It may seem counterintuitive, but I’ve learned that to keep my mind healthy, I first need to stop it from thinking. Jon Kabat-Zinn talked about being mindful; Eckhart Tolle spoke of presence and awareness, and Buddha spoke of mindful meditation. For thousands of years, the strength of this skill has been highlighted, but I never remember being taught about its importance to our overall health as a child. To still the mind and live from a place of presence. This is very simple to say but a bit of a journey to achieve.
Step 1 was becoming aware of my thoughts. Honestly, I don’t think I have ever stopped and paid attention to what my mind was doing. First of all, staying with this awareness was no easy feat as I would continually find myself pulled back into a spin of senseless thinking. What I came to realize was just how much time I was spending in non-reality. I was Conjuring up scenarios from the past or future and living them in my present moment. This was pure insanity. Not only was I spending this time needlessly thinking, but I was feeling the emotions that went with the thoughts. I was causing my own suffering! My thoughts and emotions will be addressed in the Spirit Star as it has a disclaimer cautioning those non-feelers about potential feelings being discussed. I don’t want to trip anyone up by reading something here.
Simple Scenario: I have an interaction with someone, good or bad. The joy or unpleasantness lasts for the duration of the encounter but then lives on in my mind for hours and maybe days afterward. I tell people stories; I replay the scenarios in my mind, depicting clever ways I could have changed things. In essence, I have taken a one-hour interaction and amplified it into multiple hours or days. I was missing all kinds of life moments in between and didn’t even know it. To have a healthy mind ready to support me through my retirement years, I would need to learn to manage this mind-madness so that my brain can instead be used as a tool for creativity and problem-solving. Enough of the B movie reruns!