Our minds are extremely good at building associations – one thought leads to another which leads to another. This random association of thoughts can lead to spontaneous creativity or utter paralysis. These chained thoughts can take you to the highest high, or the lowest low.
Most times we are so caught up in our busy lives that we don’t even hear the murmurings of this associative mind of our – however, our actions, moods, and emotions are directly influenced.
You are late for work and you hit every stoplight. Then the dialog starts. “Why didn’t I get out of bed earlier – I am so lazy sometimes, now I am going to get fired. Tomorrow I need to be more proactive, also tomorrow need to pick my dry cleaning and some bread at the grocery store. This guy in front of me keeps tapping his brakes – doesn’t he know I am in a hurry, why didn’t he just stay home this morning and stay out of my way. I am so late, I will feel so embarrassed to walk into the office late, everyone will talk behind my back and I won’t make a good impression on my new boss. I am such a loser, why do I keep doing this…..”
You walk into your office, embarrassed, pissed off, agitated and the day probably won’t get better.
But step back for a moment – what’s the real problem? You are late, that’s it.
There is little benefit to adding-on all of this other commentary, judgments, projections, and self-beratement.
The trick is to realize when you start going down the rabbit hole and this is where mindful meditation can help train you to avert these disasters.
During mindful meditation, thoughts come and go. As they come, simply let them float by with as much concern as a cloud moving across the sky. No need to judge, to inspect, to analyze, or to grasp.
Let them come and let them go and in this silence, you will quickly realize what is real and what are add-ons.