Mind control from slavery to self mastery

[mudra]

Turn Peace of Mind Into a Habit

by By Remez Sasson

What do you prefer, a restless, agitated mind or peace of mind? Do you enjoy tension and mental unrest or do you prefer a calm and peaceful mind?

Peace of mind is conductive to better emotional and physical health, increased energy, stronger mental powers, improved memory and a better ability to learn and study. It also helps handling more efficiently the daily affairs of life, and stressful and difficult situations and circumstances.

Do you know that a stronger concentration ability brings deeper peace of mind, and a quiet mind strengthens the ability to concentrate? These two abilities are interconnected.

We live in a world where fear, strain and restlessness abound. You might think that there is nothing to do about it, and accept this situation as an inevitable evil, but you don't have to. You can experience inner peace even under stressful conditions and circumstances, but it does not come instantly. It is developed gradually through special training.

Just think how important it is for you. Become convinced of its importance, and decide to do something about it.

Study and practice concentration and meditation on a regular basis, and your inner peace will grow. Repeat affirmations about peace, and eventually your mind will accept them. Visualize peaceful circumstances, and envision yourself acting calmly in situations, which usually make you feel tense and nervous.

Daily practice will calm down your mind. This calmness will influence your inner being, your body, your circumstances and the people you meet. It will transform you into a peacefulness and calmness generator.

If you are afraid that peace of mind might make your life dull, uninteresting and boring, you do not have to worry about that. You can enjoy life with a peaceful mind. In fact you will enjoy it more, because you will experience calmness, happiness and inner strength. You will not feel threatened by anything. You will have constant inner joy.

You might need to give up some activities that agitate your mind, but the rewards are greater than the pleasure these activities cause you. When you start experiencing real peace, you will love and enjoy it. It will become more precious to you, than many other activities you loved and enjoyed until now.

You will be able to enjoy an action movie or a thriller, yet stay calm and relaxed. You will be able to enjoy a football game, while at the same time your mind is calm and unagitated. You will be able to enjoy food, physical exercises, your hobbies or anything else, without stress and strain.

Performing inner work, such as meditation and concentration, will ultimately turn peace of mind into a natural habit.

Think about all the anger, resentment, unhappiness, physical and mental tension, nervousness, strife and the waste of time and energy that results from lack of inner peace, and you will start to appreciate the importance of gaining real peace of mind.

Love Always
mudra

[mudra]

Inner Freedom is Real Freedom
By Remez Sasson

Freedom from the compulsion of constant and endless thinking is real freedom. Your mind thinks from the moment you wake up in the morning until you fall asleep at night. It gives you no moment of rest. It creates thoughts and also receives thoughts from the world around you. This habit is so strong and deeply embedded that nobody even thinks of overcoming it.

In this state you are not free. You may live in a free country and you may have financial independence, yet the mind keeps chaining you to a contant flow of thoughts and mental images, many of which are useless and futile.

The mind is a creator and receiver of thoughts, and it also constantly produces mental movies. We act like spectators with eyes fixed on a screen, watching pictures moving on the screen of the mind. These moving pictures are so real that we never question their validity or whether we need them. Our life, habits, actions and reactions are all strongly affected by what goes inside our mind. It is only by silencing the hectic of the mind that we are able to enjoy true peace and true freedom.

If you were able to watch the activity going on in the minds of people, you would have seen a very interesting spectacle. You would have seen that each and every person is living in a kind of imaginary mental world created by his/her thoughts. You would have seen thoughts created by different minds floating through space and being picked up by other people, who think these are their own thoughts. All these thoughts are constantly programming the mind of the person thinking them, and causing the affected person to behave, act and talk in accordance with them. So where is freedom?

You may live in a free country, yet in your inner life you may not be free. You enjoy real freedom when you are able to accept or reject thoughts in accordance with your will, and being able to impose silence on your mind, when there is nothing to think about. This is of course mastery of the mind.

Only when you are free from the compulsion of constant thinking you become free. You switch off the engine of your car when you arrive to your destination, because there is no necessity for it to keep on running. Why not do the same with your mind? Why let the mind keep thinking uselss, futile or negative thoughts, at times when you don't need to plan, solve problems, study or work? When there is nothing special that you need to think about, why not enjoy inner silence - inner freedom?

