Concentration of the mind without use. How to get rid of bad thoughts: effective ways to deal with negativity

I had already prepared this article for a long time, but still could not write it for the reason that I was not sure that I had a complete idea of how to get rid of intrusive thoughts.

Now I have experienced first hand how to deal with such thoughts and am fully prepared to tell you about it.

Perhaps some of my readers think that since I started creating this site, I have completely got rid of all personal problems. Indeed, I have already changed a lot by the time of the first entries in this blog, but my current state cannot be called complete freedom from negative emotions, prejudices and fears.

My position can be described as a struggle with myself, during which the experience and materials for these articles are born. Of course, in this confrontation between my true self and the primitive, instinctive, emotional self, the first gradually wins.

But this struggle continues: two steps back and four steps forward. Self-development stems from the awareness of one's shortcomings and work on them. If there is no struggle, then this does not speak of a final victory, but rather of surrender.

After all, self-development is an endless process. I keep running into some problems and struggling with them. Including intrusive thoughts.

Mind "gum"

These thoughts have always been with me. They could occupy my head and make me nervous, endlessly mentally referring to the same experiences. It was like mental gum.

I constantly chewed the same thoughts in my head, tried to resolve them, to untie some imaginary knot. But from my attempts to weaken it, on the contrary, it tied even more strongly.

I remember how, back in my early childhood, I could not stop thinking about some things that I could not think about at all. The habit of my brain endlessly “processing” some experiences and ideas must have been exacerbated during times of other psychological problems.

Recently, I realized that I learned to work with obsessive thoughts. Moreover, I am ready to formulate a method that allows me to get rid of them. I realized that this article might now finally appear.

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Obsessive thoughts come from emotions

This is the first thing you must understand. Obsessive thoughts are emotional, unconscious, irrational nature. They are connected with your fears, anxieties and complexes deprived of everything reasonable.

That is why they are obsessive. The emotions that form in you make you constantly think about something. They seem to signal “Problem! Problem! We need to find a solution!"

It's like a notification in Windows or another operating system that appears as an icon and will irritate your eyes until you update some program, remove a virus, or install the right driver.

We can say that obsessive thoughts have a positive function. They remind you of the problems you need to solve. And you can’t just take and turn off these “notifications”. It's hard to starve to death when your brain constantly reminds you to eat.

But, unfortunately, obsessive thoughts do not always tell us about some real problem. The mechanism of the emergence of these thoughts is quite subtle. And if, for some reason, the “standard settings” of this mechanism get lost, then natural human fears and worries can take an extreme form, manifesting themselves in the form of obsessive thoughts, which are very difficult to get rid of.

Everyone knows how normal concern for one's health can turn into hypochondria, how a natural fear of danger threatens to turn into paranoia.

And now you become a regular visitor to medical forums, and thoughts about your health do not leave your head. Maybe you constantly think about danger while you are on the street. Or you can’t get out of your head the thought of what people think of you, although you yourself don’t see any point in thinking about it.

The conclusion I want to draw is that obsessive thoughts are based on emotions. Therefore, they do not have a rational nature. Therefore, they cannot be fought with logic.

This is a very important conclusion. I have watched myself a lot, trying to understand how these thoughts appear and how they disappear, how my mind tries to deceive and confuse me. Earlier, in the evening, when I was very tired, I could not stop some thoughts.

For example, I could start thinking something bad about myself, blaming myself. No matter how skillful the inner lawyer turned out to be, who, using logic and common sense, tried to convince me that everything was not so bad (although of course he did not rule out problems), the blaming side always prevailed, and everything became even more complicated. The more I tried to justify myself and get rid of annoying thoughts with the help of thoughts, the more I became confused and more these thoughts overcame me. This sport with oneself led to the fact that the invisible knot was tightened even more.

The next day, in the morning, with a fresh mind, I didn’t even want to think about this problem. If I started to think about yesterday's "dialogue" with myself, then I understood that the problem was there, but it was greatly inflated and exaggerated by my condition. I realized that the problem needs to be solved, not thought about. There is no point in these thoughts.

After a while, I realized what the deceit and deceit of these thoughts are. If you try to destroy them with logic, they will still prevail, as they are irrational and illogical and make you believe in absurd ideas that common sense is powerless to overcome.

