According to a particular study it was seen that close to 99% percent of the thoughts, in a human mind, tend to be repetitive, with just 1% space left for any original or new thought, if at all.
The reason thoughts become repetitive is because of the law of attraction that gets activated each time a thought arises. Each thought has the power to attract onto itself more thoughts like it and thus strengthen its momentum. Once a thought gathers momentum, it can almost create a wall of thoughts that ends up stifling any sense of spaciousness in your mind.
Bringing in more space between thoughts
The more conscious you are the more likely it is that your attention will not get pulled into each thought that arises. Remember that attention is the fuel that provides momentum, or energy, to each thought. The unconscious state of “consciousness” is when it’s lost in the mind, thus fueling each thought that arises and carrying the burden of a wall of thoughts with no space for real intelligence or creativity to seep in.
There are several techniques that people use to “still” their mind. Having practiced most of these techniques myself, I found that the bottom line of all these practices is to “control” the mind. There may be some temporary benefits to be had from these practices, but they don’t give you any sense of freedom because you are still “caught” in the mind trying to control it.
When I got exhausted of all these techniques and got tired of trying to control the mind, I simply let go of it all. I just allowed the mind to do what it wanted to do, and paradoxically the mind started becoming more and more silent when it was not resisted anymore. The secret to slowing down thoughts is to simply relax and let go of the mind completely, and let it do what it wants to do on its own. You move into a space of relaxed presence.
Moving from thinking to presence
There is an incredible amount of intelligence and wisdom, in the simple state of active presence. When you are simply “aware” without the need to “think”, you are in a state of radical intelligence and creativity. Awareness is the unconditioned intelligence that has the capacity to bring forth something “new” into your experience.
The mind, in its conditioned patterns of thinking, can never hope to create any true solutions because it’s operating from the same structures that created the problem in the first place. The mind is a good tool for mechanical processes but it’s completely useless when you want to come up with “solutions”. Only from the unconditioned intelligence of “pure awareness” can anything new be born, and solutions have to be “new” because they cannot come from the past patterns that created the problem.
The more “present” you are, the less active the mind tends to be. Becoming more present may seem like a “practice”, and in a way it is, but there’s more here than just a technique. Once you start realizing that who you are in essence is the “pure awareness” that is prior to all forms, you automatically start resting in this space more and more – not because you have to, but because you realize it to be your home, who you really are.
Your thoughts slow down as presence increases
To be lost in thoughts is the old state of consciousness; it’s highly mediocre and does no justice to the limitless potential that lies within each being. Who you are in essence is the same intelligence that created this world and this tremendous potential for limitless creation is lost when your consciousness becomes trapped in “conditioned” thinking.
The transformed, evolved, or new, state of consciousness is to move through life in a simple state of “pure awareness” without needing to interpret and label everything through the “conditioning” of the mind. Let the “awareness” talk, let the “awareness” work, let the “awareness” write, and listen, and watch.
Moving through the conditioned mind, is like watching life through tinted glasses. You will never have clear vision. You don’t need these glasses, so just let go them and come to pure vision. The unconditioned intelligence of pure awareness has the capacity to transform your entire reality and it does so without creating any conflict in the totality.
Your mind will automatically start resting more and more, as it allows the intelligence of “pure awareness” to take over from it. You will notice that the pace of your noisy thoughts is slowing down and a silent intelligence is working in your life.
I understand this article, but sometimes I found very hard to stay in present moment, your mind pulling you from reality and you become fearful and anxious. I am working very hard to ignore the mind, stay in present any enjoy the moment. I don’t understand Sen how come it is so hard to stay in presence during the thoughts attacking you? In that moment I am anxious and trying to stay calm but the thoughts seems like they stick to you. Sorry my english is not that much great.
Cihan – You need to let go of “trying” so hard and move towards being relaxed, in a state of surrender to life. Trying to be present is just another strategy of the mind to keep itself in the center of your existence.
The reason why you get anxious is because you are trying to “resist” the thoughts, you are trying to “avoid” the thoughts, and you are using “staying present” as a technique to protect yourself from the thoughts. Stop trying to protect yourself and just let go, allow the the thought to be there completely and just accept what is. If you are feeling anxious, allow yourself to feel anxious completely and fully – don’t distance yourself from the feeling.
Don’t try to stay in the Now, just surrender to the Now. The reason thoughts are sticking to you is because you are “resisting” them. Allow them completely and they will not stick to you. Surrender to everything that arises, don’t resist, don’t protect yourself. Only through a complete surrender can you realize the freedom which is already here. Nothing can touch you if you don’t resist it.
The practice of “staying present” is only needed initially for a few months, it’s not something you need to hold onto, because then it just becomes another strategy of the mind to avoid being fully here – you can read my article “why am I finding it so hard to stay present” to get some insight on this.
Thank You.
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Thank you very much for all your great help and support!
Exercise has been a great relief to me when during stressful times! Thanks so much!
After reading, most the articles you have posted. I have a better understanding of the mind. But i still need work on that im 20 years old and recently moved states to set out for my goals and career plans. I feel my mind constantly doubts itself, always trying to second guess something and or bring me down like there are some type of monsters in my head. A lot of the times i think only few others deal with what i go through, mentally. Even if i know im strong minded always have been, but i feel as if my mind is thinking to hard about my future and all that. Its weird though, cause i also feel as if i like it at time because I like to build pressure on my mind simply cause it drives me to overcome that. But there comes times where it is overwhelming and it gets to me and its frustrating. I feel weak and that i shouldn’t let my mind make me feel this way. Any suggestions sen? – DJD
DJD, this condition of being constantly disturbed by self-doubt as well as a sense of defining your identity through your goals comes from the ego-force. Once needs to consciously let go of the momentum of this force in one’s being to find inner freedom and connection with inner wisdom. I’ve explained it in this post
http://www.calmdownmind.com/ego-force-brain-momentum-and-emotional-accumulation/