The mind in itself is not dysfunctional. It is a wonderful tool. Dysfunction sets in when you seek yourself in it and mistake if for who you are.
- It then becomes the egoic mind and takes over your whole life.
To be identified with your mind is to be trapped in time: the compulsion to live almost exclusively through memory and anticipation.
- This creates an endless preoccupation with past and future and an unwillingness to honor and acknowledge the present moment and allow it to be.
- The compulsion arises because the past gives you your identity and the future holds the promise of salvation, of fulfillment in whatever form.
- Both are illusions.
“What at this moment, is lacking?”
- This does not require an answer on the level of the mind. It is designed to take your attention deeply into the Now.
“Beautiful flowers are not anxious about tomorrow but live with ease in the timeless Now.”
Re-source: Reassessment
The moment you realize you are able to observe your mind, you are no longer trapped in it. Another factor has come in, something that is not of the mind: the witnessing presence.
Be at least as interested in your reactions as in the situation or person that causes you to react.
- Notice also how often your attention is in the past or future.
- Don’t judge or analyze what you observe.
- Watch the thought, feel the emotion, observe the reaction. Don’t make a personal problem out of them.
You will then feel something more powerful than any of those things that you observe: the still, observing presence itself behind the content of you mind.
- the silent watcher
craving and resource from “The Power of Now” by Eckhart Tolle