Imagine your mind being calm, like a calm lake with no waves or ripples, free from the compulsion of involuntary thinking. In this state of calmness and quietude you become conscious of your inner self, which is usually hidden by the constant flow of thoughts and mental images. In this state you are aware of your inner being - spiritual self, and happiness and bliss emerge from within you.

How can one gain inner freedom? Through concentration and meditation, being calm, and developing detachment and the ability to filter and sift thoughts, without getting involved and swept by them.


Make your mind quiet and you will enjoy real freedom.

Love Always
mudra

[mudra]

The Benefits of Peace of Mind and Tranquility
By Remez Sasson

People often associate peace of mind with yogis, hermits or monks, sitting alone in a far off place, in an ashram, cave or monastery, praying or meditating all day long. The truth is that peace of mind can be attained and enjoyed in various degrees by everyone, even while leading a normal, ordinary life, with a job and family.

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, says: "Inner peace (or peace of mind) is a colloquialism that refers to a state of being mentally or spiritually at peace, with enough knowledge and understanding to keep oneself strong in the face of discord or stress. Being "at peace" is considered by many to be healthy and the opposite of being stressed or anxious."

WordWeb Online defines this term as: "The absence of mental stress or anxiety".

This shows the importance of peace of mind for overcoming and preventing stress and anxiety. It is actually the antidote for stress and anxiety. Making the mind quiet and calm prevents anxieties, worries, stress and fears and awaken inner strength and confidence.

Peace of mind is an inner condition, and is independent of external conditions and circumstances. Someone well trained in it, and it is a skill that can be learned, can remain calm and in control of himself and of his mind, even in the midst of problems or difficult and unpleasant situations.

Imagine how great it would be to stay calm, focused and undisturbed by circumstances or people!

Instead of getting anxious and fearful, instead of thinking negative thoughts and expecting the worse, instead of getting tense, unsatisfied and unhappy, you can choose to stay emotionally and mentally poised and unshaken. You can experience inner peace and happiness, as well as inner strength and confidence.

Peace of mind, which is inner peace, offers countless benefits. Here is a partial list:

# It strengthens the ability to concentrate.

# It improves the ability to handle efficiently the daily affairs of life.

# It grants you inner strength and inner power.

# Inner peace develops patience, tolerance and tact.

# It enables you not to be affected by what people think or say about you.

# It helps overcome and eliminate stress, anxieties and worries.

# It makes you feel relaxed and free.

# Peace of mind brings inner happiness and bliss.

# It increases self mastery and self discipline.

# It enables you not to be swayed by events, hardships and difficulties, and to maintain inner poise, clear judgement and common sense in every situation.

# It eliminates negative, futile and restless thinking.

# Helps to fall asleep easily and have a good sleep.

# It improves the ability to meditate.

# It is the gateway and requirement for enlightenment and spiritual awakening.

Love Always
mudra

[mudra]

Serenity of Mind
Freedom from Thoughts - Peace of Mind

By Remez Sasson

We enjoy inner peace and feel happy and satisfied when life flows smoothly, and we have good relationships, good health, a good job and a good financial situation. We are usually at peace when there is nothing to worry about, no tension and no need to hurry.

Everyday life it isn't always like that. There is always something that causes worry, tension or fear, and which does not let us feel peaceful and calm. Nevertheless, we can enjoy peace, regardless of the state of our outer circumstances. Peace of mind is an inner state, and is independent of outer conditions. Why wait for never, for circumstances to be "right"? Why let outside circumstances decide for us the state of our mind?

Inner peace is within reach of everyone. It is not dependent on outer conditions, riches or poverty, health or sickness, physical freedom or lack of it. Everyone possesses the potential to enjoy it here and now. It is independent of outer circumstances, and a trained person can enjoy it even under the most trying circumstances.


Thoughts and Peace of Mind
Thoughts arise in us and we think them. We may choose to ignore them and experience real inner freedom, or we may choose to water them with the power of our attention and make them grow.

When you have to think, choose only positive, happy and uplifting thoughts. Think about and imagine only what you really and truly and desire and that will come to pass. Always remember that life is shaped according to your thoughts.

When the mind is silent there is happiness inside and happiness outside. It is a great asset and advantage to be able to silence the mind when its services are not needed.

The attainment of serenity of mind, which is actually freedom from the compulsion of incessant thinking, is open for everyone, provided the proper training is undertaken. Just reading this article you will not bring you peace of mind. When you understand its value and have a true desire to succeed, nothing can stand in your way. Though this is an inner state, work, time and persistence are required, just like the attainment of any other tangible goal.

