Carried away from the present moment

There is an expression of being 'carried away'. We say that we just got 'carried away' with something. Most of us probably know this saying, and we tend to get 'carried away' quite often!

With a lack of mindfulness, we quickly get absorbed in a thought and before we know it, this thought has stolen our attention away from the present moment and on top of this, it creates unhappiness. Does this sound familiar?

It can be something small and simple, like what shall we wear to the job interview tomorrow? Then, we wonder if our outfit will look good on us, did we not gain too much weight? We shouldn't have eaten that pizza yesterday. Are we even good enough for this job? 

It starts like this, and boom, we are gone!

Next thing, we feel sick. Insecurities arise, we cry. Suffering. 
Carried away by all these over-exaggerating ideas, we are pulled out of the here and now.
This happens when the mind is not calm and clear. 

Seriously, let's consider for a few moments, how our minds are beating us up, day by day, thought by thought... 

Clear Reflections

The above-mentioned is a simple example, but all of us have similar stories to which we can relate. We simply think of a task, and we burst into tears, or we start to feel sick.

See, this happens when the mind is not reflecting clearly. When the mind is not calm, not peaceful, it creates all kinds of illusions. It distorts reality, and we experience suffering. 

There is a well-known analogy that fits perfectly to a mind not reflecting with clarity. Think of a glass of water that contains some dirt. We stir the glass, and the water becomes brown and muddy, we cannot see through it. When we stop stirring and the movement calms down, the dirt goes to the bottom and the water becomes clear. The water can reflect clearly.

The same happens within the mind.

All these I-thoughts, these self-cherishing thoughts, they pollute our mind. Once the mind is contaminated with egoistic thoughts, it cannot be calm and it cannot reflect clearly. Thoughts about the past or unknown future, in association with this idea we have of ourselves, start to arise, and the suffering commences. 

So, what to do?
We check up. We meditate.

Pollution-free zone

Calming the mind implies that we want to stop excessive thinking, these compulsive thoughts revolving around the idea of a separate self. We want to stop these thoughts that steal us away from the present moment.

See, every time we deviate from the here and now, we start to suffer. This is clear. Deviation from the present moment leads to unhappiness. When we realize this, we realize how much we have punished ourselves, unnecessary. So much unhappiness, for nothing. So, we apply the remedy. Meditation.

We meditate, not on more ideas, on more illusions, no. We simply calm the body, calm the mind, and observe. It is simple. Regardless of our beliefs, our religions, we can calm our minds by just sitting down and following our breath.

Now, we are not trying to completely stop the mind from thinking, because that will just cause more frustration, more unhappiness. We simply want to slow down these 'I' thoughts. These thoughts of "I do this, I have to do that, How shall I do this..."

As we follow the breath, these whirlwinds of I-thoughts start to slow down. Slowly, slowly these winds calm down, and we experience peace. Peace, in the present moment! 

At first, this may be a bit challenging and the peace may just last for a few seconds, but it is precious! The more we practice calming the mind, the more can we rest in this peaceful silence. At some point, it becomes clear to us that we are this peaceful silence, it is nothing separate from us. What is more, is that it has always been there, we were just too busy with thoughts to experience it.

So, peace in the present moment is ours. At school, at work, on the train, wherever, whenever.
Peace is ours. It is our sacred birthright! 

As a river of the mind flows, we can observe the flowing, or we can jump in and be carried away. 

Related articles on this blog:

Thinking, thinking, overthinking - 29 November, 2020
Taming the mind - 04 September, 2020