Immerse in work
“Your work is to discover your work and then, with all your heart, to give yourself to it” – Gautama Buddha
Perhaps one of the easiest ways to still our minds is to immerse ourselves in work—be it a chore or a passion. Ironic as it might sound, the more we concentrate or indulge in something wholeheartedly, the less our thoughts are likely to be scattered. We in turn become more in sync with the present moment, and we automatically develop mindfulness.
It is, as mystic Osho writes in his article Work as Meditation: “Work and relaxation are not contradictory. In fact, the more you put yourself into work the deeper you can go into relaxation. So, both are important. The harder you work the deeper you can relax. Work is valuable. It will bring humbleness and silence. (…) Love what you do. Be meditative while you are doing it— whatsoever it is!—irrelevant of the fact of what it is.”
Detach from thoughts
“Only in the stillness of detachment can the soul yield up her secrets.” – Elsa Barker
We are all thinking beings. But not being able to stop thinking is a disease which allows the thoughts to overpower us. Unable to find silence within us, we begin to identify ourselves with this mental chatter. The more we begin to identify ourselves with our likes and dislikes, judgments and interpretations, the stronger our emotions grow and ruin our peace of mind.
So how do we detach ourselves from our thoughts and emotions? By neither paying attention to the voice in our heads nor suppressing them. By constantly reminding ourselves that we are not our body, we are not our mind. Of course, this isn’t easy. But the more we manage to distance ourselves from our thoughts, the more we become a spectator, a mere witnessing presence. And then, eventually, we would discover a sense of calm beyond all the mental noise. As mystic Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev says in the video How do you stop the mind’s chatter: “Once there is space between you and the mind, then what the mind is not doing… what the mind is doing is not even an issue.”
Shift your focus
“Compassion, tolerance, forgiveness and a sense of self-discipline are qualities that help us lead our daily lives with a calm mind.” – The 14th Dalai Lama
Often, we find that we are absorbed in our own thoughts that play endlessly in our heads. But by constantly ruminating, we end up amplifying the tiniest of problems. In the end, we lose perspective and create bigger problems for ourselves. In order to calm the mental chatter, one can shift their attention towards others. This has several benefits. One, we’d realise that we’re not alone in our pain. Everyone deals with some problem or the other and chances are, we’d even be inspired by their courage. Two, when we help others, our focus shifts from our gnawing problems to other’s problems. It provides us with a much-required distraction from the thoughts in our head. Three, by helping others, instead of stewing in negativity, we’d become agents of positivity who bring about a change in the world around us.