“We are what we think. All that we are, arises from our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world“, said Buddha more than two thousand years ago. To use Buddhist terms, a “noble truth”.
This should bring us to a “logical“ (but often ignored) deduction that if our thoughts are constructive, we’ll live a serene life. If our thoughts are “negative” – we judge, complain and focus ourselves on what we dislike, and our life will be all but serene.
A noble and logical truth, but it seems that no one pays attention to it.
It’s true that the flow of thoughts is usually unstoppable, and being able to direct this flow requires an enormous degree of ability.
Everything in this world seems to have two sides, and also our thoughts.
“Think positive” is a slogan that is in vogue among the neo-spirituals, and it could really be a great thing to do; but how to have “positive thoughts” even when we feel unease, pain, fear, when we see what happens all around us and in the world?
Not easy, but let’s try to remain a bit more aware even in these “bad” moments, avoiding to fall into the trap of mechanical-associative thoughts. Let’s avoid identifying ourselves with these thoughts.
Let’s “come to blows” with the various parts of our fragmented personality that keep us mechanical: this is how a human seeks, creates and maintains a stable inner center – a stable “I” from which he can observe what happens without judging, without allowing to be coloured by what he observes.
If a human succeeds in this intent, “negative emotions” will become weaker through time, and he’ll succeed in standing on his own feet, even in the most dreadful moments in his life. It’s not an exaggeration: it’s a thing that has to be tried, tried, and tried… until one succeeds.
It’s not an easy task to remain centered in ourselves, that’s certain, and even this center is unstable. It appears for some moments and disappears for the rest of the day. But we can learn how to develop and make it stable, “permanent”.
Fortunately, for those who feel the need to make this step in their lives, there are systems and methods developed through millenia.
An example of these methods are the meditative techniques.
At the beginning, one has to learn to maintain the body still, assuming a correct posture and simply remaining motionless. All this requires time and training, it’s not a discounted thing, but it’s worth to be done.
Through grounding of the body, one learns the inner stillness, remaining in a point from which he observes the flow of thoughts and emotions. The posture is very important for accomplishing this task, because it’s not the same thing as remaining motionless lying on a bed. Of course, maybe one will relax, but the results of the practice will not be the same: one will not be able to stay beyond his thoughts, so he will remain identified, stuck in their flow.
An appropriate meditational position must allow the individual to remain stable, balanced, and with the spine erect.
A good position is what in Yoga is called Siddhasana.
Through the immobility and the meditative practices aimed toward a development of consciousness (and not to sleep in a sitting position, as often the word “meditation” is perceived and even taught), one learns of the “prison” (our identifications, mechanical behaviours, etc…) and observe the same “prison” from the outside.
Observing what happens in his mind is the first step for the apprentice to extract himself from the flow of thoughts.
The silence, the real silence will be achieved later, but as every traveller knows, a travel is made from several steps. In terms of meditation, it has to be practiced daily.
What’s important, is to maintain a correct, still position and being aware.
Awareness is another skill that can’t be omitted from the practice, otherwise it’s impossible to observe the associative thoughts that happen in our mind, which peculiarity is to be agitated, confused, accelerated. Meditation without awareness is a waste of time.
Just sit and meditate daily, every day at the same time, even when you don’t feel like it, when your mood is the worst… stop for some moments, even if in these moments you don’t find the reason why to practice… through time, if one perseveres, you willl open the doors to access a new awareness, a new consciousness.