July 18th, 2010 by rob white
I am often asked, “What does it take to take command of the mind?” This question fits in marvelously with our current topic of conversation – Life Mastery 101. 
Life Mastery begins with self-mastery, and self-mastery begins with mind-mastery. Let’s take a peek at mind-mastery. You achieve mind-mastery when you learn how to handle the mind. Here is a great truth worthy of your attention: ‘either you are handling your mind or your mind is handling you’. One leads to self-mastery and the other leads to self-misery. Can you guess which leads to which?
It has been recognized (down through the ages), that the mind is teeming with thoughts and emotions. The mind is rarely still, and an agitated mind is not only constantly on the move, but frantically in motion. In the practice of Zen, the agitated mind has been likened to ‘a monkey that is drunk on alcohol and stung by a scorpion’. Imagine the screeching and jumping!
It is nearly impossible to stop the movement of an agitated mind. Only a very few can do it. However, everyone can learn to calm the mind by directing the flow of thoughts. When you direct the thought-flow, the mind begins moving in the direction that you want your life to go. Mmmm – sweet victory!
Here is the way that I gain control of my mind when it has taken on a jumping-monkey nature of its own:
First, I simply float up over myself and observe the frantic hither and yon flittering of my thoughts. I don’t try to stop the mad jumping about of my thinking process; instead, I make it a point to be an ‘objective observer’ … like being on the top floor of a building – watching a circus parade go by with all of the animals unchained and roaming freely about.
Second, It doesn’t take but a few minute before I experience the fact that I am not the mind… just as I am not part of that circus parade going by. My thoughts and emotions are separate from me. I am up here noticing them. They are restlessly jumping about, but I am not restlessly jumping about with them. When I get to this place of quiet-calm (in spite of my mind), I am able to take my power back.
Third, I now use my power-of-suggestion to apply the Law of Substitution. Nothing is more influential than repeated suggestion. That is how hypnosis works. I have learned that nature hates a vacuum, so if I am to empty my mind of the agitated thoughts, I must replace my thinking with thoughts that point my mind’s attention in the direction of my intentions. My intention is to redirect the mind to what is important to me. I calmly take control of my inward self-talk and remind my mind of an outcome that is important to me. I speak to my mind in a gentle manner, repeatedly talking about the outcome that is important to me. Soon my mind begins once again serving me.
Practice makes perfect – try it!
(1) Please share with me and the other members of this blog-community – what methods have you learned that have helped you regain command of your mind when it is jumping about.
(2) Please share an experience when your mind was jumping hither and yon – and the transformational change that occurred when you got it back under your command.
Thank you
A method I use to redirect the direction of my mind, when it is running rampart, is to speak one word one hundred times …. peace, peace, peace, peace ……. and … the transformational change that occurred recently: in the middle of a heated arguement with my brother – I simply stopped and said “I love you in spite of our disagreement.” I felt the change immediately.
Hi Salty, This is amazing! I remember some of your posts from a few months ago and I notice some change. Wow!! I love your idea and am floored by your ability to have that clarity in the midst of adversity. Thank you for an incredibly powerful tool.
INDEED, Salty … repetition of ‘one word’ will put the mind back on track. I love the word-choice you made = PEACE. Also, your example of a transformational change occuring within you by flipping your conversation with your brother from ‘I’m right’ to ‘I love you’ – that’s beautiful.
I love the idea of floating above myself and noticing my parade of thoughts. I just tried it, rob, and it helped me to take my self-talk less personally. This is something I have been working on since I took the 180 journey.
When we learn to take our inward self-talk less personally, Kara, we are able to turn it around when we find it it taking us in the wrong direction. Thank you for sharing that the idea of floating above yout thoughts helps you to regain control of your mind.
I took a meditation class that did not teach me that nature hates a vacuum, and if I wanted to rid myself of negative thought-habits, I needed to replace them with positive thought-habits. I like that tip. Little wonder my old thought-habits always crept back, I never replaced them.
Some folks can completely quiet the mind – but it is rare indeed, John, to get that kind of control over the mind. Try to stop thinking right now … hmmm. Try to change your thought from pink elephant to brown shoe right now – you can do that. Thanks for the personal input.
