Spirituality - Quieting the Mind and Being Present by Gina Lake

Quieting the Mind and Being Present

by Gina Lake

The Self speaks to us primarily through intuition. It is the language of the Heart. The value of meditation and other spiritual practices that quiet the mind is that they make intuition more accessible. Most people need these practices to get over the hurdle of the dominance of the mind and into greater alignment with the Self.

Meditation, or any other activity that focuses the mind, causes the mind to become quiet because it keeps it busy with a task. Actually any activity that we are fully engaged in can serve as a meditation. When we focus all of our attention on something, the mind becomes quiet and serves us only when needed.

We tend to skim by on the surface of life, instead of diving into the moment and really experiencing it. The mind keeps us at a distance from the real experience and, instead, substitutes thoughts about the experience. It distances us from the present moment, where life is rich and alive. We can learn to be more present to the moment by just noticing what is going on. This is usually accomplished by taking our attention off of thoughts and putting it on whatever else is happening in the moment.

Exercise: Being Present

This is a practice for every moment, no matter what the circumstances.

Being present means giving your attention to everything that is happening in the moment, not just to your thoughts. If a thought arises, notice it and then continue to notice whatever else is present. When you are engaged in a task and your mind wanders off of it, bring your attention back to the task, to the sensations that are present, and to the entire experience of that moment. Soon it will be natural to be present to whatever is going on in the moment.

Doing a more formal kind of meditation is another very helpful practice. When done on a regular basis, meditation helps establish a calm mental state, which makes the intuition (and the Self’s guidance) more accessible. It is the most effective spiritual technique available for shifting out of the egoic state of consciousness and into the experience of our true nature. It is also no more complicated or difficult than being present to an activity.

Exercise: Sitting in Meditation

Set aside some time in a quiet place for this. Start by sitting in meditation for 10 minutes, and slowly increase this as your enjoyment of meditation increases. Be sure to make this as comfortable, enjoyable, and pleasant as possible so that you look forward to doing this. Try to do this daily, even if only for a few minutes.

Choose something to focus on that you enjoy so that your meditation will be pleasurable. If you are auditory, you would probably enjoy listening to music or to the sounds in the room. If you are more kinesthetic, you would enjoy focusing on any physical sensations that are present and also on any subtle energetic sensations. If you are more visual, you might enjoy gazing at a picture of a saint, a work of art, colors, flowers, or something in nature.

Whenever your mind wanders from what you are focusing on, gently bring it back. Also notice what you are experiencing as you sit in meditation. While the mind is busy with what it is focusing on, experience is still happening. This experience is who you are! As you practice meditation more, your mind will wander less and for shorter periods of time, and you will spend increasing amounts of time in the now.

Once you begin spending more time in the now, meditation becomes very pleasurable. The now is intensely pleasurable. It has everything: joy, bliss, peace, contentment, fulfillment, love, and wisdom. You will wonder why you ever wandered from the now, but then you will catch yourself doing it again. The mind is very seductive even though the now is so joyous and full. Even those who live mostly in the now find themselves wandering through the corridors of the mind from time to time.

Thinking can be fun. The Self enjoys thinking when it is appropriate, and thinking can serve the Self. Not all thinking is a problem. It is our relationship to it that causes the problem. When we become identified with our thoughts, we lose awareness of the now. It is possible, however, to think and not become identified with our thoughts. When we remain aware of the Self while we are thinking, then thinking is kept in its rightful place.

Thinking can be like any other activity we are present to. We can be present to our thoughts just as we are present to whatever else is part of that moment. When we are present to our thoughts, it doesn’t feel like we are thinking them but more like we are noticing them being thought, which is very different from the usual way of thinking.

Exercise: Being Present to Thoughts

You can practice being present to thoughts whenever they arise. Through this practice, your relationship to thought can change.

Notice whatever thought is arising right now. Observe it as if you were standing at a distance from it. What is the experience of thinking? Notice that thinking seems to be contained in your head. What is aware of thinking? Is this Awareness contained by anything, even your body? How big is it? Does it have a boundary? What is the experience of this Awareness? This is who you are. You are the Awareness that is aware of thoughts coming and going.

The thoughts that arise in your mind have nothing to do with who you really are. What arises in your mind is not up to you. It is just the conditioning you were given. Without following a thought, commenting on a thought, or holding an opinion about a thought, simply observe how your thoughts come and go: One thought replaces another. Where do they come from? Where do they go? Notice how little coherence there is between thoughts and how they jump from subject to subject. At times, it seems they are designed solely to get your attention. What else do you notice about them? Are there different voices attached to them? Do you notice certain themes? How true are they? Do they have an impact on this Awareness?

Being present to thoughts this way allows us to be objective about them. With objectivity, we can examine them in a way that is not possible when we are identified with them. Through this examination, a great deal can be learned about the nature of our conditioning, and this can free us from it.

This new relationship to the mind is very freeing. It not only frees us from our conditioning but it frees us to be aware of the fullness of the moment. Because the mind no longer has the power to draw us into identification, we are free to give our attention to the whole of life instead of only to our thoughts. What we discover is that part of what is happening in the whole of life is that the Self is speaking to us in its own way—through intuition.

Excerpted from Gina Lake’s new book, Radical Happiness: A Guide to Awakening. (Published by iUniverse; July 2005; $13.95 U.S.; ISBN: 0-595-34833-5)

Gina Lake has a Masters degree in Counseling Psychology and over twenty years experience supporting people in their spiritual growth. In addition, she has authored several books on spirituality, including: Pathways to Self Discovery and Symbols of the Soul. She also compiled and edited Nothing Personal: Seeing Beyond the Illusion of a Separate Self, based on the teachings of her husband. Together, they offer satsang (inquiry into the nature of being) and spiritual retreats.

For more information or to order the book, please visit www.RadicalHappiness.com or email Gina at ginalakenow@aol.com. She is also available for phone consultations.