How to Quiet the Mind

One day, a woman was walking along the beach, something caught her eye. Looking down, she saw a tarnished lantern stuck in the sand, picking it up and rubbing it, “Poof!” When the smoke cleared, out popped a Genie. The Genie was willing to grant the woman anything she wished. Without giving it any thought, the woman began to wish for many things: a house, a loving relationship, a car, money, travel and the list went on endlessly.
Even when the woman felt saturated, the Genie pressed on and continued to ask her, “What more would you like, Master? Your wish is my command.” The woman couldn’t seem to get the Genie to stop pestering her. Finally, she had an idea and told the Genie to create a long, tall rope. Then she commanded the Genie to keep climbing up and down that rope until the woman summoned the Genie. The woman had found peace at last!

The Genie and the Rope

The Genie in our story represents the mind. The rope represents an object upon which to place one’s attention. The mind is incessantly creating problems and solving problems. This is what the mind does. However, when we give the mind something else to focus on, we may avoid unnecessary distress. We can create space within our awareness and cultivate a calm and resilient nervous system.
“If you correct your mind, the rest of your life will fall into place.”~ Lau Tzu
Meditation provides the mind with a soothing, healing focus. Through meditation, we learn to quiet the excess thinking and fluctuations of the mind. During meditation we give the mind a place to reorient its attention.

Forgiveness and Clear Light

A consistent practice of meditation allows the choice of a new thought, helping to release ‘old patterns and old behaviors.’ A ‘slip up,’ in a thought, emotion or behavior, doesn’t have to mean a ‘give up.’ Spiritually you may always call upon the grace of self-forgiveness to blanket you as you step into another new way of being and another beginning.
“If you are depressed, you are living in the past. If you are anxious, you are living in the future. If you are at peace, you are living in the present.” ~Lau Tzu

 

The true nature of our mind is clear light. The practice of meditation makes it easier and easier to return to our true nature, which is a clear-light mind or enlightenment. A quiet mind is a mind full of power, self-empowerment, to choose again, create again, from a place of clear light.
If you would like an opportunity to experience your true nature, you might enjoy this visualization meditation, called The Artichoke Meditation. Please allow ten minutes for this experience; finding a quiet space to sit or lie down. Years ago I had a profound awareness during my introduction to this meditation and perhaps you may as well. Having said that, I invite you to relax any expectations of what you may gain from your experience. I recorded this for you on my digital recorder, so there are no fancy sound studio acoustics. Just a loving intention for a deeper connection. Enjoy.
After experiencing a deeper meditation, you may appreciate something simpler for your day to day practice. Check out this YouTube by *Dan Harris and **Sharon Saltzburg, https://youtu.be/mtsdz_jhB7c.
This video offers a basic mindfulness meditation and requires only five to ten minutes a day. This practice offers a conscious action we can take toward first cultivating peacefulness within, then, as the Dali Lama’s said, “Be the peace you want to see in the world.”
In the meantime, I’m happy to assist you in reminding you of your innate inner peace, truth and beauty with illuminating insights shared during an Intuitive Consultation.
*Dan Harris is an Emmy award-winning journalist and co-anchor of ABC’s Nightline and the weekend edition of Good Morning America. He’s also the author of 10% Happier, a New York Times bestseller, and went on to launch the 10% Happier podcast and app by the same name.
**There is no better person to show a beginner how to harness the power of meditation than Sharon Salzberg, one of the world’s foremost meditation teachers and spiritual authors. Cofounder of the Insight Meditation Society, author of LovingkindnessFaith, and other books.

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