I know well the misery of the jumping monkey nature of the agitated mind. I love thinking of it that way. Thanks! It makes me laugh just saying it, which gives me a chance to take control of my mind because I lighten up.
Any trick that can make you laugh while the mind is agitate, is a good trick. This means you can turn the mind around. Thanks, Don.
Rob,
This is very fascinating self mastery, mind mastery and life mastery and see it all connect so well together. I like your example of drunken monkey and how to gain control by law of substitution.
Nicholas’s art work is always perfect sync with your wise wordings! I wanted to shout out to both Nicolas and Matthew for making the site so easy to use and see.
Coming back to your question, how I try to control my mind from wandering? Sometimes I let my mind do daydreaming and other time I do mini meditation to bring calm around me to get the focus back. With 2 little ones, my free time is precious so I use it wisely as much as possible.
YES, Nick and Matt are wonderful contributions to the website. Indeed without mind-mastery, self-mastery is impossible … and without self-mastery, life mastery is impossible. You can’t have one without the other. I love the idea of ‘mini-meditations’ … chunk it down. Perfect. Thank you, Preeti.
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Very nice post Rob. It is very crucial to be incharge of our minds. We alone can control our minds, if we don’t then who does? What I usually do, I keep reminding myself that there is 2 interpretations for each statement, one positive and one negative and I choose to have the positive thoughts. Thanks for sharing
Now that is a nice tip, Dia … reminding yourself that there are two interpretations for every experience. One spirals your attitude upward, and the other spirals your attitude downward. That is just the kind of inward self-talk that puts you in charge of the mind. Thank you for that. Readers are going to like it.
I found that to be the commander of the mind I had to gain clarity and purpose for myself. I did that by doing things where I find things naturally become clear to me! Like driving, I love driving and it naturally gives me that time where I can think get that clarity.
Wow, I love that, Amit. You participate in activity where the mind naturally slows down its monkey-like jumping nature (like when you are driving). When the mind slows – thoughts and visions become clearer. Great tip. Thank you.
Hi Rob,
Love this! And you make such an excellent point. Love when you pointed this out, “Life Mastery begins with self-mastery, and self-mastery begins with mind-mastery.” It is poignant. I had something happen to me recently somebody asked me why I wasn’t going crazy being so busy with my current work, being a blogger, mommy, and taking care of 2 part time business. My answer was exactly in how you put everything together here in your blog. If the software drives the hardware in our mind then the task is halfway done. I feel that that as long as I control my ‘mindset’ in every situation then I can continue to fulfill most of my task with ease, elegance, and joy. The reason why figure skater moves in the ice eloquently and with perfection is because they have done it over & over repeatedly in their mind. I also appreciate that you mentioned, “apply the Law of Substitution” this is difenitely true when it comes to your Big hairy Audacious Goals, planning a wedding, a speech, and big meeting. It helps you see that nothing I mean nothing is limited. And opportunity is sneaking up to you closely when you simply partner up with these thoughts and feelings.
Thank You Rob! Your an amazing writer and truly love ALL your work.
Have a beautiful week!
That is a wonderful ‘mindful’ that you offer, Therese. The rules of life are poignant (great word you bring into the conversation). Mind-master … self-mastery … life mastery. That’s it! Simple, but not necessarily easy. I like how you chunk down your objectives for being a blogger, a mom, and caring for two businesses. Controlling your ‘mindset’ is key … especially when big, hairy, audacious goals confront you (nice term). Thank you for your contribution, Therese.
I love the idea of seeing my thoughts as a parade of circus animals gone wild. I know exactly how that feels when my self-talk runs wild. I can see how ‘reigning the circus animals in’ metaphor will help me regain control of my mind when my thinking is helter skelter. Thanks,rob.
Thank you, Rus, for helping us to see how you plan to use the metaphor to put your mind back under your command. Get a lasso and reign those renegade thoughts back in the coral!
I love the tip in this blog: “I am not the mind.” I reminded myself of this several times today when my mind was ranting about how difficult my mother was being. I wanted to be objective so I kept saying, “I am not the mind.” Just saying it helped me feel calmer so I could deal with my mother.
