The Mind

In the Hitopadesa, an ancient Indian text by Narayana, the mind is compared to a drunken monkey that’s been bitten by a scorpion and the haunted ghost. We humans have roughly seventy thousand thoughts each day. Ernst Popple, a German psychologist and neuroscientist has shown through his research that our minds are only in the present time for about three seconds at a time.

Other than that, our brains are thinking forward and backward, filling in ideas about present time based on what we have experienced in the past and anticipating what is to come. The Samyutta Nikaya describes each thought as a branch and our minds as monkey, swinging from one branch to the next often aimlessly. This almost sounds like fun, but as we all know, it is anything but usually those thoughts are of fears, concerns, negativity and stress.  What will happen this week at work? What will I eat for dinner? Have I saved money for a holiday this year? These are all genuine questions that deserve answers but none of them will be resolved while we swing from branch to branch, thought to thought. This is a jungle of the untrained mind.

The Bhagavad Gita states “For him who has conquered the mind, the mind is the best of friends, but for one who has failed to do so, his very mind will be the greatest enemy”. The word enemy may seem too strong to describe the voice of dissent in our head, but the definition rings true: An enemy, according to the Oxford Dictionary is “a person who is actively opposed or hostile to someone or something”. Sometimes our mind work against us. They convince us to do something, then make us feel guilty or bad about it, often because it’s gone against our values or morals.

Humans have both, a child and adult mind. A child's mind cries when it doesn’t get what it wants, ignoring what it already has. When something challenges us in some way , the childlike mind reacts immediately because we don’t want to be controlled by automatic reactions in every case nor do we want to eliminate the child mind altogether. The impulsive desire driven child mind is tempered by the judicious pragmatic adult minds which says, that’s not good for you,” or “wait until later”. The adult mind reminds us to pause and assess the bigger picture, taking time to weigh the default reaction, decide if it is appropriate and propose other options.  

The mind already has certain instinctive patterns that we never consciously chose. Imagine you have an alarm on your phone set to ring at the same time every morning. Its an excellent system until a national holiday comes along, and the alarm goes off anyway. That alarm is like our subconscious mind. Its already been programmed and defaults to the same thoughts and actions day after day. We live much of our lives following that same path we have always taken, for better or worse and these thoughts and behaviors will never change unless we actively reprogram ourselves. Thoughts repeat in our mind, reinforcing what we believe about ourselves. Our conscious isn’t awake to make edits. The narration playing in our mind is stuck in its belief about relationships, money and how one feels about themselves.

Just as you are not your mind, you are not your thoughts. Saying to yourself “I don’t deserve

love” or “my life sucks" doesn't make it a fact, but these self-defeating thoughts are hard to

rewire. All of us have a history of pain, heartbreaks and challenges, whatever they may be. Just because we have been through something and it's safely in the past doesn’t mean it's over. On the contrary, it will persist in some form, often in self defeating thoughts until it teaches us what we need to change. Talking yourself through a project or task enhances focus and concentration. Those who do it function more efficiently. Psychologist Linda Sapadin mentions that talking to yourself helps clarify the thoughts, tend to what's important and firm up any decisions that are contemplating.

We wake up with morning breath, smelly, tired. Every morning we accept the need to brush our teeth and shower. We don’t judge ourselves for needing to wash up. When we get hungry, we don’t say to ourselves, “oh my god, I am the worst. Why am I hungry again?. Bring the same patience and understanding when you are on low motivation, unfocused, anxious or addled and the charioteer is weak. Matthieu Ricard, “the world happiest man” once said that we should cultivate inner peace as a skill. “If you ruminate on sadness and negativity,” he explained, “it will reinforce a sense of sadness and negativity. But if you cultivate compassion, joy and inner freedom, then you build up a kind of resilience and you can face life with confidence”. It is the mind that translates the outside world into happiness or misery.

Few ways to keep a healthy mind are:

• Invest in the conscious mind. Start talking to yourself every day. Feel free to address yourself with your name and to do it out loud wherever you are comfortable doing so. Sound is powerful and hearing your own name grabs your attention.

• Reframe. Reframe your self criticism in terms of knowledge. When you hear yourself say, “I am bored, I am slow, I can't do this,” respond to yourself “you are working on it, you are improving”. Build a relationship with that pessimistic child voice. Rather than amplifying your failures, amplify your progress. Putting a solution oriented spin on your statement reminds you to be proactive and take responsibility rather than languishing in wishful thinking. Try putting negative thoughts and circumstances on the perspective continuum.

• Slow it down. Sometimes reframing works best on paper. Practice writing, if not then speak into your phone, play back the audio file or read the transcript. Recording yourself puts you in an observer mindset, making you deal more objectively with yourself.

• Stay present. It can be hard to know what to tell the monkey mind when its dwelling on the past or spinning into the future. We all have happy memories that we enjoy revisiting and painful memories that we can’t let go. Just as the past is unchangeable, the future is unknowable. A certain amount of planning is useful but when the thoughts tip into repetitive anxiety they are no longer productive. Instead of thinking about what mattered in the past or what the future might hold, gently guide your mind back to the moment. Ask questions right now.   

 References

Shetty, J. (2020). Think like a monk. Simon & Schuster

Murphy Joseph. (2015). The power of subconscious mind.  Penguin Random House and JMW Group.

Mehta Shyam. (2009). The psychology of mind. Lulu

Disclaimer: This blog post is meant for awareness/entertainment purposes only. It is not medical advice and one must refrain from self-diagnosing. It is in no way a substitute for therapy with a mental health professional and it is not meant to be clinical. To consult with a psychotherapist on our team, you can contact us on fettle.counselling@gmail.com.