You Can't Eliminate Intrusive Thoughts with Logic

If you are set on self-blame, then you will continue to blame yourself, even if you have nothing to blame yourself for. Because this is your mood and it is from it that these thoughts arise, and not because of some real situation! Even if you suddenly manage to convince yourself for a moment of the groundlessness of these thoughts, then after a while they will return again if you resist them and continue to logically rebuff them.

If you are in such a mood that you think that you are sick, that something bad will happen to your health, then no positive test results will convince you otherwise. “What if the tests turned out to be inaccurate?”, “What if I have something else?” you will think.

And you will not see the end of these thoughts, no matter how absurd from the standpoint of common sense they are.

It is useless to try to refute them. Because it is impossible. They will come back and attack you with new absurd arguments that you will believe in because you are in such an emotional state that gives rise to these thoughts about non-existent problems.

Remember the state when you are worried about something. No matter how you convince yourself that everything will be fine, that there is no reason to worry, your perception, distorted by nervous tension and excitement, draws you a perspective in the darkest colors. Not because everything is really bad, but because you now perceive everything that way. If in this state you begin to think a lot and talk about the future, then your negative perception will attract your thoughts to the “negative” pole and it will be difficult to break out of this attraction.

How to get rid of obsessive thoughts

You will need common sense, but only at the very beginning.

First of all, you need to figure out if your obsessive thoughts are based on some real problem. It happens that mental chewing gum harasses you, exaggerating the problem. But an exaggerated problem does not mean the absence of one.

So think about what are the reasons for these thoughts. Getting rid of thoughts, you should not ignore the problem, if there is one. For example, it seems to you that you have some kind of illness and thoughts about it do not leave your mind.

Maybe these are really not groundless fears, and you have symptoms of some kind of disease. If so, go see a doctor. If you have already done this and you have not found anything - forget it.

Whether there is a problem or not, there is no point in thinking about it all the time! You either try to solve it if it exists, or you forget about everything if it does not exist.

This is the only moment in the fight against obsessive experiences in which you need to apply logic and common sense.

What to do?

Choose a moment in time when you are in the best morale, when you have more optimism and strength than usual. For example, in the morning when you are full of energy, after exercise or after.

Convince yourself that it makes no sense to scroll through the same thoughts thousands of times in your head. That these thoughts are deception or exaggeration, the purpose of which is to confuse you.

Be well aware of the following things

• you will not come to a solution to a problem if you constantly think about it
• obsessive thoughts have no rational basis, and if they are associated with some kind of problem, then you will solve it, instead of constantly returning to it with thoughts
• you can’t get rid of mental gum with logical reasoning and thinking

Realize the absurdity of obsessive thoughts

Further, you can once again, with the help of a few logical theses, expose the absurdity of obsessive thoughts. For example: “I have nothing to fear, because the tests showed nothing”, “panic attacks do not die, I have read about this more than once”, “no one is trying to harm me”, “even if there really are things to be afraid of , do not think about them 1000 times a day, this will only lead to nervous exhaustion.

Your argument against obsessive thoughts should be clear and concise. You should not get involved in an argument with yourself. Remember, in a long dispute with obsessive thoughts, you are doomed to failure, in which emotions and fears will prevail over logic and mind, and negative perception itself will “pull” thoughts to the negative pole.

To destroy the force of this attraction, you need to think less. When you think about annoying thoughts, chew them endlessly, you only increase them.

Give yourself permission to ignore intrusive thoughts.

Tell yourself that you will no longer think about what you think about all day and what torments and torments you. Indeed, why constantly chew mental gum when it does not bring any sense?

An obsessive thought is the repetition of the same thought in different ways. You will not get any new and valuable information from it, you will not come to any decision.

Therefore, give yourself the installation not to get carried away by fruitless reflections. After you've said it to yourself, made a promise you won't break, draw an invisible line. After this trait, you no longer pay attention to intrusive thoughts.

Don't wait for thoughts to come back no more

They will return again and again. Tune in like this: "Let them come back, what's the difference, I realized that these thoughts are deception and do not relate to the real problem."

Thoughts will come back, sometimes you will again begin to untie this knot in your head. As soon as you notice that you are again carried away by this, smoothly divert your attention to the side. Do not argue with these thoughts, do not be upset that they have come (and they will come), ignore them, treat them with complete indifference.