It is easy for us, Carol Anne, to get so wrapped up in our thoughts that we completely identify with them. When this happens, we lose our ability to take command of our mind and apply the ‘Law of Substitution’ (replace current thinking for new and fresh opinions). Thanks for your personal story about dealing in a calm manner with your mother.
I can see how my mind handles me if I am not remaining awake to handling it. I can go off on tangents about the recession and the problems with environmental pollution. Some of my friends say, ‘get a grip’, which is their way of telling me it is time to handle my mind. I like this blog. I did not think of the mind as you present it.
I am glad you are looking at your mind in a new way, Byron … newness always offers new perspectives. Keep on going!
This is my first time on this site. It is fummy to think of the jumping monkey nature of the mind. It loosens up the whole heavy topic of the mind out of control. Thanks for suggesting that I float up over my mind and be the observer. I am trying that today.
Welcome aboard this blog-site, Wendy. I believe it will offer you many opportunities to see yourself differently.
Hi Rob.
I can’t say I usually take command of my mind, but I sometimes do by thinking in a very structured way and then building off of that foundation.
I do have to maintain a distance with parts of my mind at times. It is a smart thing to do. We are in control. We always have that second where we can choose to avoid a distraction.
Your idea about repeated power-of-suggestion is valid too and I have used it at times. Once you repeat and think about something enough, you start to forget everything else, and then say “ok I will do that”.
YES, Armen … there is that moment-of-choice in every thought process where we can choose to think about things differently. Good tip. Thank you for pointing it out.
Hey Rob,
Lots of golden nuggets here…
This post reminds me a lot of what I read a couple of years ago: Deepak Chopra’s 7 Laws of Success.
Something tells me you’re already familiar with Mr. Chopra’s Teachings.
For me it would be the exact same method you’ve just demonstrated, I would also play some music. Sometimes it’s classical, sometimes it’s rock. I find that when my mind is agitated, sometimes it’s best to go with it and let it all out screaming my lungs out to rock music.
Cheers pal’
I am familiar with Deepak, but not his 7 Laws of Success, Parker Lee. I am not surprised that you may find familiarity, because I referred to Zen practices, and Deepak’s roots are in that direction. Truth is truth, no matter how you introduce it. That is why it can sound similar. Emerson is one of my favorite writers of the truth. I like your method of singing your heart out to rock music to take control of your mind when it is jumping about. Thanks for the tip. blessings, rob
One thing I like to do when my mind is on a rampage is to put my hand up and say, “Stop.” This works especially well if I’m obsessing about something.
Another thing is besides writing down what I’m grateful for I write down 15 things that went right in the last 24 hrs and 15 things I got right. Jacob Glass taught me that. He says if our egos/minds are busy keeping track and comparing then we need to give it something to keep track of…this exercise immediately allows me to recognize how wonderful life it.
Wow, that is some pretty powerful stuff you are sharing there, Tess. Thank you for offering that inspiring advice to our reader. Yes, the ego loves keeping lists – why not give it a list of good thoughts to keep track of.
I’ve given this blog a lot of thought all week. It really speaks to me.
The idea of taking command of myself so that I can take command of my life is new to me. I always thoughtI had to take command of my life first and then it got easier to take command of my moods. Thank you for the turn around tip.
Wow, I am blown away by your ability to share the how,Rob. I am so grateful. I used to calm the committee in my head by leaning out the sliding glass door and screeming at the top of my lungs (funny this was only at my parent’s house.) Now I walk and think and in general I am finding there is much less chaos as I am better understanding. My biggest frustration was that I thought life wasn’t fair. You can’t imagine how wonderful it was/is to learn that life is absolutely fair, I just needed to learn new “rules”. Thank you for who you are and being willing to share in a way we can learn and grow from.
I love your metaphor, Sylvia – ‘the committee in your head’. Yes, it can be quite a chorus of howling voices when the agitated mind gets going. Most folks get caught up in the idea that ‘life isn’t fair’. That one ideas can curse our mood for a lifetime. Thanks for that.
I like the ‘committe in my mind’ example of how the mind talks too much. There is an old commercial on television with a bunch of monkeys sitting around an executive table. It is funny. That’s my mind. I’ve got to put those monkeys back in the jungle where they belong.