Monkey Mind

For years, and I mean a couple of millennia, Buddhism and yoga, have said that a key to having a more tranquil mind is to be attentive to what is happening at the moment. There are a lot of ways this advice has been expressed to the extent that it has entered popular culture- "be in the moment", "be present" etc. This idea encourages people to, for example, think only of eating when you are eating and not what your co-worker said which upset you twelve hours earlier or about how you will pay your credit card at the end of the month.

Easy to say, hard to do. All of us carry around an internal monologue in which we hum tunes, debate grievances from years past, worry or generally ruminate over issues about family, money, personal injustices or fantasies of wealth and success or the defeat of enemies. Really, I have no idea what goes on in the mind of another person but based on what people have revealed in conversation or written in novels, most people seem to have active minds which jump from topic to issue, issue to fantasy, fantasy to memory, memory to topic and around and around and around.

This ceaseless activity of the mind can involve for some a deep pit of depression or just plain unhappiness. Unresolved ambition, jealousy and toxic relationships can burden moment to moment thinking with sour poisonous thoughts. One of the current trends in Psychotherapy is Mindfulness Therapy. It appears to borrow from the mediation and mental health advice in Buddhism and Yoga in that people are asked to direct and redirect their mind away from the problems with which they are suffering and pay attention to what they are doing in a deliberate and calculating manner.

There is more to it than can be summarized here but the convergence of the ideas of Eastern Philosophy with Psychology is, for me, exciting. The recently successful book "The Brain That Changes Itself" by Norman Doidge and Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy ( Segal, Williams & Teasdale) and the pioneering work of Jon Kabat-Zinn seem to be pointing in a direction indicated by many philosophers from Buddha to Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh.

For people wanting to do work in this area of personal development the way ahead is a lot harder than popping a pill. Being attentive to personal discipline of your own mind is a difficult thing to learn. When we are overstimulated, tired, stressed and worried we don't sleep well, we access coffee, alcohol and, just when we need to "get our head together", we are least able to do so. It is a sort of "pulling yourself up by your own bootstrap" problem.

The problem of implementing the "Mindfulness" therapy is a bit reminiscent of Zen "Beginners Mind". Following a teacher, therapist or a guru may be the answer. Still there is hope and with the help of good direction from an experienced therapist some people may be helped towards a happier life.

I'll let you know how I get on.




- Posted using BlogPress from my mobile device

Location:Sydney, Australia