The focused mind

There are some differences between the mind of a normal human being and someone who has undergone a long spiritual training. A lot of thoughts are running permanently through a normal mind. There is permanently action which makes it hard to focus on something and also to find peace on mind. Especially today a lot of stress, sorrows and thousand other things are occupying the mind. It seems that we are driven without the chance to take a breath. When the mind is permanently occupied with running thoughts, then it is hard to focus, to perceive and to be open for insights. So indeed normal people often lack of these abilities, – focus, perception and intuition. These three most important aspects or abilities of the mind unfold only when the mind is in a peaceful mood, when stillness is reached. The old Yogis spoke of a jungle full of monkeys regarding the normal mind.
But the rush of thoughts is not the only problem. The state of the soul, – the state of the emotions has great impacts on the mind. Experts in psychology speak about the “fog of emotions”. This means, when you are in a high emotional state, maybe full of anger or fears, then you cannot think clearly, you are in an emotional fog. In fact you have to wait until you feel peaceful to be able to think in a useful way. This is the reason why people in anger or other emotions are not open for intellectual arguments. In fact when you are full of emotions it is hard or impossible to make reasonable decisions.
Then we have the phenomenon that people have a tendency to live more in the past or in the future than in the present moment. The past is gone and the future hasn´t arrived so far. The only real time we can experience it the present moment. The past you cannot change and the future is created right here and now, so it is useful to be completely aware of the present moment to make the best decisions for your future.
At last we have a very important phenomenon which most people know. It is when the imagination gets out of control. So people start quickly to imagine all kinds of future versions, – often not good ones but mostly bad ones where terrible things happen, with fears, sorrows, suffering, etc. In fact most people are masters of meditation, – unfortunately only of the worst cases which normally never happen. With this they increase a lot of bad emotions, stress, fears and they block and limit themselves because of bad expectations. When you fear something, you limit your chances of action and quite often these fears have no real basis. They are a product of imagination. If people use their imagination for the creation of positive visions with positive feelings, their lives would become much easier and happier.
Let´s take now a look at the mind of a master. First of all the mind of a master is perfectly developed in power and in quality. This means that the aspects of the mind according to the five elements – awareness, will, intellect, feeling and consciousness are powerful and refined. The mind of a master is clear and still like the surface of a lake where you can look down to the bottom or where the sky is mirrored perfectly, without the smallest wave. Thoughts enter the mind and will be processed by the intellect only in a controlled way. This means, the master allows only useful, positive thoughts in his mind and keeps bothering thoughts outside. He makes a conscious choice of the thoughts he wants to work with. In fact only a few thoughts are going through his mind. This makes him open for a deep and comprehensive perception of himself and his surroundings, other people, etc. and he is able to receive a high form of intuition, – useful guiding insights. He can easily focus his whole attention on something, on a single thought or on someone who is talking with him, – a perfect concentration.
And certainly not only his mind is perfectly developed, strengthened and refined but also his soul. His feelings are perfectly balanced and refined, so that he has peace on mind and soul. A perfect balance means to be centered and when you are centered you can act from your source of power, you can act in full control over the situation. When you are in imbalance, then you have to react – you are not free. Real freedom is a matter of balance, of being centered, of having a choice for action.
A master lives in the present moment. His mind is not in the past and not in the future. His mind is free, clear and open. Freedom brings peace and offers the best choices.
A master does not misuse his abilities to focus and meditate about worst cases or bad emotions. He uses his imagination together with positive feelings of love, trust and gratefulness for useful and positive visions, purposes. And so he realizes what is good for him and others. A master has always a positive influence on his fellow men.
We come now to an important and interesting question. How does a master cope with bad situations?
A normal person gets quickly involved in imagining worst cases and producing bad emotions, fears, stress, etc. This causes a lot of trouble in his mind, in his soul and in his body. Stress hormones are produced in masses which are meant to allow the person to fight or escape in a dangerous situation. The problem is that today no one escapes and no one fights. Instead everyone tries to survive the bad situation somehow. This is certainly quite unhealthy as the produced extra energies and hormones are not used. This is somehow toxic for the body.
So indeed we face here two main problems – the unhealthy use of imagination which produces bad thoughts and bad emotions and the production of stress hormones and extra energies which cannot be used adequately.
The master has a different perception of bad situations. He questions the situation – how bad is it really? And in most cases bad situations are unpleasant, uncomfortable but not as bad as we have to imagine worst case scenarios and to produce extra energy to escape or fight. It is indeed more a matter of the setting of your mind. So a master keeps control, his freedom of choice and action, and he stays “cool”. This makes it much easier to cope with a bad situation in a useful, positive way without bad effects on your health.
So when you have to face a “bad” situation, then you should ask yourself – is it really bad? Is it really necessary to build up fears or anger? Is the worst case really probable? And if the worst case happens, how long do you need to forget it completely? One day? Two days? So you can calm down mentally already. Then you can set yourself into a positive state of mind and soul, with a positive radiance, a smile on your face and peace in your soul. In such a state you can cope better with all bad situations. You appear like a winner. And when you feel a little bit nervous then do what the old Yogis did – breathe in a controlled, regular and deep rhythm to release your stress, to calm down and to restore the peace of your soul. And then you are ready to face bad situations.
Imagine you take a ride in a roller coaster. Normally you show symptoms of stress, maybe fear and maybe you already think about how it is to fall out of the roller coaster and being smashed on the ground. So you raise your bad feelings and stress hormones flood your system to make you escape this bad situation.
Now think of the master and how he would behave. First of all you calm down with some breaths. Then you make yourself aware that the roller coaster is proved and technically save. Thousands of people use it and nothing happens. So seen from your intellect there is no reason to show stress or fear or to imagine the worst case. Here you differentiate clearly between imagination and reality. Now you know that everything is okay and that you can keep your inner peace. You get into the roller coaster and you just focus yourself on the natural, regular breathing to keep harmony in your soul. And then the wonder happens – although you are moving with high speed up and down in the roller coaster, you feel absolutely relaxed, just breathing in a regular rhythm and enjoying the ride.
This is just an example. You can use this technique for all bad situations, independent if you have to talk in public, if you have a meeting with your boss, if you have to eat something which you find disgusting or if you meet someone who is ugly. In all cases you can focus on a relaxed state of mind and soul, so that you can cope in best way with your present challenge. And then you will experience the wonder that you survive in a positive way without real problems.
It may take a little bit of training but everyone can do it. And I must say that this centered, focused and relaxed state of mind and soul is one main point of success. Increased awareness, inner peace, a positive attitude, feeling centered, full concentration and then you have the best basis for success in life, business and spiritual matters.
Become a master and develop the mind of a master.