If you suddenly need to remind yourself of the absurdity of these thoughts, do not go beyond short formulations: "nothing will happen to me, and that's it." Don't get involved in an argument you can never win. All the endless arguments that again make you afraid or nervous are lies and deceit.

Remember what I said in the article: if you are in a psychological state in which you tend to worry about your health or your future or your loved ones, then your mind will focus on this fear, no matter how absurd this fear is. . Don't turn your mind against yourself.

You must know the puzzle toy, which is like a tube. If you stick the index fingers of different hands into both ends of this tube and try to release them with the help of physical effort, pulling your hands in different directions, then nothing will come of it, the tube will only squeeze your fingers tighter. And if you relax and do not pull, everything will work out.

The same applies to intrusive thoughts. No need to want to get out of them by all means. Relax, "kill", let them be.

Be indifferent!

Your indifference to intrusive thoughts will deprive intrusive thoughts of their emotional content, which fills them with such power that you sometimes cannot control. Over time, you will learn to manage your attention and notice those moments when you again began to think about what you should not.

Then thoughts will leave you forever.

But there is no need to look forward to when this will happen: “when will they leave!”, “I try not to pay attention to them, but they still do not go out of my head!”. Such thoughts are not necessary!

Arm yourself with salutary indifference: thoughts do not bother you - it's good, they returned - that's also normal. No need to turn thoughts about the appearance of obsessive thoughts into obsessive thoughts!

It's no big deal that repetitive thoughts keep coming to you. If you've stripped them of their emotional "charge" and try to ignore them, then they don't get on your nerves like they used to. In this case, they become just an annoying notification window (you may have seen such windows on your computer) that appears in your head from time to time.

And it's not so scary anymore. You can live with this. Thoughts appear occasionally, but they no longer grab your attention or confuse you. They are just short signals in the head that come and go.

When I began to relate to obsessive thoughts in this way, they left my head and I learned to deal with them. BUT fighting intrusive thoughts is not fighting, if we perceive the struggle as a violent resistance. Relax!

Conclusion

I have already said in other articles that mental illnesses: panic attacks, obsessive thoughts can either break you down or make you stronger (as in the statement of a famous philosopher).

Dealing with panic attacks can teach you. Working on getting rid of depression will help you find the source of happiness in yourself. And trying to control obsessive thoughts will teach you to control your attention and control your mind.

Arm yourself with patience and work on yourself, then you will not only get rid of your ailments, but also gain valuable and useful experience as a result of this, which will be useful in your life!

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It is impossible to live happily ever after. Although sometimes we will experience sad events that will give rise to negative thoughts. And that's okay. But if bad thoughts begin to haunt you all day long, then it's time to sound the alarm. Otherwise, you can easily get depressed. But how do you get rid of bad thoughts? And why do they even occur?

Sources of negative thoughts

Negative thoughts can occur even in those people who are doing great in life. A person lives quietly and calmly, and suddenly bad thoughts creep in. They spin in the head and after a while they take away all the attention. But where did they come from? Bad thoughts can come for the following reasons:

1. human inconsistency. Every person makes decisions in their life. There are unimportant decisions - what to eat for dinner, how to dress for a bachelorette party for your best friend. And there are decisions that significantly change the course of life. We are talking about changing jobs, moving, marriage, having children. And before deciding on an important step, a person begins to weigh all the advantages and disadvantages in his head. On the one hand, he may want to make a positive decision, and on the other hand, he is afraid that such a decision will lead to problems. And such thoughts attract doubts that do not give rest day or night.
2. Guilt. No one can always make the right decisions. Sometimes people are wrong. But some learn from a mistake and then move on. And others wind themselves up, think how they could have acted in that situation. Simply put, a person lives in the past. He may understand in his head that it is impossible to fix something, but he is not able to say goodbye to obsessive thoughts about that situation. Guilt not only destroys the nervous state, but is also a good tool for manipulators.
3. Helplessness. Some problems need to be accepted and learned to live with them. But easier said than done. Even the most strong-willed person gives up, he feels like a hostage in captivity of a high tower. His mind is filled with fear of an unknown future.

Whatever the cause of obsessive thoughts, they must be driven away. Otherwise, you can fall into depression. How to get rid of bad thoughts?

Why are bad thoughts dangerous?