Most people are enslaved by their predominant thoughts and habits. It does not occur to them that they can become free from their grasp. From the moment they wake up in the morning, to the moment they fall asleep at night, the chatter of the mind continues incessantly, giving no moment of rest. The habit of constantly thinking futile thoughts that prevnt inner tranquility is very deeply ingrained in the human race. Nevertheless, this habit can be undone. The mind is a great and useful instrument, but it should not be allowed to rule our lives. It has to be obedient to us.

To change or get rid of an undesirable habit, we have to be aware of it, and consciously and attentively act in a different manner. Whatever new skill we develop, we have to train ourselves, until it turns into second nature and becomes easy to use. The same is with control our mind and thoughts.

True control the mind is not just the ability to concentrate on one thought and disregard other thoughts. It is the ability to cleanse the mind completely and make it silent. Sri Ramana Maharshi, the great Indian sage, has said: "Mind is only a bundle of thoughts, stop thinking and show me the mind". When one becomes really free from incessant thinking, he or she becomes free from slavery to the mind, as both thoughts and mind are one and the same thing. One then also comes to see and understand the illusiveness of the mind.

When the clouds hide the sun, it is still there, beyond the clouds. Our Essence, our inner Self, is always here. We only need to remove the sheets and covers that envelope it in order to experience peace and calmness. These sheets and covers are our thoughts, ideas, habits and beliefs. I do not mean to tell you that you have to stop using your mind. You need it in order carry on your life. I mean that it has to be under the control of the Self. It should be your servant to serve you right, and not your master.


Advice for Attaining Inner Serenity and Peace of Mind
You don't have to feel uncomfortable with words such as Self, Inner Self, Inner Essence, Universal Consciousness, etc. They may now seem to you meaningless words, but they are not. They symbolize something very real, not hazy concepts. Concentration and meditation make these words meaningful. Advancing on the spiritual path is not something hazy, imaginative and unpractical as some may imagine. By personal experience you will come to really know what I mean.

Everyone can learn a new language, but not everyone can reach the same level of expertise. Everyone can engage in bodybuilding, painting or writing, but each will reach a different level. It depends on the inner aptitude, the earnestness, and the time devoted to these activities. Yet, everyone will make some progress. So it is with training yourself to become free from the compulsion of incessant thinking and attain peace of mind.

Try to calm your mind when you feel agitated. Mentally, take a step back and watch your mind, as if looking at someone else's mind. This has the tendency to calm and relax it. Develop concentration power and meditate. All these actions calm the mind and make it serene.

Following the suggestions in these pages and using the techniques mentioned in this web site, will start you on a marvelous journey. Practice, read articles and books on the subject and persevere in your training. One day you may meet someone who may teach you personally, as the saying goes: "When the student is ready, the teacher appears".

Try to watch your thoughts during the day, as if they are not yours, without being sucked into them. Become conscious of the fact that you are watching your thoughts. Then this awareness of watching will increase.

You will have to remind yourself incessantly to practice watching your thoughts, as your mind will probably make you forget. Do not give up and you will succeed. If you practice as often as you can, you will be on the way to success. It may take some time, but the effort is more than worthwhile.

You can also increase your peace of mind by developing the power of concentration, by meditation, by physical exercise and by correct breathing.
Remember!
You are not your mind!
You are not your thoughts!
You are not your ideas!
You are not your beliefs!

They may be yours, but they are not you.
They are instruments that you use. Do not let them control you.
What remains after they are rejected, is you, the real "I".

When thoughts cease, you still exist. There is no vacuum. When the emptiness of no thoughts is reached, you begin to feel your existence, your being. This emptiness is filled with something great, wonderful, powerful and sweet. You start living in Peace. You sail on the water of the calm mind.

This is Pure Existence.

When you realize this state you are free from thoughts and worries.
Then you are really free.

In this state nothing can influence you.
You stop acting instinctively on the prompt of each passing thought.
You become a completely conscious being, alive, strong, beyond everything.

Think of serenity of mind as a feasible possibility. Calm your mind with concentration, meditation and affirmations, and start enjoying peace of mind.

