Are you out of your mind yet?

Thoughts – they occupy a predominant chunk of our daily lives. We’re thinking all the time. When we wake up, during our daily ablutions, on the way to work, at work, on the way back from work, just before we sleep, and even while we’re sleeping, thoughts barge into our heads, in the form of dreams. What is this unending urge to think? Is it even an urge or is it just something programmed into our subconscious? Do we really have control over what we think and how much we think? Is it possible to stop thinking altogether and just exist? If this is achievable, then what is the function of the mind? Will it just be reduced to a useless component of the human body? I’ve found some of these answers through my own experience. And the answers didn’t come when I thought about the questions. I was simply out of my mind and everything fell into place. That said, it’s worth knowing that every spiritual query lies within. What I’m writing here is something you’ve always known intrinsically, but your mind’s ever-interfering nature has ensured that this knowledge continues to remain shrouded in mystery. It doesn’t have to be that way, anymore. You can control your mind, instead of your mind controlling you. When you stop thinking about the future or the past, and you reach the point of being out of your mind, you’ll notice that life begins to transform miraculously. Yet, this is no miracle. It’s an undeniable spiritual law. Many self-help books only talk about the benefits of thinking positive thoughts. I however believe that you can simply be positive, instead of thinking about it. We need more books on ‘positive being’ instead of the myriad ones on ‘positive thinking’. Eckhart Tolle, whom I deeply revere, did delve into present-moment awareness and mind control. However, I feel that real-life examples of putting this to practice lend greater assurance to the spiritual seeker.

I’ve combined present-moment awareness with affirmations and applied this to my relationships, finances, and career. I’m no guru, preacher or messiah. I’m just one among the many people who are trying to get life to work for them. After reading countless self-help books, I realized that a majority of them lionize the mind. Law of attraction, positive thinking, visualization techniques, past-life regression, all use the mind in some way or the other to achieve desires. They argue that you must focus on your desires for an extended period of time in order for them to manifest. Yet, I believe that the only way to access abundance is by not over-engaging the mind. It’s important to have desires, but it’s just as important to be detached from the fulfillment of those desires. Once you’ve released your desires into the universe, simply step back. In my own experience, whenever I’ve had a desire but not been too attached to its manifestation, the desire has materialized almost all the time. The mind loves to think more about the outcome, and it is precisely this act of the mind that stops us from getting our good.

The mind has some splendid functions and it can help us in many ways, such as acquiring knowledge and understanding things. And we can continue to employ it for those uses. But we would do well to eliminate an undesirable feature of the mind – that of constant contemplation. In other words, we must learn to stop thinking all the time. And if a compulsive thinker like me could break free from the shackles of incessant thinking, I’m sure anyone can. Just keep an open mind, till it’s open enough for you to get out of it!