Many do not understand the danger of bad thoughts. They reason like this: “What difference does it make what I think? The main thing is that it did not change my usual life. And indeed, at first, nothing globally bad will happen to a person. But soon he will fall into depression, and if soul-searching continues, then neurosis begins. And it's not difficult to get into a hospital for the mentally ill there. But, in addition to the destructive effect on the psyche, bad thoughts:

1. They don't let you do it right. When a person immerses himself in negativity, his brain is not able to correctly perceive the events that are happening around. It is difficult for a person to concentrate on even simple tasks. As a result, depression sets in.
2. They provoke diseases. Most of the "clients" of psychiatric hospitals are individuals suffering from psychological syndromes. But all their problems began from the fact that they worked themselves up and did not want to change anything in the subconscious.
3. Materialize. Many cases are known when a person's thoughts materialized into life. For example, a man dreamed of a beautiful house and after a while such a house appeared in him. But he can program himself for a bad event. A person is afraid of falling ill with a terrible disease, and after a certain period such a disease is diagnosed in him.

Evil thoughts often become very intrusive. And in order to save yourself from them, you have to seek help from psychologists to get rid of nervous syndromes. But even they will not help if the patient is not able to understand why bad thoughts arise. Then how to distract from bad thoughts? And how to independently identify a person with bad thoughts?

What does a person with obsessive thoughts look like?

People who suffer from obsessive thoughts are easy to recognize among the crowd. And this will help the analysis of the behavior of such persons:

1. they are terrified of contracting some disease. Obsessive thoughts about the disease climb into their heads and force them to constantly perform various hygiene procedures. Their fear pushes for daily general cleaning and disinfection using strong chemicals;
2. they are always in emotional stress, because they are afraid of sudden danger. Their thoughts are occupied with whether the iron is turned off, whether the tap in the bathroom is turned off, whether the door is locked;
3. they tend to think that everything can be done perfectly. At the same time, they constantly try to keep the commandments of God, forgetting about the sinful nature of man. And the slightest mess in the room provokes depression;
4. they are too steeped in the past. They store children's drawings, toys, diaries from school, old clothes and other unnecessary things. And if these "precious" things are thrown away by someone else, then a terrible depression begins;
5. in an emergency, they always think about the bad. If one of the relatives is out of the access zone, then such a person forgets about the possible discharge of the phone, and starts calling morgues and hospitals, winding himself up.

Such symptoms complicate the life of not only the patient, but also the people around him. To make life easier, you need to start fighting obsessive thoughts.

To cope with the disease, it is necessary to treat not the symptoms, but to look for the root cause of the disease. The same can be said about obsessive thoughts. Sit in a quiet environment and think about what triggered these thoughts. In addition, psychologists advise using the following methods to fight bad thoughts:

1. Avoid negative emotions. To do this, stop watching the news, start ignoring all the bad things that are said on the radio on the bus or what colleagues in the office whisper about. Find an activity that will be pleasant for your soul - go fishing, grow flowers, read interesting books. Communicate with cheerful people, and preferably children. Children are stronger than adults are able to enjoy good events.
2. Finding the positive in negative situations. On a sheet of paper in a column, write down all the events that make you think about the bad. On the contrary, write pleasant emotions that you felt in those situations. Such an exercise can free oneself from bad thoughts and see the good.
3. List the fears on a sheet and burn it. Burning a sheet that lists fears will help get all the negative thoughts out of your head. When burning, imagine how your anxiety and tension disappear in the fire. To consolidate the effect, this procedure should be done several times. You can also print your fears on a computer, and replace the burning ritual by simply deleting the file to the trash.
4. Boost your confidence. You need to understand that only you are responsible for your life. Set small goals and do your best to achieve them. And when you reach it, praise yourself for it. In this case, fears will quickly disappear.
5. Turn on your own imagination. When negative thoughts and fears come to you, imagine a picture of a landscape or other beautiful place. Consider this place in detail. This option helps to remove bad thoughts from your head on your own.
6. Eat antidepressant products. It is not necessary to take medicine to throw out bad thoughts. Eat natural, mood-boosting foods. Such products include chocolate, bananas, raisins, celery and sea fish.

Another important method in treating bad thinking is meditation.

How useful is meditation in the fight against bad thoughts?

