Ram's advice to quiet the Monkey Mind

The Great Seer's gained samadhi

(One Timeless Witness) Ramana Maharshi ("Great Seer" Ramana) was asked a question by a spiritual seeker trying to "meditate" (reach samadhi, stillness, unification of mind, coherence). Ramana answered him.

The mind may never stop thinking [except deep in the eight Buddhist meditative absorptions, in samadhi], but if we turn our attention to what or who [the Witness, the Watcher] is listening, suddenly the inner voice may pause or stop.

The method to follow, the practice

The voice doesn't bother me. I need stimulation!

"Bhagavan," he asked, "how do I remain as this Witness? The voice remains the moment I stop trying." The seeker expected a method, something to follow, something to practice.

Ramana's voice was gentle but firm, "You cannot remain as the Witness. You are already the Witness. The question itself comes from the mind. The seeker's face tightened, "I do not understand."

Overthinking: Why am I even alive?

(Keepswim) I don't understand what we're living for

More stimulation, more stimulation, more!!!

"The mind wants a method, it wants a practice, it wants a way to achieve 'witnessing.' This is the trap. The mind cannot witness itself into existence. I can only dissolve.

"The practice is simply to notice. When the voice speaks, what hears it? Do not fight the voice. This creates more noise: 'I should not be thinking this, I am failing at meditation, I must try harder!' More voices, more struggle."

A thought arose in the seeker right then, "This is too difficult." Instead of believing it or fighting it, he asked, 'What is aware of this thought?" The question itself dissolved the thought. For a moment, there was only silence, only presence.

So the method is not a method, not a practice?

"Do not try to become the witness," Ramana continued. "This creates a false 'doer.' 'I am witnessing now, I am doing it correctly, I am making progress.' This is still the mind wearing a spiritual mask. Simply rest in the question, 'Who is aware of this thought?'...

"In your relationships," Ramana said, "the voice says, 'They do not love you anymore.' Ask, 'Who is unloved?' The answer? 'I am.' Then ask, 'Who is this "I" that can be loved or unloved?' The story collapses."

He paused. "And [of] that shame, the sense that you have not progressed, that others have arrived somewhere you cannot reach, ask, 'Who is the one who has failed?' The answer? 'I am.'

"Then ask, 'Who is this "I" that can succeed or fail at [meditation] practice?' Its owner cannot be found. The shame does not to be argued away; it simply has no ground to stand on.

But "I am that I am," right?

(Buddhism Podcast) "I am nobody" - what it really means in Buddhism

Don't Feed the Monkey Mind

"The witness is not cultivated," Ramana said, "it is uncovered. Every time you [mindfully] notice the voice, you are already the witness. You just have not recognized it yet."

The seeker sat with this. It was so SIMPLE, it felt impossible. He had spent years trying to improve his mind, control his thoughts, become a better meditator.

And now Ramana was saying, "Just notice what is already aware [mindful]. Every example leads to the same place. The voice has an owner that cannot be found. And what remains when the owner [ego, atta, atman] disappears, that is what you are."

"Bhavagan," he said quietly, "what is the purpose of the question, 'Who am I?' if it cannot be answered?"

Ramana smiled. "The question, 'Who am I?' is not meant to be answered by the mind. It is meant to DISSOLVE the mind.

The seeker closed his eyes. The voice had nothing left to say.... He no longer needed the voice to stop.

(One Timeless Witness) Stop trying to silence the mind or stop thoughts

• Sage (philosophy)
• Monkey Mind: A Memoir of Anxiety (Daniel Smith)
• Ashtanga (The Eight Limbs of Yoga)

Monkey mind solutions to stop overthinking

Dr. Jenny Taitz, NCBC via Health, MSN; Dhr. Seven, Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Psychologist shares 5 exercises she does to 'stop overthinking everything'

As a clinical psychologist, I've spent 14 years teaching people how to regulate their emotions and cope with difficult situations.

