ZEN State of Mind!!!

ZEN State of Mind is a state where Mind is not attached with Mind. It’s precisely a state of “No-mindedness”.

Let me start with a Disclaimer, I was wondering what to write on Alphabet Z, I am totally stuck you know. Nothing was coming to mind. Then I browse through the  folders to get some ideas from my occasionally written stuffs. Then found this piece draft written by my Son Aaditya which he had asked for some editing. He was supposed to submit this for something in his school. I am just posting it here.

The Writer of the Artcle is – Aaditya Mahapatra @antimeridian 

What does it exactly mean?

It means having some time for ourselves where we are not indulged in the thoughts of the mind. Like is as if we don’t have a mind. It is not a religion; it is not a belief, and it certainly is not a piece of knowledge. It’s a practice. And trust me it works.

I agree, we can’t be like Monks, especially Zen monks who most of the time stay in a meditative state. But even for a while if we practice this then it’s going to work wonders.

There is the zen story: “Once a person asked to a Zen Monk, “What is Zen?” The monk quickly jotted the word “Awareness” on a piece of paper. A bit confused, the person compelled him a bit: “Could you elaborate & explain?” The Monk again wrote a second note: “Awareness Awareness.”

The person, now totally confused asked again. This time he pushed him to elaborate kit properly. However, he got the written response as “Awareness Awareness Awareness.” Totally frustrated & annoyed, the person literally yelled, “What the hell does Awareness Awareness Awareness mean?” Undaunted, undisturbed, the monk again penned “Awareness Awareness Awareness means Awareness.”

So precisely, Zen is nothing but being aware that “we have a mind & we need to be in a no-mind. Initially it doesn’t happen that way.

Our mind is like a river, thoughts flowing in it as water. Most of our life we drip ourselves wet in the mind. Once we are aware of that, we need to sit, not allowing ourselves in the flow. It’s not easy initially. But as I say, it’s a practice. Everyone has the knowledge. But knowledge without practice is nothing.

Once we sit for a while, we find that the swollen river recedes, with time though. Thoughts appear to be vanishing, slowly…not all though. Also there are hidden thoughts that come to our notice in the beginning.

However, with time, we fill like we have found an island in the river of mind. Eventually it starts looking like as if you have developed a beautiful place for yourself.

Zen state of mind is where we just allow our mind to relax and feel good. Initially it’s like channeling the thoughts in one direction. Or just thinking something beautiful. In this way at least for a while the “Chaos” of different thoughts takes a pause.  That’s why in any guided meditation they take your mind in to a trance.

Is doing Meditation mandatory to achieve ZEN state of mind?

The answer is No. Though, meditation is an important part of Zen, but you do not need to sit in a certain position or listen to certain meditation videos or all that stuff, always. You can achieve Zen mind state by finding your own meditation technique.

See, meditation is something that you do to clear your mind so you can have a fresh perspective of things. But everyone can have a different meditation technique.

If you want to live the Zen life then you must find your own meditation technique. It should be something where you think that you are at peace and can easily clear your mind of all the thoughts that constantly keep roaming in your head.

Zen represents the path to awareness & full awakening meant to help you embrace the original nature. This is always present in our life right here and now.

You don’t need to force yourself to attain Zen state of mind, if you do something that makes you happy, helps you concentrate properly on this world and the things around you, keeps your mind clear then you are practising Zen. Just keep practicing your meditation technique. That’s all.

Whatever activity disconnects you from your immediate world & makes you happy, that’s also meditation. Doing that constantly, practicing everyday will lead to a ZEN State Of Mind for yourself.

Writing, reading, playing, painting…whatever. Just do it religiously for certain moments every day. Do it forb two weeks to experiment & then see the difference!!!!

I have written this post for  Alphabet Z for  #BlogchatterA2Z Challenge 2021 by Blogchatter 

Overthinking – How to Overcome This?

Overthinking is precisely the art of thinking of a news-headline where the news is yet to be a news!! Thinking is good but Overthinking means Just creating a mess!!