Meditation is recognized by psychologists as the most effective way to clear bad thoughts. As a rule, it is used to concentrate attention or go into the subconscious. For a person in depression, meditation makes it possible to forget about the bad thoughts that so climb into the head. It is worth starting meditation only after a detailed study of this method. At first, it must be carried out when you have previously tuned in to positive emotions.

Very often, in order to get obsessive thoughts out of the head, a person uses false methods in solving this problem. He may think that meditation and other methods for curing bad thoughts are ineffective.

What will not get rid of bad thoughts?

Poor helpers in the treatment of obsessive thinking are:

1. Self-pity or excessive severity. After a series of troubles, a person begins to feel sorry for himself too much, considers his person to be the unloved of fate. All this creates more fear. And sometimes a person subconsciously does not part with bad attitudes. Imagine that you are overweight. On the one hand, you sob into your pillow every evening and think why you didn’t get the figure of a top model, and on the other hand, you like it so much when others feel sorry for you, console you, convince you for hours that a person’s weight is not the main thing. After such consolations, you get the legal right to go and eat your anxiety with cakes and other sweets. True, the nervous tension does not disappear from this. The problem will remain with the person until the time when his subconscious mind ceases to be protected from its solution.
2. Imagine bad consequences. To throw out negative thoughts faster, you should not imagine the terrible consequences of your own mistakes. Imagine that you are planning a trip to Italy for your vacation. You run and collect documents for a visa in your free time. And it seems that you meet the deadlines, but the anxiety that you will spend your vacation not in the country of your dreams, but in the country does not cease to torment. Saying the following text will help get rid of nervous tension in such a situation: “I am sitting in a comfortable chair. Everything is good in my life. I will spend my vacation in Italy, and all bad thoughts are just my fantasies. After such an exercise, your mind will be reminded of positive emotions.

Every time a bad thought comes to visit you, keep yourself busy. Work is the best way to treat negative thinking and long depression.

OBJECTS]

45. The second method of concentrating the mind, namely, without the use of objects, consists of three steps: instant expulsion of a thought at the very moment when it appears like a flash; leaving unfinished any thought that has arisen; bringing the mind to its natural state [absolute rest, not disturbed by thought processes (2).

(2) Briefly, the essence of these methods is to immediately block thought, allow thoughts to arise freely without limiting them, and bring the mind to a state of complete rest.

[STOPPING THOUGHT]

46. ​​The eradication of thought at the very moment when it arises like a flash is carried out as follows.

While meditating in the manner described above, the meditator finds that thoughts continually arise because the mind reacts to stimuli. Knowing that even one thought should not be allowed to arise, one must exercise vigilant control and try to block this continuous emergence of thoughts. And as soon as a thought arises, you need to uproot it entirely and continue to meditate.

47. When the meditator devotes a longer time to efforts to prevent the arising of thoughts, he finds that thoughts follow each other on the heels, and it seems to him that their number is infinite. This is the knowledge of the nature of thoughts, which is the recognition of the enemy (1). This is called the "first resting place". The first stage of calmness of mind is reached, and the yogi, with an equanimous mind, observes the uninterrupted stream of thoughts as if he were resting serenely on the bank of a river, watching its course (2).

The enemy of a long yogi is uncontrolled thoughts.

To convey the meaning of this phrase, I had to resort to a free extended translation of it. Literally, it could be translated as follows: "This is called the" place of the first rest, "like the bank of a river, past which water flows." In other words, if the yogi has acted successfully up to this point, he will be freed from the tyranny of the thought process and will be ready to perform even greater tasks awaiting him on the Path to Nirvana.

48. As soon as the mind comes to a calm state, even if only for a moment (3), it notices the arising and disappearing of thoughts. This will give the impression that there are more and more thoughts. But in fact, thoughts always arise, and there is no increase or decrease in them. Thoughts are born instantly. That which is aloof from the arising of thoughts and is able to immediately stop this arising is Reality (4).

Indian yogis define this shortest unit of time (which they can record) as the length of time between cutting the first and second of three hundred banana leaves stacked on top of each other and cut with a single blow of the sword.

Tib. pierce, what-nyid. Reality is not the human mind, which knows the continuous flow of thoughts. Reality is comprehended only in the True State, and the yogi, being in it, if he has merged with Reality, with this Noumenal Source, can prevent the emergence of thoughts, just as a person who knows how to use a switch can turn on and off the electric current.

