Who Controls Your Mind?
Few people are aware of the thoughts that pass through their minds. Thinking is performed like a habit, in an automatic manner. If the thoughts are positive, then it is all right, but if they are negative, they may cause trouble.
The mind is like small child, who accepts and takes for granted whatever it sees or hears, without judgment and without considering the consequences. If you let your mind behave as it likes and give it complete freedom, you lose your freedom.
We are constantly flooded with thoughts, ideas and information coming through the five senses, other people, the newspapers and TV. These thoughts, ideas and information penetrate the mind whether we are aware of this process or not.
This outside flow influences our behavior and reactions. It influences the way we think, our preferences, likes and dislikes. This means that we let outside powers shape our lives. So where is freedom?
Most people think and believe that their thoughts originate from them, but have they ever stopped and considered whether their thoughts, desires, likes and dislikes are really theirs? Maybe they have come from the outside, and they have unconsciously accepted them as their own?
If there is no filter to process the thoughts that enter the mind, there is no freedom. Then all actions are like the actions of a puppet on a string, though no one will admit it.
You may object and say that the thoughts that pass through your mind are yours, but are they? Have you deliberately and attentively created every thought that entered your mind?
Why let outside influences control your mind and life? Why let other people's thoughts control your life and mind? Do you want to make your mind free or do you prefer to enslave it to other people's opinions and thoughts? If you leave your mind open to every thought that passes by, you put our life in other people's hands, and without realizing it, you accept their thoughts and act in accordance with them.
Each person is more susceptible to certain kind of thoughts than others. Certain thoughts and ideas we ignore, and others spur us to immediate action. Thoughts concerning subjects we love have more power on us than other thoughts, but even thoughts and ideas that we don't care about, if we are frequently exposed to them, eventually sink into the subconscious mind and influence us.
Everyone has desires, ambitions and dreams that he or she may foster from childhood. They may be the thoughts of parents, teachers and friends, and which have lodged into our minds, and are carried around throughout our lives. Are they necessary? Do we need all this excessive baggage?
In order to reduce the power of outside influences and thoughts on your life, you need to be aware of the thoughts and desires that enter your mind, and ask yourself whether you really like them, and are willing to accept them into your life. Analyze your motives and actions, and you will be surprised to find out that many of them were triggered by outside influences.
You do not have to accept each and every thought, idea or information. Think and find out whether you entertain certain thoughts because you decided to do so, or because they just popped into your head due to outside influences.
Learn not to accept every thought that you encounter. Find first whether it is for your own good to follow it. It may not be so easy at the start, because the mind will revolt against this control. If you want to be the master of your mind and life, you should not let other people's thoughts, desires and motives rule your life, unless you consciously choose so.
© Copyright Remez Sasson
Remez Sasson teaches and writes on positive thinking, creative visualization, motivation, self-improvement, peace of mind, spiritual growth and meditation. He is the author of several books, among which are "Peace of mind in Daily Life", "Will Power and Self Discipline", "Visualize and Achieve" and "Affirmations - Words of Power".
Visit his website and find articles and books filled with inspiration, motivation and practical advice and guidance.
Website: http://www.SuccessConsciousness.com
Books: http://www.successconsciousness.com/ebooks_and_books.htm
Guided Meditation To Make You Whole
Guided meditation is a form of stress relief that is conducive to relaxing the whole body, in part by finding a way of peaceful and calming relaxation from within the body. Guided meditation may utilize soothing photographs or scenarios to enhance the ability of the mind to relax and guide the body to a point of relaxation so that the person in meditation can find a true sense of inner peace. Quite often, guided meditation will be accompanied by soft music or sounds of nature.
One of the keys to successfully having a session of Guided meditation is finding an area where the one meditating will be free of distractions. Any outside interference will prevent proper concentration and make the attempts at guided meditation futile and perhaps even frustrating, further aggravating the problem seeking to be solved by the very use of guided meditation.
