Observe the Mind

You are the observer of the mind. You are the witness of the mind. The mind is not you. It is your instrument. It is your tool. It is like when you drive a car. You don’t say the car is me. The car is a tool. You can stop it, you can start it , you can park it, and you can leave it alone. Observe the mind. How to do it: you realize that the mind functions in a certain way. So you have to learn about the mechanics of the mind, how the mind works.  Here is an article on 5 Practices to Keep the Mind Elevated.

Understand how the Mind works

The mind is like a horse running in the wild. You catch the horse, you put the reins on it, and you know what happens? Can you tame the horse? No. You have seen the cowboy movies and how difficult it is to tame a horse, to break a horse. It doesn’t like to be tamed. Meaning, it doesn’t like to be disciplined. The mind, the nature of the mind, does not like to be tamed. It does not like to be told what to do, does not like to be disciplined, because it likes to run wild. In order for you to tame it, you cannot force your mind, you have to be a friend with it.  This short article talks about How to Progress towards Peace of Mind.

You have to be friends with the horse and then slowly, slowly you show it that you are the master. You tell it where to go, you encourage it. If it goes in the wrong direction, you say no. You have to go slowly. You have to be friends with your mind.

That means if you hate your mind and you say, “Mind stop it! I told you not to think so much about it. Why do you think so much about it?! I don’t like you.”

Would it work? No, the mind would go wild, it would think of 10,000 things.

Do Not Force the Mind

You need to be consistent, patient, and steady. You have to gently bring it back. If the mind goes away, bring it back and focus on Om, bring it back over and over again. After some time, the “horse” will calm down by bringing it back to Om. After some time it knows the reins. It knows what the master wants and it just will stay there with Om, Om, Om, Om, and then you can go deeper and feel oh so good. You cannot force the mind, you cannot beat the mind.  This article talks about How to Avoid Unhealthy Habits of the mind.

Become a Witness to the Mind

Meditation is constant observation of the mind. If you think you are the mind can you observe the mind? In order for you to observe the mind you have to know that you are not the mind. You are not the thoughts. You are not the emotions.

Lets say you have emotions in the mind. You say, ” I am angry. I am so angry today.”

Instead you say, “there is anger in my mind.” The mind is an object, something that can be seen.

Bring your mind to OM. Find your point of focus. Get in touch with the inner silence, the place of fulfillment, the place of joy. Let your thoughts come and go, have one pointed concentration, silence for a few minutes. Recharge yourself. Stay as a witness.  You can learn more about the importance of meditation in this article Understanding Why we need to Meditate.