[NON-RESPONDING TO THOUGHT]

49. At the next stage, which is leaving unformed any thought that has arisen, the method consists in an indifferent attitude towards it, allowing it to act independently, without falling under its influence and without making attempts to stop it (2). Let the mind behave like its shepherd [or watchman], and you continue to meditate. Then thoughts will cease to arise, and the mind will be in a passive calm state, focused on one thing.

This method is diametrically opposed to the method described in paragraphs 46-48. However, for one who has mastered the preparatory exercises of yoga, there is no discrepancy between them, since both methods are mainly a means of discipline of the mind, in a certain sense fulfilling the same role as the Latin language for the schoolboy studying it. Through the first method, the yogi begins to realize that the formation of thoughts is as natural as breathing, and when the organism is biologically functioning normally and the mind is active, the latter is as difficult to calm down as any other process inherent in embodied existence. The second method, considered here, leads to the true goal, when the Knower, having reached superconsciousness, observes from the side and dispassionately the spontaneous flow of thoughts.

50. Again thoughts are going to rush like a meteor [rushing in the sky for one moment, but uninterrupted way] (3).

(3) In the original, khyur-khyur. An onomatopoeic word meaning movement in relation to a meteor flying in the sky, an arrow cutting through the air, or a wisp of smoke carried away by a light wind.

51. If you meditate as before, the state of peace will continue. This is called the "middle state of calm," likened [in its serenity] to the calm flow of a river.

52. Keeping the mind in this inactive state leads to the formation of sediment in the mind (1).

(1) Sediment is thoughts, as the following saying will make clear.

53. Expert in the Teachings (2) said:

If the mind is inactive, it becomes calm. When the water settles, it becomes clear.

(2) The text does not give the name of this sage. But it was Gampopa or Dzongkapa, who were the illustrious apostles of the White Dynasty Guru who transmitted, as stated in the homage formula, this treatise (see Book 1, introduction: the author of the book and his fellow student).

54. And the great teacher of yogis [Milarepa] instructed:

When the mind is in the original immutable

state, Knowledge is born.

When this state, which can be likened to the calm flow of a river, is maintained, the fullness of Knowledge is attained.

O yogi, stop directing and formulating thoughts,

Keep your mind calm all the time.

55. The great Saraha summarized in the following verses the essence of the teachings about this double method applied during meditation:

When the mind is bound [unrelaxed], it strives

wander in each of the ten directions.

When it is free, it is firm and immovable.

And I understand now that he is as stubborn as a camel.

[WAY TO RETURN THE MIND TO A NATURAL STATE]

56. The third way, which is bringing the mind to its natural state, consists of four steps.

[THE DEGREE SIMILAR TO THE SPINNING OF THE BRAHMIN CORD]

57. The first stage is to keep the mind in a balanced state with the same diligence with which the Brahmin thread (1) is spun, since it must be spun evenly. It should neither be too tight nor too loose. Likewise, when meditating, one should not strain the mind too much, otherwise thoughts will get out of control (2).

(1) The cord of a Brahmin, which a Brahmin wears as a sign of his caste, must, according to tradition, be spun by a virgin, and with the greatest care, for if it breaks while spinning, misfortune will follow. Saraha (see books 2 - INTRODUCTION: 1. On the origin of the teachings of the great symbol) was a brahmin by birth, which explains the appeal to this analogy.

(2) Thoughts must be under the control of the consciousness, which, like a shepherd, guards them.

58. If you relax too much, laziness arises. So one should meditate with the same energy.

59. At first, the meditator uses the method of instantly cutting off thoughts (3) and therefore strains. But when fatigue appears, one must relax, allowing thoughts to wander spontaneously (4).

(3) See No. 46.

(4) See No. 49.

60. This method of alternating tension and relaxation, used in our school, has now been considered. Tension and relaxation of the mind, which can be likened to increasing and decreasing the tension of the threads while spinning a Brahmin thread, is called "keeping the mind in a state similar to spinning a Brahmin thread."

[DEGREE SUITABLE TO DISCONNECTING THE STRAW HARNESS]

61. In the second stage, called "separating the mind from thoughts is like separating a straw bundle by pulling out a part," the necessary condition is the adoption of an unshakable decision to remain vigilant, for previous attempts to block thoughts created thoughts (1).

