Mind Over Matter: The Meditation Club

Discussion in 'Education & Personal Growth' started by Gauri03, Feb 14, 2018.

  1. Viswamitra

    Viswamitra IL Hall of Fame

    Messages:
    13,370
    Likes Received:
    24,115
    Trophy Points:
    538
    Gender:
    Male
    How do we make it say "No" for more thoughts unnecessary for life? The mind has a tendency to never say no to anything and keep accepting as much thoughts as possible without worrying about the capacity to handle. Every thought of the past or future when it is analyzed creates an encryption in the mind for recall when necessary. Today's priorities keeps the mind in the present moment once the mind is focused. An attempt to do our actions skillfully to the best of our ability, lovingly without any complaints and selflessly with focus on the exemplary processes than the outcome, keeps the mind clean.

    Viswa
     
  2. Gauri03

    Gauri03 Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

    Messages:
    6,211
    Likes Received:
    13,034
    Trophy Points:
    445
    Gender:
    Female
    What is mindfulness? For those still looking for answers, here's John Kabat-Zinn on mindfulness. 12 minute watch.



    ”It’s not a doing at all, it’s a being. And being doesn’t take any time”
     
    kaniths, HazelPup and Rajijb like this.
  3. Gauri03

    Gauri03 Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

    Messages:
    6,211
    Likes Received:
    13,034
    Trophy Points:
    445
    Gender:
    Female
    Your mind seems uneasy. Ever considered meditation? It can help you challenge unwelcome thoughts and let them pass without clouding your thinking.
     
    rachaputi likes this.
  4. rachaputi

    rachaputi Platinum IL'ite

    Messages:
    1,866
    Likes Received:
    4,388
    Trophy Points:
    285
    Gender:
    Female
    Thank you so much dear.. yes I tried as part of Yoga.. I try whenever I feel stressed, not full fledged though.. Thanks for reminding that... I practice again
     
    Gauri03 likes this.
  5. Viswamitra

    Viswamitra IL Hall of Fame

    Messages:
    13,370
    Likes Received:
    24,115
    Trophy Points:
    538
    Gender:
    Male
    There was an innocent inquiry in our spiritual center from a 20 year old about how to control her bad thoughts. I gave the following answer and I thought I should share it here and elicit other methods from elite members here in this Forum:

    Question: What extent we can control our bad thoughts?

    Answer: First of all, creation of thoughts are inevitable and unmanageable for a human beings to control. It is spontaneous either arising out of our prior or current experiences that unfold for us. What we can do is to get detached to our thoughts and keep observing them like a third party. When we renounce the ownership of thoughts, half the battle is won as we don't feel the need to execute bad thoughts.

    There are many ways to handle our thoughts:

    1) One way is to observe them and act on only what we consider relevant for our personal growth and development and derive conclusion that other irrelevant thoughts as unnecessary. Lingering thoughts keep coming back again and again and therefore moving them to dust bin is essential exercise.

    2) Second way is to divert our mind to something much more important, just like drawing a bigger line next to a smaller line in a piece of paper to make the original line smaller.

    3) Third way is to practice silencing the mind and create a conducive environment to calm the mind so that we can easily discriminate good vs bad thoughts. Silencing the mind is different from observing the mind.

    4) Fourth way is to change our habits in order to change the pattern of our thoughts. Sometimes, rebooting the way we think also helps. Habits have considerable influence in our thoughts.

    5) Fifth way is to practice thoughtlessness for a few minutes everyday and experience the bliss. This bliss itself will make us relish thoughtless state of mind.

    6) Sixth way is to practice being in the present moment as much as possible occupying the mind in the current activity completely. For example, appreciate the courteous drivers on the road instead of contemplating how to resolve a dispute at work/home.

    A study was conducted to find out what is one thing common to the prisoners in the correctional facility and one thing that makes people end their lives through suicide attempts and interestingly the answer is one and the same. They don't value their lives and once they begin valuing them, their thinking changes.

