Nature of Human Mind
Many of us hold great curiosity, our mind is excited about new insights and knowledge. But many finds it difficult to persist in lasting change. Instead of mastering the nature of our mind, we conclude something is not useful or we label ourselves as failures when we fail to change.
The first step to change is about seeing clearly the nature of our mind. The second step is to cultivate a sense of ease and friendliness towards our supposed limitations and flaws (again, just part of human nature). Let’s truly allow ourselves to embody a beginner’s mind…
Be students of this school... called life.
Muscles of our Mind
As a human being that hopes to live with ease, we need to exercise the muscles of our mind. These are muscles we neglect or never taught to be aware of.
Present Moment Focus
(vs Scatteredness)
Pausing
(vs Reactivity)
Embodiment & Being
(vs Living in the Head)
Objective Wakefulness
(vs Judgement or
Over-Identification)
Gentle Courage
(vs Avoidance)
Letting Be & Allowing
(vs Perpetual Striving or
Tense Resistance)
Kindness & Self-Compassion
(vs Harsh Blaming of
Self/Others)
To Live how we want to Live
takes Practice
Confronting the mind can be extremely challenging. It doesn’t always act as you wish and can leave us feeling out-of-control. My observation of myself and others is that we have mostly misunderstood the nature of our mind and hence are unable to accept and master it for what it is. We don’t just change our mind with the snap of a finger.
If I have been right-handed all my life, the only way to use my left hand to write is through practice. It is the same with all tendencies and habits we have in our mind.
While our hands is made up of many individual muscles, to start training all of them to write begins with just picking up the pen to practice writing. Similarly, the simplicity of mindfulness practice is that, if done with an embodied and trained mindfulness teacher, a single practice will encompass the ‘training’ of most, if not all the muscles illustrated above. Like all other practices, it needs to be repeated many, many times.
The skills of mindful living can be etched right into the brain as a vibrant and strong resource, widening our perspective of choices to live free and at ease. When we feel free and at ease, there is space for all kinds of possibilities.
All about Practice.
If you like to gain Clarity
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