(1) The efforts hitherto made to keep thoughts from arising, to control them or not, inevitably lead to the formation of other thoughts. Now the goal is to achieve a higher level of peace of mind. It is necessary to stop the continuous thought process, just as a bundle of straw is divided into parts, in which each stalk of straw serves as an analogy for some separate thought, and the bundle symbolizes the continuity of the thought process.

62. The methods of blocking thoughts described above involved the ability to know, leading to the formation of new thoughts, and this made meditation difficult (2).

(2) The Yogi must now realize (and be reminded of this) that he has not done much yet. The goal is still far away. But at the same time, he begins to realize that his yoga classes are necessary for his further development, as those who are preparing to become an athlete need exercises that develop muscles.

63. Switching off from the ability to know and from the knower and keeping the mind in an inactive calm state is called the way of freeing the mind from all mental activity and effort, and this way of switching off can be likened to breaking a straw bundle.

[DEGREE SUITABLE TO A CHILD'S PERCEPTION]

64. The third stage is called "the state of mind of a child looking at the frescoes in the temple [and completely absorbed in this occupation]".

65. In order to keep the vital currents in the channels, the mind is tied to the cognitive ability and the knower (1), like an elephant to a post.

(1) It was said above that the mind has the property of a stubborn camel. Now he is compared to a clumsy and clumsy elephant. There is a vital force (Skt. prana) in the body, which is divided into ten vital currents (Skt. vayu). "Vayu" comes from the root "va" - to breathe or blow, meaning the driving force of prana. These vayus, composed of negative prana, govern the vital processes of the body, and therefore each of them has its own location and is in charge of certain functions. The normal health necessary for a yogi depends on the preservation of each vital current in its normal state, that is, in the channel it must occupy (see The Tibetan Book of the Dead, p. 346).

66. As a result of this practice, forms similar to those woven from smoke, or ethereal, arise, and the yogi experiences the bliss of ecstasy, being on the verge of fainting (2).

(2) This is due to the fact that the vital currents penetrate the median nerve (Skt. sushumna-nadi), which is the main channel for the psychic forces moving with the help of their carriers - vayu. In addition to this psychophysical factor, a spiritual factor operates in parallel, namely the first faint glimpses of the knowledge of the mind, not affected by thought processes. In the West, this ecstatic state is called "illumination." This is the first fruit of perfection in meditation. In this state, the mind of the yogi embraces the deepest peace that arises from the direct sensation of oneness with Nature and Its Source. The human nature of a yogi who has reached the True State gives way to the divine. Now he is faced with the task of entering this state at will and remaining in it for ever longer periods of time. His final goal is to enter this state forever at the time of death, or to choose the Highest Bodhisattva Path and give up this Freedom in order to help others achieve Liberation.

67. The visions that arise in this inactive state of body and mind, when it seems that you are floating in the air, must be perceived with indifference - without sympathy and antipathy, that is, not to be attached to them and not to turn away from them. Therefore, when there is neither attachment nor aversion to any vision that arises, such perception is called "the state of mind of a child contemplating [the frescoes] in a temple [and wholly absorbed in this occupation]" (1).

(1) The child, looking first at one fresco, then at another, does not feel attracted to one of them, but at the same time his attention is entirely focused on looking at the frescoes, since he does not know what else he will see. And such mental concentration, based on expectation, but without attachment, must be maintained by the yogi at this stage of mental training.

68. The fourth stage is the preservation of the mind in such a state of indifference, with which the elephant receives pricks from thorns (2).

(2) At this stage, the "Knower" must be completely indifferent to such stimuli as constantly changing thoughts, just as an elephant, due to its thick skin, is insensitive to the pricks of thorns.

69. When thoughts arise in a calm state of mind, they are realized simultaneously with their occurrence. When the "preventing" [i.e., the mind accustomed by yoga to the vigilant vigilance mentioned above for the purpose of controlling thoughts] and that which is to be prevented [i.e., the process of forming thoughts] meet each other, the arising thought is deprived of the ability to give rise to a new thought (3).

(3) When calmness of the mind is achieved, apperception or grasping of it occurs simultaneously with the appearance of thought, which then occurs unconsciously or automatically, like the beating of the heart. As a result, the development of thought stops, and it loses the ability to transmute into a new thought.

70. Since the "Preventing" is himself, and it is not necessary to look for him, this state is called "the state in which the uninterrupted stream of consciousness operates automatically."

