The key to being liberated from
worry is to be aware. Being aware requires only being. Just being. Nothing
else.
There’s a perception, as a follower of this
Blog commented the other day, that simply being is tough. No, it is not.
Examine yourself. Most of the time you
worry without even applying your mind. It is a mechanical affair going on in
your head. What will happen to this? Or that? Will I get what I want? Will my
child be happy? Will my spouse survive? What if something terrible happens and
what I want done is not accomplished? It is an incessant chatter. A cacophony
in your head. And one worry sparks off another and another. Often times, this
becomes uncontrollable. And you seek remedy. Someone tells you to lean towards
meditation. Someone else tells you to propitiate the Gods. Someone again tells
you to meet an astrologer or soothsayer or a tantric. Why? Because your mind refuses
to listen to you.
Kabir, the 16th Century,
weaver-poet, says this so beautifully in his couplet!
“Maala
To Kar Mein Phire,
Jeebh
Phire Mukh Mahin
Manua
To Chahun Dish Phire,
Yeh
To Simran Nahin”
Translation
The
rosary rotating by the hand,
the
tongue twisting in the mouth,
With
the mind wandering everywhere, this isn't meditation
(counting
the rosary, repeating mantras, if the mind is traveling - this is not
meditation)
Meaning: Control the mind, not the beads or the words.
That ability to control the mind will come
only from your awareness. Awareness can be inspired in you by practicing
silence.
Spend an hour being silent every day. Just
being. Read a passage. Write your thoughts in your personal journal. Do
whatever you want, but remain silent and refuse to attend to anything that
calls for you to disengage from what you plan to do in that hour. Don’t sleep.
Don’t speak. Your hour of silence can make you super productive and aware
during the other 23 hours in the day! So, it is good return on investment. This
is the practice of ‘mouna’.
To be sure, it will not eradicate worry.
Worry will arise, but your awareness will cut off that flow of thought. It will
arrest the worry in its tracks. And help you come back to focusing on whatever
you are doing in the moment. Practicing ‘mouna’
or silence periods bring you to appreciate the power of now! Remember, there is
precious little you can do about what you worry about by simply worrying! You
can either act on a situation and succeed, or act on a situation and if you
fail, accept that outcome. Or just leave the situation to Life to sort things
out over time. Why worry? And then, worse, why worry about your worrying? The
bottomline is don’t worry about worrying. Focus on where that
worry germinates, sprouts, takes root. Go to that point and stem the flow of
worry.
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