Love always
mudra

[mudra]

The Restless Mind - The Constantly Thinking Mind
By Remez Sasson

The natural tendency of the mind is to be restless. Thinking seems to be a continuous and ongoing activity. The restless mind lets thoughts come and go incessantly from morning till night. They give us no rest for a moment. Most of these thoughts are not exactly invited; they just come, occupy our attention for a while, and then disappear.

Our true essence can be likened to the sky, and our thoughts are the clouds. The clouds drift through the sky, hide it for a while and then disappear. They are not permanent. So are thoughts. Because of their incessant movement they hide our essence, our core, and then move away to make room for other thoughts.

Thoughts resemble the waves of the ocean, always in a state of motion, never standing still. These thoughts arise in our mind due to many reasons. There is a tendency on the part of the mind to analyze whatever it contacts. It likes to compare, to reason, and to ask questions. It constantly indulges in these activities.

Everyone's mind has a kind of a filter, which allows it to accept, let in certain thoughts, and reject others. This is the reason why some people occupy their minds with thoughts about a certain subject, while others don't even think about the same subject.

Why some people are attracted to football and others don't? Why some love and admire a certain singer and others don't? Why some people think incessantly about a certain subject, and others never think about it? It is all due to this inner filter.

This is an automatic unconscious filter. We never stop and say to certain thoughts 'come' and to others we say 'go away'. It is an automatic activity. This filter was built during the years. It was and is built constantly by the suggestions and words of people we meet, and as a consequence of our daily experiences.

Every event, happening or word has an affect on the mind, which produces thoughts accordingly. The mind is like a thought factory, working in shifts day and night, producing thoughts.

The mind also gets thoughts directly from the surrounding world. The space around us is full of thoughts, which we constantly pick, let pass through our minds, and then pick up new ones. It is like catching fish in the ocean, throwing them back into the water and then catching a new ones.

This activity of the restless mind occupies our attention all the time. Now our attention is on this thought and then on another one. We pay a lot of energy and attention to these passing thoughts. Most of them are not important. They just waste our time and energy.

This is enslavement. It is as if some outside power is always putting a thought in front of us to pay attention to. It is like a relentless boss constantly giving us a job to do. There is no real freedom. We enjoy freedom only when we are able to still the mind and choose our thoughts. There is freedom, when we are able to decide which thought to think and which one to reject. We live in freedom, when we are able to stop the incessant flow of thoughts.

Stopping the flow of thoughts may look infeasible, but constant training and exercising with concentration exercises and meditation, eventually lead to this condition. The mind is like an untamed animal. It can be taught self-discipline and obedience to a higher power. Concentration and meditation show us in a clear and practical manner that we, the inner true essence, are this controlling power. We are the bosses of our minds.

Love always
mudra

[mudra]

Inner Peace and Balance in Daily Life
By Remez Sasson

Inner peace and balance are of great importance in everyone's life. They are highly valued by most people, though really few possess them. Yet, everyone can develop them, some more some less.

What do inner peace and inner balance mean? They mean the presence of self control and discipline and the ability not to let outside events influence our emotions, actions and reactions. Their presence mean the possession of common sense and good judgment, and of not letting the outside world shake our inner world.

How many times have you been overwhelmed by emotions, lost your temper and got angry or impatient? How many times have regretted about your reactions or attitude?

Do you shout at your children, spouse, co-workers or employees? Do you get angry with them? Are you happy with this situation? Do you let your work, the weather, other people behavior and attitude, the movies or the newspapers influence the way you feel and think. Do outside events distract your mind and make you think about them, instead of what you choose to think about? This is loss of inner balance and lack of inner peace.

Lack of inner balance causes fluctuations of the emotions, lack of decisiveness and wasting time on unnecessary thoughts, emotions and actions. So what is the remedy?

The moments immediately after awakening are important, and influence the mood of the day. These moments have to be used correctly.

After waking up in the morning, instead of thinking about the difficulties or tasks that are awaiting you, smile and tell yourself what a wonderful day your are going to have. Think about the pleasant things you are going to do or experience, not the about the difficulties. Repeat to yourself several times that today you are going to maintain inner balance, common sense and peace of mind.

From the moment you get up until you go to sleep at night try to maintain some detachment. This does not mean being indifferent or uncaring. It means not reacting immediately to situations, words, emotions or thoughts. It might not be so easy, but if you persevere you will win. Take a few deep breaths or count to 10 before acting. This will to some extent calm you down.

