To avoid stress, do not let your mind wander

Your calm mind is the ultimate weapon against your challenges. FILE PHOTO | NMG 

By SRI BHARATAM

More by this Author

Summary

• Your calm mind is the ultimate weapon against your challenges, so relax (Bryant Mcgill): Be watchful when your mind is galloping, and thoughts are let loose.  
• You can’t stop the waves, but you can learn to surf (Jon Kabat Zinn): Stop worrying about things that you can’t control or change.  Instead, learn to accept and ride on.
• The sky is the limit, not your mind (Marilyn Monroe): Great things never come when your mind wants to stay in its comfort zone, take risks & march ahead.

Once a monk was walking from one town to another with a few of his followers. While they were travelling, they happened to pass a lake.

They stopped there, and the monk told one of his disciples: “I am thirsty. Do get me some water from that lake there.”

The disciple walked up to the lake. When he reached it, he noticed that some people were washing clothes in the water and, right at that moment, a few cows cart started crossing through the lake. As a result, the water became very muddy, very turbid.

The disciple thought, “How can I give this muddy water to my master to drink!” So, he came back and told the monk, “The water in there is very muddy. I don’t think it is fit to drink.”

After about half an hour, the monk asked the same disciple to go back to the lake and get him some water to drink. The disciple obediently went back to the lake.

This time he found that the lake had absolutely clear water in it. The mud had settled down and the water above it looked fit to be had. So, he collected some water in a pot and brought it to his master.

The monk looked at the water, and then he looked up at the disciple and said, “See what you did to make the water clean. You let it be ... and the mud settled down on its own, and you got clear water! Your mind is also like that. When it is disturbed, just let it be... Give it a little time. It will settle down on its own.

You don’t have to put in any effort to calm it down. It will happen. It is effortless.”

We live in a world overrun by stress, where we are constantly surrounded by anxiety, fear, expectations, frustrations, disappointments and so on. This stress is so destructive that we lose sleep, peace, health and happiness over and over so much so that, we start losing our belief, faith and hope.  

The simple solution to this complex, chronic problem is to “Calm your mind and be at peace with yourself” so that life becomes much easier and things start to fall into place.

Here are some pearls of wisdom from wise men on not allowing your mind to wander or control you.

Gems of wisdom

1. Your calm mind is the ultimate weapon against your challenges, so relax (Bryant Mcgill): Be watchful when your mind is galloping, and thoughts are let loose.  They can set a storm unless you allow your mind to relax and think at peace.

2. You can’t stop the waves, but you can learn to surf (Jon Kabat Zinn): Stop worrying about things that you can’t control or change.  Instead, learn to accept and ride on.

3. The sky is the limit, not your mind (Marilyn Monroe): Great things never come when your mind wants to stay in its comfort zone, take risks & march ahead.

4. We can never find peace in the outer world until we make peace with ourselves (Dalai Lama): Acceptance of who you are with all your positives & negatives, capabilities & sensitivities is the first step in the realization of your true self.

5. Stop letting people who do so little for you to control so much of your mind, feelings and emotions (Will Smith): Stop living your life by others definition, you are who you are and not whom they want you to be.