Achieving Balance - A simple book that will change your Life
includes 60+ Artists illustrations
Free on Kindle and Itunes
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1. A peaceful mind is a productive mind
Beneath the stormy waves there is a quiet place where only you can go, a place of calm, of safety, a place to reflect, to observe but most of all to simply be.
Many of us start the day with a caffeine shot in our cappuccino, followed by the commute to work and a hectic schedule. Often the day is full on, juggling children, taxi runs to after-school clubs, work commitments and client socialising.
These activities all act as accelerants to the mind, making it run faster and faster.
If you think about a Formula One car going around a racetrack, it is doing one of two things, either accelerating or hard braking to get round safely.
Your mind is much the same, and yet modern lives create the acceleration but people tend to forget about the need for braking. To create the balance you need to do activities that slow and calm the mind as well as stimulating it.
For many of us a busy mind is whirring away without us even noticing it, it’s just normal.
So, the first thing to do is to observe your mind in action.
Sit quietly and think of each passing thought as being like a cloud. Normally people attach themselves to each thought and experience the full emotions within it. This time you are going to simply observe the thoughts like passing clouds that come and go, without the emotion.
We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves.
The Buddha
Your mind is like one of those automatic tennis-ball serving machines that keeps firing tennis balls out. Each tennis ball could be a thought. When you observe your mind and your thoughts you will most likely find that it is running fast, like a runaway train.
The tennis ball machine can be switched off, but can you stop having thoughts? Try it.
Your mind behaves like a puppy dog. It can sit still for a moment and then it runs off again and has to always be brought back to the position of rest.
Practice observing and detaching yourself from your thoughts. Try to go say 10 seconds without a thought and then 20 seconds and so on until you can sit for a few minutes without any thoughts. It is harder than you might think.
Allow yourself a little time each day to slow your mind down.
It has the same effect as rebooting a computer; it just brings everything back down to earth so that your mind can work more efficiently.
Calmness in your mind leads to clarity of purpose, a clear sense of direction and a sense of oneness with your surrounding.
Visualise a muddy pool, where you cannot see the bottom whilst there are ripples. When it settles then eventually you would be able to see the bottom. Calming your mind has the same effect, cutting out the background noise and enabling you to see and think clearly.
A busy mind is like being thrown around on the surface of the sea, with waves charged with emotion crashing all around. Imagine yourself withdrawing to a place a few metres under the surface where you can observe what is happening but where it is calm and peaceful.
Try this visualisation. Think of your place under the water as somewhere that you feel safe, maybe some fond memories from your childhood or from your family. Try and return to this place for a few minutes each day or when you feel stressed. It is relaxing to detach yourself from events so that you are simply observing them rather than living and feeling the emotions.
Some people say that they just do not have time to practice techniques to slow down their mind. The reality is that it takes a few minutes, it can be fitted in on the train or even just before you go to sleep, and the benefits of a greater sense of wellbeing and calmness are enormous.
Just try it! Have you ever seen a spiritual master who doesn’t have a peaceful mind and who looks stressed?
A Peaceful mind is a productive mind. Balance means controlling your thoughts rather than your thoughts controlling you.
Beneath the stormy waves there is a quiet place where only you can go, a place of calm, of safety, a place to reflect, to observe but most of all to simply be.
Many of us start the day with a caffeine shot in our cappuccino, followed by the commute to work and a hectic schedule. Often the day is full on, juggling children, taxi runs to after-school clubs, work commitments and client socialising.
These activities all act as accelerants to the mind, making it run faster and faster.
If you think about a Formula One car going around a racetrack, it is doing one of two things, either accelerating or hard braking to get round safely.
Your mind is much the same, and yet modern lives create the acceleration but people tend to forget about the need for braking. To create the balance you need to do activities that slow and calm the mind as well as stimulating it.
For many of us a busy mind is whirring away without us even noticing it, it’s just normal.
So, the first thing to do is to observe your mind in action.
Sit quietly and think of each passing thought as being like a cloud. Normally people attach themselves to each thought and experience the full emotions within it. This time you are going to simply observe the thoughts like passing clouds that come and go, without the emotion.
We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves.
The Buddha
Your mind is like one of those automatic tennis-ball serving machines that keeps firing tennis balls out. Each tennis ball could be a thought. When you observe your mind and your thoughts you will most likely find that it is running fast, like a runaway train.
The tennis ball machine can be switched off, but can you stop having thoughts? Try it.
Your mind behaves like a puppy dog. It can sit still for a moment and then it runs off again and has to always be brought back to the position of rest.
Practice observing and detaching yourself from your thoughts. Try to go say 10 seconds without a thought and then 20 seconds and so on until you can sit for a few minutes without any thoughts. It is harder than you might think.
Allow yourself a little time each day to slow your mind down.
It has the same effect as rebooting a computer; it just brings everything back down to earth so that your mind can work more efficiently.
Calmness in your mind leads to clarity of purpose, a clear sense of direction and a sense of oneness with your surrounding.
Visualise a muddy pool, where you cannot see the bottom whilst there are ripples. When it settles then eventually you would be able to see the bottom. Calming your mind has the same effect, cutting out the background noise and enabling you to see and think clearly.
A busy mind is like being thrown around on the surface of the sea, with waves charged with emotion crashing all around. Imagine yourself withdrawing to a place a few metres under the surface where you can observe what is happening but where it is calm and peaceful.
Try this visualisation. Think of your place under the water as somewhere that you feel safe, maybe some fond memories from your childhood or from your family. Try and return to this place for a few minutes each day or when you feel stressed. It is relaxing to detach yourself from events so that you are simply observing them rather than living and feeling the emotions.
Some people say that they just do not have time to practice techniques to slow down their mind. The reality is that it takes a few minutes, it can be fitted in on the train or even just before you go to sleep, and the benefits of a greater sense of wellbeing and calmness are enormous.
Just try it! Have you ever seen a spiritual master who doesn’t have a peaceful mind and who looks stressed?
A Peaceful mind is a productive mind. Balance means controlling your thoughts rather than your thoughts controlling you.