How to declutter our mind? (Part1 of 2)

You know how it feels when you declutter a room. Suddenly you can find things and you can relax better and how ever little you throw out there seems to be so much more room!

Imagine doing that for your head!

We often encounter many unpleasant things in our life. Sometimes, they irritate us and make us angry. Sometimes, they cause us a lot of hurt and make us bitter or jealous.

But.

Like the young monk of below mentioned story, we keep on thinking about them. And let them keep on coming back to hurt us, make us angry, make us bitter and cause us a lot of agony.

Two Monks (Zen Story)

Once upon a time a big monk and a little monk were travelling together. They came to the bank of a river and found the bridge was damaged. They had to wade across the river.

There was a pretty lady who was stuck at the damaged bridge and couldn't cross the river. The big monk offered to carry the pretty lady across the river on his back. The lady accepted. 

The little monk was shocked by the move of the big monk. "How can big brother carry a lady when we are supposed to avoid all intimacy with females?" thought the little monk. But he kept quiet.

The big monk carried the lady across the river and the small monk followed unhappily. When they crossed the river, the big monk let the lady down and they parted ways with her. All along the way for several miles, the little monk was very unhappy with the act of the big monk. He was making up all kinds of accusations about the big monk in his head. This got him madder and madder. But he still kept quiet. And the big monk had no inclination to explain his situation. 

Finally, at a rest point many hours later, the little monk could not stand it any further, he burst out angrily at the big monk. "How can you claim yourself a devout monk, when you seize the first opportunity to touch a female, especially when she is very pretty? All your teachings to me make you a big hypocrite." 

The big monk looked surprised and said, "I had put down the pretty lady at the river bank many hours ago, how come you are still carrying her along?"

We should let go off the "pretty lady" immediately after crossing the river, that is after the unpleasant event is over. This will immediately remove all our agonies. There is no need to be further hurt by the unpleasant event after it is over.

This clutter of unwanted thoughts in our mind can prevent us from feeling good. We can’t focus. We feel like we are just spinning our wheels.

For a mind with less clutter, it is easier to find inner peace, to focus and to keep your attention on what is most important and meaningful in life. You can learn and absorb at a deep level how to deal with life smoothly and effectively. Allow the true you out, uncluttered by all that baggage.

“The problem is never how to think new thoughts, but how to get the old ones out.”

In my next blog, I will share 10 ways to delclutter our mind.

Sushant Tripathi

Divine Touch,

Exploring the divine within...

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