Mind Management through Meditation
Life is a beautiful journey! We are given an opportunity to choose peace & happiness, over stress & worries, with every passing moment, every step of this journey.
This does come with a disclaimer tough. In our lives, there are some people & situations we just cannot avoid, nor do we have an escape route with these people & situations. Does this already remind you of all those tough situations & the difficult people, from the past & the present? Well, it surely gets on our nerves to deal with such people, however this is what make our lives an interesting roller coaster ride, with so many unexpected turns, falls, lifts, and surprises.
Whenever a problem hits us, we always have a choice to smile & sail through or frown & drown deep. Not letting the roadblocks keep us from going forward, and continuing with the journey, no matter what, needs courage & grit! Just as fighting against all odds, giving up is a choice too. Most people give up and regret later. Thinking of this, if giving up is a choice then not giving into obstacles could be a choice as well! This would depend on the state of one’s mind. It would be apt to say, “Your Mind is the Manager of your life!”
Reminding ourselves & believing that life can be whatever we want it to be, comes from a relaxed and calm mind. Life is all about the choices we make. I would say, life already is everything we need it to be, we just have to make the right choices at the right time.
My life has brought me to a point of realization that we need to learn to develop a positive attitude towards everything & cultivate ways of looking at the good side, both within and around us. If we learn to manage life skillfully, we are blessed to live life FULLY! To do this, we have been given a priceless gift, the supremely powerful asset “the mind”! A wise saint once said, the secret to live life fully is to “Mind your Mind”. In the new age, human race has now come to a point where it is critically crucial to learn how to manage the mind. A troubled mind, an agitated mind, a disturbed mind, is most likely an underlying cause for almost all the problems we face today. Right from personal issues like heart breaks or sleepless nights to the biggest challenges humanity today faces like global warming, environmental change or wars & terrorism, everything is born out of a mind that is disturbed or discontent. All problems can be effectively solved & handled with the mind, by the mind and in the mind, for I all starts in the mind itself. Whatever we witness around us, has all originated in someone’s mind as a simple thought first and then it took concrete shape in actions that later manifested into what the world is today.
Everyone is looking for something more. Some want more time, others wish for more money; some desire bigger homes, better living conditions, while there are some who live to eat, some are looking for meaningfulness in their relationships, others striving to come out of relationships; some working hard for a higher education; others burning out for climbing up the corporate ladder; for some health is the top most priority, while others want more wealth! Thus, concluding that everyone wants something or reimage free the other in life. The list is endless. Even after achieving what one sets out for, soon comes in another desire! I wonder if we will ever be really happy & satisfied with whatever we have! Thinking of it, even the smallest of desires to the biggest of our dreams, arise as a tiny thought in the mind. Can you Imagine how powerful our mind is? The secret to live happily, peacefully is also hidden in the mind, with or without desires and aversions.
Is it possible to manage the mind? Given that the mind can never be caught, let us try & demystify this mysterious mind! Have you ever noticed how the mind is constantly running around? Even when your body is sitting in one place. I have heard people say, my mind is all over the place and yet it never stays in one place. Exactly like a child, just cannot be controlled! Strange and yet very true, the mind is just like a little child who refuses to listen. It is stubborn, it is childish, and it is playful. The mind plays so many games with us all the time. It makes up things that are not, and sometimes imagines things will never be!
By now, you surely have an idea of how important the mind is! While the world is busy with all kinds of management, be it, project management, resource management, content management, social media management, budget management, time management, wealth management, property management, financial management, PR management in the corporate or business sector, or even in one’s individual capacity health management, relationship management, career management, investment management, etc…we have totally forgotten that at the root of all types of management is “mind management”. Would you not agree with me, if I say that a person with a committed, strong, cognitive, yet relaxed, stress-free & happy mind would be more productive, more efficient, more mature, more responsible, more successful in the long run? Shouldn’t humanity travel back in time to go back to the ear when the education for the mind was given a heavy weightage in schools & universities, when managing your mind was given higher priority over the mundane, when learning how to be unshakable mentally & emotionally was something to feel proud of! Mindfulness is real, mind management through meditation is real. Mind management is a deep & vast subject, relevant in all aspects of life & rightly so! Life is hugely compartmentalized, with the mind being pulled in all possible directions. I would say, to gather the scattered mind, and bring all those flying thoughts together, would be a skill worth learning, worth investing time, efforts & money in! Being a little more aware of the thoughts that hover around the mind, being a little more alert of things the mind perceives, being mindful & focusing the mind to wherever we need, are all possible by training the mind through meditation. One needs to first learn under the guidance of a master & then practice the art of Mind Management through meditation. When one starts meditating, immediate benefits are seen. These are evident & visible in one’s behavior. More stillness in the mind, more relaxed and unflustered state of mind, more focus & clarity, sharper awareness, deeper alertness, and intuitive abilities, cognitive abilities, decision making skills, clear perception and many such benefits will start showing up with regular practice of meditation.
In conclusion, mind management is not only important but also urgent! A business that is people focused grows faster than a business that is profit focused. If the business owner wishes to grow more while retaining his/ her employees, he/she should invest considerable amount on time, efforts and money in upskilling his/ her team through Mind Management.