Discipline your thoughts

Inertia — Nº184

Salvador Dali, The Persistence of Memory (1931)

Unease, anxiety, tension, stress, worry — all forms of fear — are caused by too much future, and not enough presence.

— Eckhart Tolle

The mind wanders. It drifts. It meanders. Through the sea of memory and possibility, the mind sits adrift in the what-ifs and could-have-beens. So much so that we often anchor ourselves and toil in all the noise. But what if we could silence the incessent chatter, pull away from it, and simply… be?

I’ve come to be more of a decisive person today because I understand more about who I am and what I must deeply embody to not stray from that. In some situations, I need order to function, and uncertainty to be eliminated, because I hold close to me that I’m from a more fortunate place than others, so I cannot take time for granted.

I treat the mind as a place for having ideas, not holding them. Because anxiety, stress, frustration, indecisiveness and scatteredness don’t come from having much to do but from trying to store all of it in one spot. You’re asking for a headache. It is possible to feel calm, composed and melodic, when juggling several things at once.

But how would you develop this state of calm? I build on the words from James Hollis: How much we grow depends on our ability to take responsibility, because if we always saw life as a problem caused by others, a problem to be “solved”, we will not change. Secondly, well-managed anxiety generated from ambiguity allows us to respect, engage, and grow from “the repeated encounters with the essential mysteries of life”. Ambiguity pulls us deeper into life—while certainty created by anxiety begets stagnation, a precurser to rigidity and regression.

The health of your culture, nature, and the magnitude of your personal journey depend on how you tolerate ambiguity and the challenge to move forward. Because your life will be governed by mysteries, not certainties.

This means having pure, unadulterated presence. Don’t think too much. Don’t go into the past. Don’t go into the future. You live here. Now. You breathe in this moment. Your heart beats in this moment.

Treat your mind like a wild horse. Beautiful and powerful, but untamed. Your thoughts are its hooves, kicking up dust as you race across the landscape of your consciousness. To discipline your thoughts is to calm the horse, to guide so it slows down.

You want to be like a child at play, completely absorbed in your game. Children aren’t worried about what happened yesterday or what might happen tomorrow. They’re not aiming for childishness, but pure, unencumbered engagement with what’s in front of them. Life slows down because they do.

When you eat, taste every mouthful. When you walk, feel every step. When you listen, hear every note. These experiences are what should fill your mind.

In this fullness, we find space. It’s paradoxical, but so is the world. Full presence and fresh eyes creates room for clarity. We become more decisive when we’re no longer clouded by what-ifs. And we become more efficient when we’re no longer scattered by could-have-beens.

Like leaves landing on a stream, your thoughts and problems will come as much as they will go. Some may float along quickly while others swirl in eddies. But you are not the leaves; you are the bank. Observing, but not swept away.

Discipline your thoughts because you are not them, you are the thinker. The observer. The presence behind the mental clutter. When you take this on, you learn how to direct your mind than to be directed by it. Or worse—the mind of others.

Planning and reflection have their place. But they should be intentional acts, not constant background noise. Set aside time for them. And when you’re done, be done.

The goal isn’t perfection. The mind will wander—that’s its nature. Over time, this becomes easier. More natural. More time in the now, and less time in the then or the maybe.

Time will seem to expand as a result. You get more done, yet feel less rushed. You become more productive, yet feel more at peace. You feel more engaged, yet waste less energy. You’re channelling all of yourself into what’s right in front of you.