If someone tells you something that you do not like hearing, instead of getting insulted or retorting in anger, hold and delay your reaction. I do not mean fret and boil inside and show nothing outside. This is not healthy. I mean look at the incident in a broader perspective. Is what the other person saying really important? Why do his words mean so much to you? Maybe he is right, and it would be wise to heed his words and opinion, instead of reacting in anger?

Always remember that if you descend into a valley, but keep walking forward, you will arrive to a point where you will start climbing up. No matter what happens, remember that there is always a way out. After every fall there is rising up again. This knowledge will help you restore your inner peace and balance, when encountering difficulties and obstacles.

Developing inner strength and the ability to make the mind quiet, through concentration exercises, meditation, detachment, visualization or affirmations, will take you a long way toward attaining and maintaining inner balance and peace.

Love always
mudra

[mudra]

Peace Begins In The Mind
By Remez Sasson

Peace begins in the mind. Anyone who wants to live peacefully has to start working on calming down the mind, thoughts and worries. There are various techniques to do so; one of them is of course meditation.

People subconsciously long for peace, so why do they fight each other? Why are there always groups of people who fight other groups? This kind of situation has been going on from the beginning of the human race. Deep thinking on the subject will bring one to see the absurdity of this situation.

Please set aside a few minutes thinking on the following ideas. What is a human being? There is a machine, the body, which is alive, because of the spirit that animates it. I won't get now into why and how it was created. The bodies of all human beings on the planet Earth are built in the same way, and are made from the same stuff. There are no bodies made from some more precious metal than others.

Then there is the Spirit. There aren't many spirits, but just one indivisible Spirit filling the whole Cosmos. It is the same Spirit filling and activating all the bodies in the Cosmos. There is no one spirit better than another, because it is the same Spirit manifesting through all the bodies.

True, every body looks different from another, but yet they are made of the same stuff. There is a difference in way the brain and nervous system function, which means there is a difference in the way that the Spirit can manifest through each body. Some brains and nervous systems convey through them more easily and smoothly the energy of the Spirit, and others do not convey it so easily. It is the same as electricity. The electric current flows faster and with less hindrance through certain metals than others.

Between the body and the Spirit there is the personality, the ego. It comes into existence between of the Spirit and the body, when these two unite. I won't enter into explanations what it is and how it comes into being, except saying that the pure Spirit manifests and sees the world through this personality. It is like looking at the world through some sort of eyeglasses, and here starts all the trouble in the world.

The personality, which is the ego, is composed of thoughts, ideas, habits and memories. A person living in a certain society grows with this society's ideas and beliefs, no matter whether these ideas are positive or negative, true or false.

People alwaya feel being a part of a certain society, tribe, country, nation or religion, and seldom change their ideas and beliefs. Later, as they grow up, they join certain groups or fraternities, support certain sports teams and join certain societies, political parties or other groups. People with same ideas and beliefs often join and unite with people having the same ideas and beliefs. If their beliefs are positive or harmless, it is all right. The trouble begins when they focus too much on the differences between them, which sometimes lead to problems, clashes and violence. They forget their true indentity as part of the One Spirit, and focus on the personal or group identity

Suppose two babies were born to a certain family, and one of them was taken for adoption by a family in another country or of a different religion. Each baby grows in a different society, with different beliefs, goals and behavior, yet both of them are brothers. They grow to see the world in completely different ways, and might even fight each other one day, as citizens of two countries or members of different religions. Doesn't it seem absurd? This is all due to the way they were brought up, and to the way their minds, thoughts and beliefs were shaped.

The aim of a human being should be to rise above the ego, above thoughts and beliefs. One has to look at the world through the eyes of the Spirit and not through the eyes of the ego. From the point of view of the Spirit, the ego is only an illusion and is temporary. Why should one be enslaved by thoughts that come and go? Why should one harm others because of certain of thought that rule his or her life? Why should one accept certain thoughts and beliefs and reject others? Thoughts ate like clouds that pass through the sky. You are the sky, not the thoughts. You are one with everyone else in the world, an inseparable part of the One Spirit.

Peace and real freedom come from within, when one is able to rise above the mind, above the ego, and to able to live in the Spirit and look at everything from the eyes of this Spirit. You can do that. You can start today. How? By changing the way you think, by making inner changes, by inner work and through meditation. I hope the many articles at www.SuccessConsciousness.com can help in this direction, even if just a little.


Love always
mudra