Where Attention Goes Energy Flows
My mom used to say that tall people have this ability to see things from above; that they have a better and more detached perspective of life. On the other hand, us the “chatos” (shorties) have our heads way too close to our ass and we get all confused and fired up easily with the smallest things. I’m not so sure about that theory mom, BUT interestingly enough sometimes I feel like my “shortie” nature becomes evident: I can notice how my mind goes fast and in circles, and that maybe my head really is too close to my ass?
Jokes aside, many of us do have very active whirling minds that constantly overthink. In Sanskrit these are called the citta vrittis or “whirlings of the mind”.
We think of our minds as this powerful tool that can get us anywhere, and we use it all day long to micromanage and control our lives. Our Western society has made the thinking rational mind the most prized thing we have. Since we were children we were encouraged to get straight A’s, memorize, calculate, and figure out complicated equations. Over the years we have given so much power to our minds that now it has complete control over us making us often feel easily agitated, anxious, and confused, robbing us from living a creative and spontaneous life because we simply want control over e-v-e-r-y- t-h-i-n-g.
We may even try to control the shape of our bodies by controlling our appetite, the food we eat, the way we exercise, and then when we feel we can no longer control ourselves, we look to control other people too! Be it boyfriend, girlfriend, spouse, friend or co-worker—all of a sudden we are SO focused on micromanaging what they do or don’t do, and we fall into the big trap of judging. The need to control our bodies and our experience of the world is fueled by our belief that the outcome of things relies solely on what we DO or DON’T do. Little do we know, because in reality life has its own magical way of making things happen, which has nothing to do with how much we push, shove, and pull; on the contrary, real truth comes from taking a step back, widening the lens, and becoming receptive.
I love this quote from Zen in the Art of Archery:
“The right art,” cried the Master, “is purposeless, aimless! The more obstinately you try to learn how to shoot the arrow for the sake of hitting the goal, the less you will succeed in the one and the further the other will recede. What stands in your way is that you have a much too willful will. You think that what you do not do yourself does not happen.”
Don’t get me wrong, control in itself is not bad at all, it’s just that we have been applying it to the wrong things. We have been trying to tame and control the wild creative side in us, when really what we should tame and control is the mind so that it doesn’t go against our free spirit nature.
We must learn to train and control the mind, so that it doesn’t control us. We have to keep an eye on it as if it were a baby monkey that we ought to train little by little so that it doesn’t go all over the place complicating and ruining our lives. We have to become aware of the mind’s never-ending desire to jump around from one thought to the other by watching over it like we would watch a child that is around sharp objects.
Wherever the mind goes, energy flows. That is, whatever stories you create in your mind your emotions will follow, and your emotions will determine how you experience reality. Our mind has power to either take us into a never- ending roller coaster of thoughts and confusion, or if we provide it with the right tools, it can bring us clarity and happiness.
The only way to create space so life can really happen to us is by quieting down the mind chatter. Yes, our agitated mind is what stands between us and that place of calm, groundedness, happiness and serenity that exists inside ourselves. The solution lies in controlling the mind, and not letting it control you. Once you are able to control and direct it, you will be able to free yourself so you can go into more real, subtle, mysterious, creative, and expansive corners of your being.
So how to do it? Single focused attention: that’s what spiritual Masters have been teaching us for years.
When you start meditating, (especially if you’re a beginner) it’s really important that you put your full attention on one thing; that you have single-focused attention on something, like for example, the breath.
In Jivamukti Yoga, when we sit to meditate, we focus on the breath and on the mantra LET GO.
With every inhale you silently say LET, and with every exhale you silently say GO... LET-GO. And like that you repeat it in your mind with every breath: inhale LET, exhale GO.
Slowly, you’ll notice how you can start to let go of any thought that comes up. You keep letting go until eventually you will arrive to a state of utter silence, utter stillness, and utter peace inside yourself. When you focus your attention on the breath, everything else that’s going on inside the mind starts to fade, to quiet down, to calm down, so that we can come back to zero and reset our system. So that when we open our eyes again, we feel fresh and alive again.
Where Attention Goes Energy Flows
If you focus the mind, you will control it.
If you control the mind, you will arrive at the center of your being. At the center there’s no need to control anything... you’re free.
Yours Truly,
Fernanda