Learn to enjoy the silence of mind 1

We live in challenging times. On one hand human intelligence has enabled us to make huge technological advancements. The modern life is comfortable compared to the olden days. There is constant endeavour to improve the ways to live the physical existence whereas hardly ever a thought is spared for spiritual development. Often the word spiritual rings wrong bells and it is always associated with religion. However, Spiritual development is our connection with our inner self. It is our ability to establish a rapport with our inner self to contemplate on existential questions such as who am I? Why I am here? Our understanding of our self is limited to our name, title, professional degrees accumulated over the years, social status  in the society etc but no effort is ever made to question why this existence.

We are preoccupied by associating I am Mr.ABC or Ms XYZ, name, social role, and job position but ill concerned that beyond that outer personality there is inner consciousness. We go about our life planning for achievements in terms of income; home etc which is not a bad thing but the reality of our existence is whatever external things we accumulate we will  have to leave them in this world when death knocks our door. Therefore, while planning investments and working towards its achievement, there should be a plan to walk on the path to reach the inner self. It is an investment without cost. There is no need of a broker or expensive schemes. This path to inner world does need not any cash investment, neither mastercard  nor visa card nor interest free terms. It is free; it is open to all without any distinction of religion, race or social status. It is absolutely free and that’s the best part of it.

It is just investment of time from our daily life which take us long way.

Establishing this connection with the inner self at an early age is extremely important as it will lead to a balanced life, success in education, career, relationship and most importantly finances. There is too much attraction to the external world. It is lucrative, it can be felt; it gives a sense of life but only when the focus of mind is taken from outwards to inwards it will make the mind still.

Once this rapport with inner self is established, it yields unbelievable results. To mention a few: peacefulness, better anger management, improvement in food habits, contentment, deep sleep, stress management, reduced consumerism, more connectivity to people around without the need of gadgets. Moreover, it will lead to better health conditions, ability to appreciate simple life, to love and discover nature. Wow isn’t it tempting.

Just a daily practice of 15-20 minutes of sitting in silence is required. This silence is so addictive that none of the mind altering drinks or drugs can give that pleasure and the effect is it enables to function in an uplifted state.

Everyone should meditate. Meditation is not about being a Hindu or a Buddhist. It does not require you to shave your head, wear saffron robes rudraksha beads or marks on the forehead or become vegetarian. Meditation is all about connecting to the higher self. It is just an art of stilling the mind. We can sit still physically but our mind cannot sit still easily. In our modern life we have stress due work, rising cost of living, lack of rest which manifests in health problems such as migraines, indigestions, backaches, knee aches, heart diseases and cancer. We relax physically by sleeping or taking a day off work but de we ever relax our mind or relax internally. Have you tried any tricks to relax your mind?  So meditation is an art to relax internally.

 

Here are a few ways to get this practice started:

You can do this at night time before sleep or early in the morning:

Sitting down comfortably by supporting your back against a wall. Keeping the body loose breathe in gently count up to 4/5/6 counts as you inhale and exhale to double count of 8/10/12 for about 10 minutes.

Closing the eyes, keeping the body relax, let the vision turn inwards. Keep breathing in gently and breathing out gently. While the process of breathing goes on let the attention be focussed on rise and fall of breathe in the abdomen. If thoughts disturb or mind gets into thinking, focus the attention back  on breathe. As the attention begins to focus on the breathe, mind will stop wandering. The very moment attention is focussed on rise and fall of breathe in the abdomen, inner connected is established. Try it for 15-20 minutes at least and gradually increase the time

 

Initially, the focus will be shorter but with perseverance, it will get better. Remember any medication or fitness regime needs regularity to show   results. Mind has to be trained to behave itself. Once a habit of mind is developed it will stop wandering and turn its focus inwards.