[continued…]
After some time, start chanting “I am the heart, I am the heart” and eventually “I am the soul, I am the soul.”
When we can identify with our heart and soul, when we are swimming in the sea of peace, love and light, we see and feel our identity is much vaster than our mind with its ant-thought parade. When we are detached from our mind, it is much easier to control the mind and its contents.
Our busy mind acts as dense fog obscuring the landscape of our self. Just as sunlight reveals a landscape once the fog is cleared, so to see our inner reality in our soul’s light, we must clear our minds’ fog.
To clear the mind requires concentration. Concentrate exclusively on one thing, such as a black dot on the wall, a candle flame or a flower, or a chanted mantra. The goal is to keep thoughts at bay, by focusing all the mind’s energy elsewhere. Then when thoughts arise, simply keep the mind’s focus away from those thoughts – starve them of attention – remaining fixed in your concentration.
You can focus your imagination on anything which is completely still, blank or silent.
Focus on a white screen. Any thought which comes is a smudge on that screen and must immediately be removed. Imagine a still pond. Any thought is a pebble tossed into the pond, sending ripples through your mind and emotions. Adamantly and calmly return the pond to its stillness. Behold the vast empty blue sky. Any thought is a cloud or a bird intruding into your clear sky – let that bird fly right past; let each cloud evaporate into thin air so you are left always with only the embrace of the sky’s blue vastness.
[to be continued…]