We are all acknowledge adults. We know everything. Yet we at times do overthinking. I do – I agree. In fact, it happens. Sometimes it becomes a habit. I was through it. I had a feeling that I could never get rid of this habit.

What happens with a lot of us is we get conditioned to live our lives in certain ways.  It becomes a part of us, a habit, we become conditioned to it and it is very difficult to come out of that particular habit and in this case the habit being overthinking.

There was a lady egg seller. Every day she would manage few eggs from a poultry farm with the meagre money in her hand, sell them & buy the daily ration for her family. That particular day it was the foundation day of the farm. The owner had decided to give a Big Basketful of Eggs to all his daily customers as a gift. The lady was in seventh heaven as she got the Big Basketful of Eggs, free. She carried it on her head and walked to the nearby town to sell them off.

She was excited for the extra earning…err…really a big extra earning out of that those eggs. She was lost in thoughts while walking, planning about the extra money.

“I wouldn’t spend all the money today, will save a big part of it. Tomorrow, I will again buy a basketful of eggs & sell them. In this way I would earn more everyday and save more & more. Once it’s enough, I would go for my own Poultry farm. Soon, there would be more profit. I would go for a big bungalow having all luxuries. I would be having servants at home to serve me and my family. I would be enjoying sitting on my bed & watching my favorite movie. If my children would come to disturb me asking for the dinner then I would say, “NO I WON’T, WHY CAN’T YOU ASK THE SERVANT TO SERVE YOU””

And in a hit of thought she really SHOOOOOK her head & the Egg Basket Fell down, all eggs being broken…. 😉 😊

So basically, Overthinking doesn’t earn us anything but precisely makes our present a mess. If you are through it then it’s very important to get rid of it. It’s not easy but then not impossible too!!

How to Overcome Overthinking!!

  1. We must understand no matter what Overthinking is a habit & a habit is can always be changed or stopped
  2. We often think a lot when we do not have enough to do. Basically, when we are not occupied with things outside then we are a lot occupied with the mind inside. Simply we need to involve our mind in something.
  3. We should occupy ourselves outside, in our work, family or friends, communicating or doing things.
  4. It’s a great help if we take up something to learn new. That gives a pause to the “Loop of Overthinking”. It works as a distract to make the mind focus on something else, reducing the Loop Timing.
  5. Stop feeding the thought. See, if you feed your dog more & more, it will grow fat. Anything fed in excess grow in excess. So also, Thoughts. If we keep feeding them, they would just expand taking more & more of your mind space.
  6. Stop Paying attention to the mind. See mind is like a child.
  7. The mind is like a child, the more the child cries and if we pay attention to the child, the child starts crying more. If you ever see a child that has gotten hurt, you will find that the child starts making a ruckus. The child starts crying to get attention from the mother. If the mother pays attention of course if it is something serious the mother must pay attention to the child and nurse the wound; but sometimes it’s not even a serious wound and children are just creating a scene to get attention from the mother.

Now if the mother pays attention to such a small thing you know that the child is going to increase the volume and intensity of the cry. It’s a drama there. And therefore, if the mother ignores the child in a situation which is not very serious and the drama is unnecessary, the child’s intensity and crying will drop down till he or she stops crying. If you notice, this does happen. Therefore, the mind is exactly is like that. It’s a DRAMA QUEEN. The more we pay unnecessary attention to thoughts that don’t need attention at all the more we get pushed into the loop of overthinking.

  1. So therefore, we should learn to neglect such thoughts that don’t need attention.
  2. Meditation & Mindfulness also helps a lot. It’s not easy and really difficult in the beginning, but slowly it catches up & sprinkles water on the wild fire in your mind (Read Thoughts).
  3. Meditation not only stops overthinking but also destroys the fertility of the mind for these unnecessary weeds to grow, It makes the mind a fertile ground for the things to grow that are better for your highest good.

Obviously when a DRAMA QUEEN is stopped from unnecessary drama, it would put its energy to develop a Beautiful Script…Right!

These things worked for me…. I hope it would work for you as well!! Let me know…

This is my post for Alphabet O written for #BlogchatterA2Z Challenge 2021 by Blogchatter