    This study teaches us how valuable our lives are. Once we begin preserving and celebrating the value of our lives, automatically good thoughts would be our focus to develop our character. We will learn to break free from the prison of bad thoughts.
     
    kaniths and Gauri03 like this.
  6. kaniths

    kaniths IL Hall of Fame

    Messages:
    5,628
    Likes Received:
    11,612
    Trophy Points:
    445
    Gender:
    Female
    Bump.
    This line made me wonder and on a different pov I have some questions. :blush:

    People and relationships evolve over time. Our priorities change, and one of us might choose to part ways. How to cope with the loss of relationships when the loss is felt only on one side? How to recover from the hurt and heal ourselves properly from all the pain? Several months and even years later too, somethings from the past continues to haunt. Though the memories last for only a few flash seconds, the effect felt is profound. How to let it all go? I can acknowledge the feelings, there is acceptance but I feel I'm stuck at that phase, there is no moving forward. :smirk:
     
    jskls and Gauri03 like this.
  7. Viswamitra

    Viswamitra IL Hall of Fame

    Messages:
    13,370
    Likes Received:
    24,115
    Trophy Points:
    538
    Gender:
    Male
    @kaniths,

    I know your question is addressed to @girvani but I am taking the liberty to take a shot at your question and at least how I handled the situation when it happened in my personal life.

    Conflict Resolution

    A profound thought that not every relationship is maintainable is a good place to begin letting it go. If one has made a sincere effort to resolve the conflict, guilt will play no role in the mind. Subconscious emotions associated with the relationship is creating the sense of hurt.

    In one situation, I was overwhelmed with guilt and immediately I sent a very positive love (mental bunch of flowers) to the person, the guilt disappeared. In another situation, I simulated a nice relationship through visualization and it removed the pain. In another occasion, I approached it by building a great relationship with someone else and considered that as a replacement of the previous relationship. No matter who is at fault, forgiving first and then forgetting what happened will contribute substantially for personal growth and development.

    The fire is the word/action, emotion associated with it is burning wound and forgiving/forgetting/sending love is aloe.
     
    jskls, Gauri03 and kaniths like this.
  8. kaniths

    kaniths IL Hall of Fame

    Messages:
    5,628
    Likes Received:
    11,612
    Trophy Points:
    445
    Gender:
    Female
    @Viswamitra I didn't address the question to anyone specific. The quote is a reference only. Appreciate any responses. :blush:

    Thank you for your words, need time to understand and process, will get bk to you soon.
     
    Last edited: Aug 11, 2018
    Viswamitra likes this.
  9. Gauri03

    Gauri03 Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

    Messages:
    6,211
    Likes Received:
    13,034
    Trophy Points:
    445
    Gender:
    Female
    An important aspect that we tend to forget is that not every conflict needs resolving, and not every relationship is worth maintaining. Sometimes we are left with no choice but to thank people for the good moments and let them go.

    How and why we let go is an individual choice. I give people second, third, fourth, chances all the time, even after having been let down repeatedly, but a breach of faith is where I draw the line. When someone betrays my confidence then I have to distance myself from them. It is not an easy thing to bid adieu to someone you really like but when the trust is gone, no amount of conflict resolution strategies can bring it back.
     
    sindmani, Srama, kaniths and 2 others like this.
  10. Gauri03

    Gauri03 Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

    Messages:
    6,211
    Likes Received:
    13,034
    Trophy Points:
    445
    Gender:
    Female
    There are a few techniques drawn from cognitive therapies specifically Rational Emotive Behavior therapy (REBT) and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) that are very helpful in emotion regulation and distress tolerance. I'm short on time right now but I will write in depth about how you can apply some of those techniques to work through feelings of rejection and hurt. More in the next post.

    Starting my meditation logging again.

    8/20/18 -- 15 minutes guided meditation
     
    sindmani and kaniths like this.

Share This Page