Working it Out Within...

Peace and Blessings. One of the things I noticed about my self lately is that schedule, commitments, decisions, the filtering of the everyday technological stimuli, and other "debris" has simply turned my mind and thoughts into a raceway - both in speed and noise. I also noticed that as time goes on, I am not clearing out space in my thoughts and mind, but yet just cramming more things in there to remember, recall, to do, to process, and to filter. I realized this mostly at night when I would have trouble falling to rest - sometimes not getting the point where I could sleep until well into the wee hours of the morning. The insomnia really started to take a toll on me so I realized I had to do something about this and learn to quiet my mind somehow.

Quieting the mind teaches us how to focus more on the present moment, instead of on the future or on the past. It is said that 80% of our thoughts are spent on the future and on the past. Worrying about future events creates stress, anxiety, and depression over things that have not yet happened. Thinking about past events causes us to criticize or judge ourselves for how we handled certain situations in the past, instead of letting them go and moving forward. By replaying these events again and again in our minds, we create the stress each time as well.

Learning to live in the moment and enjoy the moment for what it is can be a very empowering skill to learn. Not only does it help lessen our stress and anxiety, it also teaches us to appreciate what we do have, instead of worrying about what we don't have.

A co-worker lent me a book called Cares that Infest by Cecil A Poole, a book written in 1978 that really speaks to exactly what issues I was having. In the book, he discuss these "infestations" as our everyday problems and how they keep us true happiness. Basically, it is a realization that we all have problems - but its how we solve them that affects our individual development and our relationships with others. Learning, he emphasizes, comes from both our problems and from our solutions. He shows how to recognize specific issues - worry, insomnia, fear, and how to develop a practice philosophy of life to alleviate the burnden and heaviness that is caused by these difficulties. This particular book has given me the tools to begin to learn how to quiet and refocus my mind and energies the few important things in life that bring me happiness.

The other methodology that has really begun to help also is perpetual meditation. Many of us may practice meditation but often times it is done within a particular time and space, so the quieting of the mind is on a finite level. Instead I wanted to learn how to practice this on a regular basis, so that I can create a built-in filter so to speak, which will frequent my quiet moments, rather than merely dismiss them for a short period of time. I am still working on this one.

What ways do you "Work it out from within" or quiet your mind? Do you find that you worry about things that are not in your control, that you fear, or that you are unsure about? Let's hear your build on it.

PEACE
Victorious Lanasia Earth