After finding a suitable location for guided meditation, other factors need to be taken into consideration. Some practitioners of guided meditation feel that visual stimuli can be used to help achieve a sense of inner peace and help to achieve true relaxation. Still other practitioners of guided meditation feel that any outside visual simulation will detract from the mind’s ability to properly focus on the body and the results of the guided meditation will be hindered or even reversed.
The same can be said for audio stimulation during sessions of guided meditation. While some individuals believe that soothing sound effects or even quiet music is conducive to the guided meditation, still others believe that it is only a hindrance and will do nothing more than create a harmful atmosphere for the practitioner of such guided meditation.
The basic concept of guided meditation is to relax. This is done by taking oneself on a guided tour of sorts through their own body. In the practice of guided meditation, it is normal to find a focus point in the body and begin there, someplace that is easy to relax. While staying focused on the body and in particular the muscles, the practitioner of guided meditation attempts to relax the muscles of the body. Allowing the body to completely relax allows the practitioner of guided meditation to next completely relax the mind.
When the mind and body are completely relaxed, the person can begin to concentrate on focusing his thoughts and ideas during the guided meditation. When using guided meditation, thoughts are usually thought to be transcendent and more in focus allowing the practitioner to perform better in all aspects of life. Whether or not guided meditation is right for a person is not only dependent on spiritual beliefs. Anyone contemplating the benefits of guided meditation must be seeking to improve themselves as a whole as well.
Source: http://www.free-article-bank.com
Free Self Improvement examines all aspects of self improvement: hypnosis, meditation, motivation, personal development, stress reduction.
Meditation: Choosing the Right Meditation Pillow
Whether you realize it or not choosing the right meditation pillow can make a huge difference to the success of your meditation session. Most people when starting out on learning the technique of meditation will simply sit on the floor and try to meditate with no support at all. However, trying to maintain the right posture for any period of time is quite a challenge and will simply lead to an unsuccessful meditation session.
Before choosing a meditation pillow you must first understand where you are going to be undertaking the meditation session. For example, you will need a different style of meditation pillow for soft grass to meditating on wooden floors or on concrete.
If your meditation session is to be undertaken on grass then you simply need a light weight pillow which has a soft inner fill. Generally a nylon based fill for this type of session will suffice. It is also worthwhile getting a meditation pillow that is machine washable as well because if you are sitting on this pillow on the grass it will get dirty and if you do not wash it, you may find that the grass stains will not wash out after a while.
If you are meditating on harder surfaces like wood or concrete, I recommend using a two stage pillow. Essentially, the base of the pillow is a solid style foam, with the top part of the pillow being made of either duck down or a soft synthetic inner fill. You will find that if you use a normal pillow on harder surfaces for any period of time that you will find it difficult to get up or more so, a sore rear. If you are not comfortable during your meditation session then the bottom line is that you will focus on the discomfort rather than the meditation.
If you find sitting up straight on the floor difficult to do, you can purchase from quality meditation suppliers, meditation pillows that also include a back support as well. The meditation pillows that contain this are almost like chairs for the floor. The key advantage of this style of meditation pillow is that by keeping your back straight, during the meditation session you will be helping ensure that you control your breathing more effectively.
I certainly encourage you to try out your meditation pillow before you buy. Ensure that when you sit on the pillow that it supports your weight and that you are not sitting directly on the floor. Make sure also while you are sitting on your pillow that it does support your back and that you do not naturally slump over on the pillow.
For an effective meditation session, you need to ensure that you have a well structured posture, that you are comfortable and that you can relax without any niggling pain or pressure. Be aware that if you feel an unusual pressure as you sit that this is the first warning sign that you are about to experience pain in that area.
About the Author: If you are looking for effective Meditation Music for your meditation sessions please feel free to visit our website. Downloadable and MP3 versions of our meditation music are also available.
