By Ahsan
“You have power over your mind, not outside events, realize this and you will find strength.”
Seneca
Imagine a moment when you felt a lot of tension and stress. Perhaps it was during a meeting at work, after reading an unpleasant email, or just missing the exit on the highway, causing you to be late.
Each scenario just presented would have caused your mind/thinking to look for an immediate solution. Your reactions at the moment would be very natural, wouldn't they?
The quality of that solution, however, may have been anywhere from okay to excellent and perhaps downright awful. The best solutions to problems rarely come from frantic and upset states of Mind. Instead, they come from a calm mind.
Calm Mind > Calm Thinking > Good Solution
This is how you will access an excellent solution to any problem that causes you stress or upset. When you are tense and upset, your access to high-quality thinking is diminished, even extinguished. It would help if you stayed calm. Period.
The problem is that the Mind, when upset, does not necessarily think straight.
Your upset Mind may throw several ideas at you, and that is when you might say, "I can't make up my mind." Or you may be stuck in the emotion of upset and say, "I can't think straight!"
Your Mind generates your solutions to problems and produces “well-considered thoughts” that either become good solutions that dissolve the upset or play havoc on your emotional wellness because the thoughts are reactionary and low-level.
That’s why there is a saying: IN CASE OF EMERGENCY STAY CALM!
The Paradox Of Less Thinking
Life has many paradoxes, one of which is that the more you think, the less you find that thinking to help solve your problems. I bet you have always seen high-quality solutions to your problems when you were removed from the situation a few hours or even days later.
That separation in time often leads to amazing solutions popping out of nowhere in your Mind. It’s as if when the dust settles, clear thinking presents itself when you least expect it, often when you are busy doing something relaxing.
Perhaps your relaxed mental state while going for a walk, taking a shower, playing with your dog or just staring out the window, watching the world go by, induced the magic of the Mind to offer a good thought/solution.
So, now that you agree that the best solutions to your problems come from a calm mind via clear thinking, how do you do it during that upsetting meeting, unpleasant email or being late from missing that &%* exit?
Here is how:
You need to practice awareness of your emotional state. Just notice the upset or tension coming up through you. As you do, say to yourself, I am getting upset, but I will not fly off the handle or run around like a chicken with its head cut off. Tell yourself I need to stay calm so my inner wisdom can surface.
As you read this, you might think, " This guy has no idea what he's talking about!” How can anyone be so present of Mind when an outside event they have no control over upsets them?
My response is you can say that if you like, but the fact is your reactions come from your response, not from the event that causes stress or tension.
Suppose you are mad, upset, or angry because of an outside event or person not behaving in an ideal way for your liking. In that case, it is only you who is reacting.
It's like the alcoholic saying that some person X drove me to drink. That is not true. The alcoholic bought the bottle, poured it into a glass, put it to his lips, opened his mouth, swallowed it and went on to finish the drink. They could have just as quickly resisted the low-quality thought and done something more effective than drinking.
You and I need to practice staying calm through conscious awareness of our emotional state so that our inner wisdom can eventually surface.
Try thinking less and relaxing more.
The gift of thinking operates very well. Are you?
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