Quietening the Mind – Just Relax
The proverb ‘Idle mind is devils workshop’ is an age old proverb which has been somehow followed by almost everybody ardently and that too unconsciously. The understanding of the above proverb should be proper, people tend to misinterpret it. Like a knife, if not used for long, loses its shine & sharpness and eventually catches rust. Same is the case with humans if we don’t sharpen our skills & talents, we’ll lose them and later on it’s very difficult to re-sharpen them. It’s the same if an individual doesn’t exercise or per se doesn’t take care of one’s own health that person is bound to suffer from some ailments which will swallow up the old age and then it’s too late to rectify. To save oneself from catching rust better start working as soon as you realize life isn’t smooth indicating there’s something to be worked upon. This is possible by ‘exercising our mind’, that is sharpening our skills & talents which keeps mind healthy. But this ‘exercising’ one’s mind is a tricky thing. ‘Exercising the mind’ is sadly mistaken by people as continuously (24X7) using their brains for something or the other, this in turn drains off our energy. Exercising our mind should be clearly understood as any activity that helps us increase our Personal Effectiveness by developing new skills, sharpening existing skills and brush up talents in any form.
One aspect of people in which they drain their energy is brooding over the past & worrying about future. This energy drain adversely affects our work and relationships by robbing off enthusiasm & zest to perform in profession and harmonizing in relations. If one comes to an understanding that, whatever he/she doing is a self-defeating pattern, that person is half way there. Because realizing that something is wrong isn’t enough but making that wrong into right is the real thing. So for making the right move one must have proper understanding of ‘brooding over the past & worrying about the future’. Self-defeating patterns are unconsciously developed habits or rather addictions. In any close relations, like the ones with our near & dear ones, if the main ingredient ‘Love’ is missing, people tend to fill-up that emptiness with habits and addictions like impulsive binging on food, smoking, drinking etc. People incessantly think over their past regretting doing something, cursing destiny/fate, failures etc. and unnecessarily worrying about future. This in a way promotes growth of self-defeating patterns which hampers our life personally as well as professionally. For that ‘right move’, instead of brooding over past one must learn from their earlier mistakes and accept the fact that all testing times and hardships are there to teach us something. We simply have to learn it and move on. Life is a text book like the one’s which we had in our school, we are here to learn from it rather than complaining about the testing times. Other aspect – future, points us to secure it by planning rather than constantly worrying about it. It’s absolutely fine to dream BIG, build castles in the air but all that must have some relevance with the real world. Relevance means planning and moving towards the target. One must keep distant goals to be achieved viz. weekly goal, monthly goal, annual goal & all directing towards your goal of life which should be clear to you. These goals should be set, worked upon as well as monitored to check one’s own growth that helps us access ourselves whether we are having the right pace in the right direction .If one sets & achieves such goals on professional as well as personal fronts the individual grows very fast and excels in everything that he/she does.
There are some ways to counteract energy drain because due to our habit patterns we unconsciously delve into past or worry about future. One of the ways is to sleep over it, other ways are reading books or writing, painting etc whichever art you enjoy. These ways can probably be termed as deceptive, since they work on the surface of the problem. We need something much more substantial which will work to the core so that these things don’t bother an individual in the future. That assurance to preserve your energy reserve is given by Meditation. Meditation is much more beyond lighting incense sticks, dimming the lights, comfortable mattress etc.