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Meditations: Overcoming Those Distractions During Meditation
I was sitting in a class today talking to some of my computer training students. We discussing how to absorb the material being learned and in particular we discussed how using meditation can help in their learning process, how meditation can help them learn more effectively and more so how they could overcome any distractions that might happen during their meditation session. See distractions are not just those that happen externally to you, they also happen internally and those internal distractions are tougher to overcome than the external ones.
Let me share with you some of the techniques I use to overcome those distractions during meditation …
During a meditation session there are two clear types of distractions you are going to be faced with and they are –
1. External Distractions and
2. Internal Distractions
External distractions come in the form of sounds, family members running in the area where you are meditating, police cars going past, earthquakes, volcanoes and many many more. That last few were a little out there, but in reality they are potential distractions. All in all the only way of trying to address these issues with external distractions is to find a location to meditate where these distractions are not going to be an issue.
One of the issues of sound we will also address as an internal distraction as well. Once you start to get a sizeable experience meditating you will find sounds like planes going over, ambulances going past and the screech of breaks by cars, will affect your meditation less and less, and in fact you will actually learn to block out those noises and ignore them. However, I have to stress that it will take time before you develop those meditation skills.
The number one challenge you actually face when meditating is the internal distractions you will create in your mind and these include both valid and invalid distractions. Valid distractions are those in which you really do not have a lot of control of such as pain in the knees or an itch. However, one thing you will learn as you get more experienced meditating, is that unless you have a real issue you will be able to meditate out, the pain in your knees, an itch on your head or your bottom going numb. You just get better at it as time goes on.
Depending on the meditation type that you are using, you can easily move in a slow way to address the valid distraction issues I mentioned before without disrupting your meditation session.
The distractions that cause most people hassle or frustration are those that are brought about from your own mind or what we call invalid distractions, for example you might be meditating and then your mind quietly starts thinking about what you are doing tomorrow or you might start thinking about spending time with the kids and so forth. When you are first trying to meditate it is natural that you become easily distracted but the worst thing you can do during a meditation session is to become angry or frustrated. If you do this, you will make meditating a lot more difficult.
There are some basic things we can do to get back on track during the meditation session, the first step in dealing with a distraction, is to realize that you have been distracted. Once you have done this, take in a really deep breath, usually on its own this helps you to get focus back. Hold this deep breath for 5 counts and then slowly exhale gently as a mouse. Do this same process five times. Now if you find after this period that your mind is still distracted then the next thing you need to do to achieve focus you need to use the number meditation technique.
If you find that you continue to have distractions start by visualizing in your minds eye the number one. Now, convert that number from one to a number two, then convert the number in your minds eye to the number three and continue this till you get to 100. I should add one point that you visualize the number changing on the breath out. Here is the catch though, if at any time you start to think about something else, then you just simply start back at the number one. You will find after a period of time that you are back on track and will feel relaxed and ready to move on to the meditation technique you were trying to do before you were distracted.
Look the bottom line is this, if you do become distracted do not indulge the distraction or try to fight it. As the distractions occur simply follow the technique I have outlined before. When you return to a situation where you have control over your distractions then simply continue your meditation session.
Essentially, be patient, as meditation takes practice and remember that it took you time to learn to crawl and then to walk and then to run and meditation is no different. Here is a point to remember, many Buddhists have taken hundreds of lives to learn the path to enlightenment, what makes you think you are going to master it in 5 minutes.
To finish off, remember this, meditation is like a sport, it takes practice, practice and more practice. Meditation should be fun and enjoyable and if you are getting stressed and frustrated that your meditation is not working then it defeats the whole point of meditating.
About the Author: Meditation is a great way to enhance your mind and become successful. You can use meditation to Think and Grow Rich and we have a book and audio files by Napoleon Hill that teaches you 13 secrets to becoming successful. To help you meditate on this material why not try out our High Performance Super Learning Meditation Music from our website.
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