One of the biggest issues my clients struggle with is overthinking. It's an exhausting habit that can turn a stressful challenge into even more anxiety.

• 
  [It's magnified and amplified in sitting meditation, when we're trying to let go and just let things be. The habit of rumination takes over the show and just won't let go! That restlessness and worry is called "monkey mind," perhaps the most distressing of the Five Hindrances, obstacles to blissful stillness. "Meditation" does not mean controlling the mind. It means no longer letting the mind control us. Overthinking, over intellectualizing, paralysis-by-analysis are all pointless upsets that squander energy better spent on calm and insight. We need a reset.]

Here are five things I do when I need to stop overthinking everything:

1. Recognize when I tend to overthink

Shiva, when do you tend to overthink?

The first and most important step is pattern recognition.

What times of the day do I get lost in my worries? Do I notice physical signs, like clenching my jaw? Are there negative themes that come up again and again in my head? 

Then I reflect on when I am less prone to rumination, even when something difficult happens. I might worry less when I go to the gym after work, or when I listen to a funny podcast [or soothing music] on my commute. 

Arming myself with these details can help me be prepared with strategies as soon as I notice the warning signs.

2. Get some distance from myself

Solutions detailed in Stress Resets

A big reason why overthinking when I am upset backfires is because it immerses me even more in whatever I'm going through. 

The next time I notice myself sinking into fruitless rumination, try to see the bigger picture. This strategy is called "self-distancing."

I observe whatever difficult experience I am ruminating about as if I were a fly on the wall, [depersonalizing] rather [being] than directly involved. Taking a step back can provide the perspective I need to feel like I can change the channel.  

3. Swap 'why' with 'how'

The simplest way to replace negative thoughts with more constructive thinking is to shift from asking "Why?" questions (like "Why me?") to "How?" questions (like "How can I move forward?") Notice the difference: "Why" is a dead end, whereas "how" leads to productive action.

If I went on a date, for example, and the person didn't message me after what seemed like a great time, rather than ponder why, I focus on how I can create a relaxing night for myself.

By doing this, I consciously shift from unproductive ruminating to empowered planning.  

4. Write it out

When I need to process my feelings or an experience, instead of overthinking, I practice expressive writing. 

I do this exercise over the course of three days:

• Day 1: Spend 15 to 20 minutes writing about the stress and trauma that is plaguing me.
• Day 2: Write about how the experience has affected me.
• Day 3: Describe how the experience relates to my current life and what I want for the future.

This practice has been shown to help reduce symptoms of depression, even weeks or months later.

Researchers say it's because writing can help us go deeper into our emotions, while also creating some distance and an end point. 

5. Reschedule overthinking

Dr. Jen Taitz | LA Certified CBT DBT Therapist

To make my overthinking feel less compulsive, I consciously postpone it until later. I give myself 10 minutes to ruminate about a problem at 7:00 pm every night then move on. 

Another bonus is that there's a good chance that I'll get so caught up in my day or evening that I'll forget to return to my worries at the appointed time. When I become conscious of them, I'll be able to see my thoughts with more perspective.

When I want to avoid the debilitating all-day background buzz of rumination, I instead turn overthinking into something more contained. This way I give myself some freedom and power back.

Dr. Jennifer L. Taitz, Ph.D. (drjennytaitz.com), is a licensed clinical psychologist and the author of Stress Resets: How to Soothe Your Body and Mind in Minutes. She graduated magna cum laude from New York University and earned her doctoral degree in clinical psychology from Yeshiva University's program at the Albert Einstein School of Medicine in New York.

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Sleepless nights gone in less than 3 minutes

Couldn't I just meditate myself back to calm? - Yes, but that would take effort and practice.

Punk rock for sleepless stress (Kryad Music) Avenged Sevenfold "Game Over" (Life is a But a Dream)

Say goodbye to sleepless nights in less than 3 minutes • Cures for anxiety disorders, depression

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"Stoner Thoughts" on 4/20

Cali Callers, Heidi & Frank (FHF Show); Crystal Q., