28 Mar I am in control of my mind (JOHN IZZO)
Being awake is about being mindful—truly noticing what is going on. A simple definition of mindfulness is “the practice of maintaining a nonjudgmental state of heightened or complete awareness of one’s thoughts, emotions, or experiences on a moment-to-moment basis.” To be awake and mindful is to have a heightened sense of awareness of what is going on in your inner mind, the temple of your happiness.
The two key elements of mindfulness are moment-to moment awareness and non judgment. When we are mindful, we are consistently aware of what is happening in our inner mind and in a place of curiosity rather than judgment. Once we understand these two concepts, we are prepared to learn how to master the thieves. Though we want to kick them out of the house, we must recognize that a thief is part of our own inner nature, not some foreign visitor. Humans like to control things, and at times that serves us well; but when we let our desire for control rule the house, we find misery rather than happiness.
We cannot always control our instinctual thoughts, but we can be mindful by noticing them, by being in a place of non judgment, and then choosing a different path. We can decide what thought patterns get a permanent bedroom in our inner temple. We must recognize that the thoughts we allow to rule us are a choice. But many people act as though they are not in charge of their own minds, such as wanting to control the future by incessant worrying.
The final and most critical aspect of mindfulness is the capacity to gently brush aside something once we become aware of it. This step is critical when it comes to changing any behavior that ultimately doesn’t serve us.
To explain this let me tell you about my first experiences learning meditation. My first meditation teacher was Deborah Klein, who was the wife of my co-author for my first book, Awakening Corporate Soul: Four Paths to Unleash the Power of People at Work. Deborah had practiced yoga for many years. Although the core idea of meditation is to quiet the mind, training it to stay in the present moment, the greater goal of meditation is to become the master of the inner temple. Many people talk about what is called the monkey mind, which is a Buddhist term meaning “unsettled; restless; capricious; whimsical; fanciful; inconstant; confused; indecisive; uncontrollable.” The goal of meditation is to train the mind to be the opposite of this: aware, awake, and constant.
When I first started meditating, it was difficult to quiet my mind; some worry, task, or thought would invade my peace. I asked Deborah, “What do I do when distracting thoughts come into my mind?” She said, “When a distracting thought comes into your mind, I want you to simply be aware of it and then imagine your hand gently brushing it aside, as if to say, ‘Not now.’”
In other words, with no judgment or resistance but instead with calm awareness, notice the thought and then sweep it aside.
This is a subtle but important part of working with thieves and training our minds for happiness. The last thing we should do is scold ourselves for the thief’s presence. That which we resist persists.
I admit that it took many hours of training before this distracted mind could be trained to focus. In the beginning it felt like I was having to constantly imagine my hands brushing aside thoughts. But soon I realized a powerful truth, one that forever changed how I saw everything in my inner world. I realized that I am awake and alert; I am in control of my mind. The temple has a ruler, and it is me. Soon the habit of clearing the mind dominated the habit of allowing whatever thought arrived to take up residence.
The Five Thieves of Happiness
JOHN IZZO
