To the mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders. – Lao Tzu
So how do we begin to take the mind out of the driver’s seat?
Have you ever stopped to wonder who is observing all the mental chatter going on inside your head? Who is the witness?
Awareness, or consciousness, has been defined by many Eastern spiritual practices as that which bears witness to all of our life experience. It is awareness which sits in silence behind the mental chatter.
Our ability to perceive awareness increases as we are able to still or quiet the mind. By cultivating awareness, we step out of reactivity and begin to interact with the world from a place of personal empowerment.
Discernment is a bi-product of awareness. By stilling or quieting the mind we are increasing the space between our mind’s judgments and our responses to those judgments. From this place we have greater capacity to steer our interpretations of information and to incorporate insights gained from other faculties into our decision-making. In this way we are more likely to generate responses that are sound and aligned with what resonates for us personally.
Additionally, in cultivating awareness, we have the opportunity to change the workings of the mind on a more permanent basis. If we find that the mind is consistently leading us down ineffective paths of decision-making, we have the capacity to change behavior by extending the moment between habituated thinking and reactive behavior.
In those moments, we are afforded the chance to make different choices and establish new neural networks of response. These new responses, if repeated over time, can result in more life-affirming behaviors.
How we choose to walk through life has a significant impact on how we perceive ourselves, what we’re able to accomplish, and our level of happiness. We can begin everyday with a new commitment to make more life-affirming choices. Bringing awareness to the forefront of our experience is an imperative step to living a life in alignment with our heart’s desires.
What strategies do you use to quiet your mind and lessen the mental chatter?
Please feel free to leave a comment. What you say could be helpful to someone else!