From Mind Full to Mindful

Have you ever found yourself lying wide awake in bed, unable to quiet perpetual thoughts, while trying to drift into sleep? Or had a stubbornly persistent song stuck in your head. Or perhaps you repeatedly relive a regretful moment in your mind.

Welcome to the overwhelming realm of incessant thinking.

Needs and desires of the body seemingly require ceaseless contemplation. Pervasive thoughts of health, wealth, approval, attention, companionship, pride, shame, comfort, growth, and demise stream on.

The mind is full of thought. And rarely at ease.

Close examination reveals the perverse nature to which we are possessed by thought. An apparent exorcism essential for inducing peace.

Yet the solution is not an empty mind with no thought. That’s just unconsciousness. What’s needed is a change in control. Or, more accurately, an acquisition of actual control.

Which begins with the recognition that we do not think our thoughts. Each of us are receptors of thought, much like a radio tuner. We have no influence over the content, only the channel. Of which there are two stations: exasperating static or glorious melody.

The noisy broadcast, otherwise known as the ego, is the source of interminable mental activity. Any sense of strain, discomfort, despair, or even contingent happiness attests to this dreadful, precarious state.

Which is poignantly described in the early workbook lessons of A Course in Miracles:

My thoughts do not mean anything. (W-pI.10)

A mind full of meaningless thought, lacking serenity.

But there is another way. We can recast the source of thought and experience completely different outcomes. Rather than being inundated with continuous thought, we can choose abiding thoughts of blissful peace.

Join me in Thursday’s class where we’ll learn practices to shift from a mind full of senseless thought to mindful joy. I look forward to seeing you then.