The power of MIND-fullness!

What the Chipmunk said...

I stood out at the birdfeeder and poured in new seed.  Before I was done, out came a chipmunk foraging on the ground right beneath my feet. That tame?  Or was the lesson rather for me?  I stood there and just watched it gathering seed--the pouches on the side of its faces ballooned (like the one in this picture).  Then, as I stood there silently, the chipmunk said to me:

"Why are you racing around foraging for food?  Be still.  You will be fed.  Be still and breathe in your own air.  You will be refreshed."  Then for the first time, I understood the practice of MIND-fullness.  Not being full of your mind.  But directing your mind to focus on life and the living.  Not tearing off into the future.  No longer carrying the past.  But still, being still in that moment.  Controlling your thoughts.  Not being driven by them.  Most of us are full of our thoughts --and are dragged off into past or future.  It sucks away the present.  Our thoughts drag us back to the past---or into the future.  Peace comes when we direct ourselves to be WITH ourselves in the NOW.

How do we deal with thoughts that drag us back or forward iun time?  You have to first understand the heart of the problem….and that is what Eckhart Tolle’s book, The Power of NOW, has helped me to learn.  The brain is your tool which you can direct.  You can direct it toward the past, present or future.  Or, you can get so sucked into the thoughts it generates that you BECOME your thoughts.  Like a runaway car, it speeds off with you.  You live in the illusion that you can no longer direct it.  

Take the movie Speed. They were strapped to a bus that would explode if they went below 50mph—and sooner or later, they would eventually run out of gas!  When our minds “speed,” we yield control to our brains—which should be the tool and not the driver,,,,the tool to conduct our thinking and living—not to drive our lives.  

Yesterday’s post said the same thing with the illustration of sofa and chairs.  You can CHOOSE the chair of the past, future or to sit on the sofa in the present – and be with yourself.  You can direct your thoughts. 

Certainly there are extreme conditions in which medication can slow the thought processes so you can stop the bus from “speeding” you.  The right medication can help you regain control to direct your thinking. How many drug themselves—not RX prescriptions—just to gain control of their thinking which lies at the heart of their worry, anxiety and fear?  

Exercise

• Clear your thoughts.
• Close your eyes.
• Listen to your breathing.
• Direct yourself, your thinking, to your breathing.
• Each time the thoughts stray—past or present—bring your thoughts back.  

The goal is to strengthen yourself to be in the present and be unhooked from past or future.  See how that feels to you.  Renewing?  Refreshing?  A breath of air from your own lungs.