what the mind produces but from the way it keeps producing all ‘the wanting, all the desires’! Commonly minds are impatient, critical, reactionary and love complaining. Wouldn’t it be great to surrender from some of that?
There is however a subtle experiment you can perform, especially if you are one of those people who would prefer to be in control rather than surrender. But it’s not that easy. As soon as you close your eyes you’re dealing with it. That is UNCERTAINTY. The experiment is to simply close your eyes and observe for 30 seconds. Just observe and see if you can count the presentations. About how many were there? Could you follow them all? Did your mind jump around at lot? Did your thinking slow down or speed up?
Now try this exercise again and just practise ‘counting’ each breath you breath in and then out for a total of 30 seconds. Each breath is breathed in.. and then breathed out, not forcing, holding, or ‘doing’ anything, but just watching and counting in a calm and relaxed manner (being interested and curious). So whatever number of breaths you wish to count, let’s say 3 breaths it would be breath in 3, breath out 3, then breath in 2, breath out 2, breath in 1 breath out 1.
Now which of the two exercises was easier?
Instead of ‘trying to continually run the whole show, tame the horse and being caught in the current,’ this exercise allows ‘dismounting from the horse’ and ‘getting out of the river’, concentrating on something else. The ‘mind’ will probably resist and jump around initially while you train it differently but that’s just the way they react due to strong ‘imprinting’. MMP thinks that you can have real influnce by focused attention on something you can monitor, your breathing and watching from the river bank! Don’t be surprised if this seems impossible at first, it’s not, but rather over time ’you’ will be training your mind to concentrate on dismounting, getting ‘you’ out of the river, allowing you to ‘dry’ off, and becoming more ’aware’ while you’re doing it. A great gift to give yourself!
Practice daily and the benefits are yours. It’s simply one of the ‘microskills’ we teach at MMP, allowing you to slow down and and your mind to concentrate, watch and let go! Be patient!
Firstly know that the mind will usually want a say in most things!
It is important to surrender yes, not from what the mind produces but from the way it keeps producing all ‘the wanting, all the desires’! Commonly minds are impatient, critical, reactionary and love complaining. Wouldn’t it be great to surrender from some of that?
There is however a subtle experiment you can perform, especially if you are one of those people who would prefer to be in control rather than surrender. But it’s not that easy. As soon as you close your eyes you’re dealing with it. That is UNCERTAINTY. The experiment is to simply close your eyes and observe for 30 seconds. Just observe and see if you can count the presentations. About how many were there? Could you follow them all? Did your mind jump around at lot? Did your thinking slow down or speed up?
Now try this exercise again and just practise ‘counting’ each breath you breath in and then out for a total of 30 seconds. Each breath is breathed in.. and then breathed out, not forcing, holding, or ‘doing’ anything, but just watching and counting in a calm and relaxed manner (being interested and curious). So whatever number of breaths you wish to count, let’s say 3 breaths it would be breath in 3, breath out 3, then breath in 2, breath out 2, breath in 1 breath out 1.
Now which of the two exercises was easier?
Instead of ‘trying to continually run the whole show, tame the horse and being caught in the current,’ this exercise allows ‘dismounting from the horse’ and ‘getting out of the river’, concentrating on something else. The ‘mind’ will probably resist and jump around initially while you train it differently but that’s just the way they react due to strong ‘imprinting’. MMP thinks that you can have real influnce by focused attention on something you can monitor, your breathing and watching from the river bank! Don’t be surprised if this seems impossible at first, it’s not, but rather over time ’you’ will be training your mind to concentrate on dismounting, getting ‘you’ out of the river, allowing you to ‘dry’ off, and becoming more ’aware’ while you’re doing it. A great gift to give yourself!
Practice daily and the benefits are yours. It’s simply one of the ‘microskills’ we teach at MMP, allowing you to slow down and and your mind to concentrate, watch and let go! Be patient!