Chetan Prabhakar
A father asks his son, do you know inside all of us there are two wolves who are always in a battle with each other? The boy enquires with surprise, who are they and the father replies, one is evil; it is anger, jealousy, greed, resentment, lies, inferiority, and ego. The other is good; it is joy, peace, love, hope, kindness, empathy, compassion and truth.The son enquires which wolf wins? The father replies, ‘the one you feed the most.”
Therefore, if we feed our mind withpositivity, happiness and blissfulness, we will become positive, happy and blissful, as mind is everything, what we feed it with, we become.
We have always been taught that a healthy mind resides in a healthy body, Is that correct? I met a sports teacher who was looking quite healthy with a perfectly lean body but he said, till the time I play, I am happy and fine, but as soon as I stop playing, I have a lot of thoughts, tension and stress. So, the realization is that the healthy body may not be an aboard of a healthy mind, but, healthy mind can keep anything and everything else healthy.
It does not mean that we do not have to take care of our bodies. Body is also very important and you need to take care of it as well, however, in addition, you also have to take care of your mind. You have to find the right balance. It is also important to note that the body has a nature to deteriorate and become weak with time whereas, if taken care the mind grows healthy and strong.
The body and the mind are two separate entities of our being and they both need separate care, attention and exercises. As movement is good for the body; similarly, stillness is good for the mind. Therefore, for holistic health, we are required to take care of both the body and the mind.
Our mind sare always busy in thoughts, some belong to future and some to past, and hence, we are never in the present. Once a day, just try to meditate, bring you mind in the present and try also to silent the mind and stop the continuous chatter going on and on in the mind,which disturbs the mind and makes us confused and deluded. When our minds are silent, we can hear the sound of silence which makes us calm, composed and blissful.
Mind is everything and keeping mental health and hygiene is important for our minds, as an unhealthy mind creates stress, anxiety and depression. Unhealthy mind also creates unhealthy relationships, unwarranted situations and circumstances in our life.
We have learned many subjects and so many things in our entire life. In schools and colleges, we have been taught so many subjects but nobody has ever taught how to discipline and keep our mind healthy, which is the most important learning for everyone to have. In all the educational institutions, we have been taught everything except how to discipline our minds.
Despite having best of the education, do we not keep on running to find true happiness throughout our lives? Do we not feel more and more miserable as we age in life? Does life not become more and more difficult as we grow up? Should our life not become better as we grow up? Should things not become easier as we age in life? That should be the outcome of our education, but, is our education not lacking this very important aspect?
Nowadays, lot of people are suffering from stress, anxiety and depression and that is because we are unaware, how to keep our mind healthy and fit. Stress, anxiety and depression are the ailments of an unhealthy and undisciplined mind. These mental illnesses give rise to other diseases and these illnesses are the beginning of an unhealthy body as well. If our mind is healthy and happy, our body can heal itself and our entire being can become healthy and happy.
If you do not keep your mind disciplined, fit and healthy, you become its servant and if you work with it, you will become its master. Please note, the mind is a very good servant but a very bad master. As a master, mind creates fears, anxiety, stress, hopelessness, unhappiness etc. and whereas if you become its master, you can feed it with love, hope, joy, positivity, happiness and fearlessness. You need to master your mind to have a wonderful life and taking care of mind nourishes and satisfies the soul. If we do not satisfy our souls, we cannot find peace and happiness even in the amidst of material and natural abundance.Right Mindfulness is an excellent practise to master our minds and satisfy our souls.
The endeavour of this article is to help you understand that conquering/mastering your mind is important to live a life of equanimity and true happiness. To reach this state of being, take care of your mind by: 1)living in the present moment;2) doing one thing at a time; 3) meditating once or twice a day: 4) being mindful of your day-to-day activities and; 5) mindfully consuming through your senses. Verse 6.7 of Bhagavad Gita provides as follows:
For one who has conquered the mind, the Super soul is already reached, for he has attained tranquillity. To such a man happiness and distress, heat and cold, honour and dishonour are all the same.
(The author is Mindfulness and Life Coach at Sachetan-The Mind Gym)
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