71. The ability to keep the mind in such a state in which thoughts are not interfered with and not reacted to when they are noticed, is compared with the indifference of an elephant, not sensitive to the pricks of thorns, and hence it is so called (1).

(1) This yogic faculty may be classified as the highest form of indifference to physical and mental reactions to stimuli. This is one of the black steps on which the illusions of samsara are neutralized, and this path leads to the True State. However, this is not the ultimate goal. The ultimate goal is to realize that samsara (i.e. the created world) and nirvana (i.e. the uncreated world) are an inseparable unity, comprehended at the final stage of analysis by the Mind illuminated by the Light of Bodhi. Other elephants, the state in which thoughts arise, and the state in which thoughts do not arise, are two opposites, which, when mastering the yoga of the Great Symbol, will be perceived not as duality, but as unity.

[HIGHEST STATE OF REST]

72. This [state] is called the highest state of rest and is compared with the ocean, on the surface of which there are no waves.

73. Although in such a calm state the movement of thoughts, their arising and disappearance is registered by the mind, it is called "the state in which the line between movement and rest disappears", because the mind has reached calm and is indifferent to movement (2).

74. Thus, concentration of the mind on one thing is achieved.

75. That by which the "moving" and "immovable" [that is, movement and rest in inseparable unity] is known, is called, if It is rightly understood, the "All-discriminating Wisdom, or the Supermundane Reason" (3).

The human mind is inseparable from the One Mind. The purpose of yoga is to bring about this union of the human and divine aspects of the mind. This will happen only when the mind is freed from the illusions of samsaric existence and knows itself. All-distinguishing Wisdom is the Wisdom of the Bodhic (Supermundane) Consciousness (or Mind) in the state of nirvana, endowing with the ability to cognize each thing separately and all things in their unity.

76. As the "Graceful Sutra" (1) says:

Similar information.

Each of us almost every day there are some useful ideas. But the human mind is so mobile that they are almost immediately replaced by new thoughts and irretrievably forgotten.

There is another case when the idea is good, but untimely. And in this case, it will most often also be safely forgotten.

But you can change the situation and decide not to miss a single idea anymore, even if at first glance it seems untimely, unworkable, or just strange. In the end, you can never say for sure which undertaking will be successful and which will not be very successful. Ideas then come to us so that we can use them and change our lives.

What are the main reasons we miss ideas? At the very least, they could be:

1. Didn't write down the idea

The circumstances of life can be dynamic and constantly changing. For example, very often ideas come while driving a car, when the brain is practically free. Music on the radio or something seen along the way can push to some thoughts. But writing in a car is inconvenient, and upon arrival at your destination, there is a high probability of completely or partially forgetting the idea. A change of scenery encourages forgetting.

But it's easy to buy a notebook, a pen and put it all in the car. And now, if an interesting idea is born along the way, you can always write it down on the go or by making a stop.

2. The value of the idea that came to mind is not clear

This is another big reason we miss out on good ideas. There are no completely useless ideas, there are only those whose benefits we still do not understand, and we just need to figure out how to apply them correctly.

Such ideas also need to be recorded. Someday they will acquire value, independent, or coupled with some other idea.

3. Abandoned an idea because it seemed stupid

Even if the idea seemed completely useless and stupid to you, it is still worth fixing. After some time, perhaps it will be more useful to you. So, you can, for example, once a month look through all the previously recorded ideas, and for sure among them there will be useful and necessary at the moment.

Write down your ideas

Experience shows that the best ones come suddenly, in the most unexpected places and situations, when they are not even related to what you are doing at that moment. This is completely normal. Just write down the idea, and you can analyze and use it later.

Train yourself to capture forward-looking thoughts.

Your subconscious is constantly working on the tasks that you set for yourself. But the form and timing of his answers to questions may be unexpected and incomprehensible at first glance.

Keeping such records will greatly increase your chances of success. In addition, you will always have entries with many ideas and perspectives in front of you, and this is a source of optimism and motivation.

Of course, not all ideas are good, and not all of them can be implemented. But remember famous inventors. Each of them had to come up with hundreds of unclaimed things at that time before they created something useful. They invented materials that at one time were not needed by anyone, and even by themselves. Their value became clear over time.

In addition, keeping records will allow you to become a more organized person. You will have to regularly analyze the written ideas, and plan their implementation.