The Mind and the Thoughts

The mind is our centre of command. 
It alerts us, makes us think, plan, solve, laugh, worry, wonder, suffer, desire 

We are controlled by our emotions.. if we feel sad, if we feel bored, if we feel anxious., if we feel hungry, if we feel threatened. 

Emotions are the expression of the mind.. cause emotions come from thoughts.. How do we know how we feel? through our thoughts…

And the mind rarely wants to be calm, doing nothing.

The mind needs entertainment.. even if it's watching a movie, eating or dreaming during the sleep.

Just then, the mind shuts up its voice - the thoughts.

It's like a child.. if you don't entertain it with something, it will make you think, normally about the most recent events.. and normally the ones that are worrying you, that needs to be solved

It's like a punishment! 
It wants to have fun and you are not giving it.. so the mind will complain..

You should do something.. eating, creating, watching tv, reading, working, doing sport, being with people doing something.. whatever..

Maybe you will not do, what it would like you to do, but at least is entertained, distracted, focused in something.

It can be quiet and calm for a while, but then it will start to get bored..

So, why the mind cannot be quiet?

Because the mind doesn't exist in the silence.. if we can remain in absolute silence.. there are no thoughts.. so the mind is not talking.

And why do we need to separate the mind from us?…well, our minds do all this thinking without us wanting, asking, doesn't?

I have been reading about meditation - the tool to control the mind...but is not that easy…

It's like domesticating the mind.. 

To just think when we want it to think,

To make it work for us, help us when we need it, instead of invading us whenever it wants

The end of the daily noise

Meditation it's a practice to learn to not let it control us.. to be in charge

This process can take ages

It needs to be practiced everyday.. trying not to think in nothing

Focusing in something, like breathing

It's so difficult because it's extremely boring for the mind

The mind will fight it.. thoughts will come stronger than ever..

Meditation is seen as something zen, peaceful.. but it's very aggressive. It's forcing the mind to be something that doesn't want to be.. quite..

and to shrink the ego until it recognizes its insignificance

It's like torturing the mind with the thing that hates the most..silence

It's similar to domesticating the children.. 

They don't want to be quite … it's boring!

It is, actually, a great achievement..but a very hard process

The mind is really something surprising!

Capable of brilliant intelligence but yet so restless..It seems to have its own will

And dependently how you see yourself, is how your mind will treat you

So it can be very mean… very destructive…

And how you see yourself can be very difficult to change cause it can come from your parents education, from past experiences, how you dealt with it and how the others dealt with you.. 

.. did they blamed you? did they victimized you? did they ignored you? did they punished you? did they mocked you? did they helped you? did they explained to you? 

It is very hard for us to really see how we are. 
We see what we think we are.  And that's what our mind sees too.

Maybe you were the villain of an episode, but if you see yourself as the corrector of something that was wrong.. that's how you will see yourself. 

Maybe there's really something wrong and you are correcting it… but maybe the other person also thinks that his way was the correct way… you hurt the other by your correction, but the other was hurting you by acting incorrectly in your eyes.. 

So, in the end.. the wrong and right depends on the perspective…each person has their own truth.. inserted in their own society values and morals.

Your mind will always protect you somehow… 
For you, that is your reality..so it's the truth and you are right and the other wrong..

And the same happens  for the other

Well, the mind will always somehow be in your side. 
If you really believe you did what was right.. but if deep down, you have doubts.. it will talk about it.. all the day..maybe for days.. so you better get busy..if you don't want to feel guilty and regret..

Because if you keep feeling like this.. you will have to do something about it.. Perhaps talk with someone about your doubts? ask advise? try to fix it? apologize? Or make excuses and ignore it.

We cannot see our mind as the enemy.. it is a reflection of us..  but if you don't entertain it, satisfy it, it most probably will remind you what you want to forget

The mind doesn't like to be ignored, repressed

We are what we think…

if we believe we cannot jump.. we will not jump..cause we believe we can't.. that's how it works in our life.. what we don't believe we can't do it, we will not do it.. cause we are sure we can't do it.

We are the obstacle to ourselves

We, consciously or unconsciously, create limitations to ourselves.. we and the education we received, the experiences we have and the environment we live in and lived.

Those are the origin of the obstacles we create to ourselves.  

The good thing is that this can be worked.. similar to the meditation and the prayers of the religions.. it's a daily practice .. training your mind to be what you want it to be, for you to become what you want to be. Your best self. 

You want to jump.. you start to internalize it, visualizing yourself making it… until you believe it.. until the perception of yourself changes.
Instead of asking God please help me to jump, you ask yourself directly.. 
You believe you can do it, instead of believing you can't.

The emotions might get on the way too..  fear, anxiety.. and that's why it needs daily practice. 
It's like reprogramming your mind, brainwashing yourself. 

But why we can't remember our experiences as a baby?

Why the mind don't wants us to remember when we were the most vulnerable.. dependent babies…..

That's the big mystery.. why? when you needed the most.. it has no memories...

When we are defenseless... we couldn't do nothing to protect ourselves.. we couldn't act.. not even run away

Maybe cause we have no image of ourselves yet.. so the mind cannot work without nothing.. our personality is in construction..

Or simply the mind didn't exist yet and it needs to be built with our experiences, actions and future memories. 

And then there's this duality in mind…what you should do and what you want to do…many times is not the same.. 

How our mind reacts here?

It analyses… the pros and cons.. the consequences.. our emotions, also, get on the way… 

What is going to win? 

The good or evil? 
the right or wrong? 
what we should do or what we want to do? 
what we consider wrong or what we consider right? 
what is considered wrong by the society and what is considered right? 

We are what we think but when the thoughts become actions, we are also what we do.. 

And, then, we have to deal with the consequences of what we did and said.. cause we live in society.. 
..everything we say or do will offend or please someone thinking and expectations of you.. and it will be judged.. positively or not.. 
..or positively by ones and negatively by others

Because each person has their own mind… their own world of thoughts.. everything that goes in your mind, happens too in the other living billions of minds…

Each one is unique.. even the followers of others' ideas.. there is always something theirs.

And that is why conflict happens.. every mind is different and very mind thinks differently and every mind wants something.. and they all live in the same society.. world

That's the reason some created religions, dictatorships, propagandas and manipulations.. So one mind can rule the others.. one mind decides others' lives, others' needs,. others' thoughts, other's everything.. 

Or even democracy.. some minds trying to decide what is best for all the minds… implementing rules, laws and morals ..what should be the will of the majority of the minds and the reflection of its culture and values.

Developing forms to control and punish the darkest thoughts of the minds.. the ones that they don't confess not even to themselves.. so that thoughts will never turn into actions…

We know very little or nothing about our own minds. 
We know something about our physical brain and body, but not much. We still don't know how to properly take care of it. We still suffer with diseases and "cure" them with chemicals that damages the body. 
The source of life is the food and we still don't know how to proper feed ourselves. 


So,  I can only analyze my mind..

The other's I cannot see. I cannot see how their thoughts are conceived, how the sequence is created.. to give birth their logic and stories

But, mine I can observe. So, I can just assume that every mind works according to the same basic principles.