THOUGHTS

I remember reading this somewhere - a monk is someone who can control the first thought OR the mind’s reaction to the external stimulus. So, monkhood means the ability to completely control the genesis of a thought, the reaction to it and service of it in the mind.

It’s easy to say that if you become a monk, your problems go away. But, it does seem like thoughts help deal with problems because every person has problems in their lives, even if they are a monk!

So a monk can control the mind’s reaction to a stimulus. For us mortals with a base (con)troll of our minds, this seems impossible. So, what’s closer to it? Well, our brain works in mysterious yet structured ways. It needs a thought to generate another thought or a response. It can be a direct response, a tangent OR maybe completely unrelated. A chain reaction, so to speak. Interestingly, we can, with some practice, control our mind’s first conscious reaction to this thought. This seems achievable and frankly what most of the neural rewiring is all about. It can be done with directed efforts and thoughts into thinking differently. For instance, you called your friend, partner or relative. You did so when you wanted to talk to them but they didn’t answer. You assume the worst - they don’t want to talk to you. Negative belief is there to sap your energy. But you need to divert your brain away from it. Ask why. There may be a perfectly understandable reason for it. Just indulge in it irrespective of it being the truth or not. You find one, believe it and trust them. You don’t give them control over you by doing this but you stop hurting yourself when it happens. This rewiring, this alternative thinking helps you rewire your response. And soon, it becomes second-nature and stops affecting you. Mind is magic. Or was it ‘Magic is Might’? Dunno, I’m a muggle (??).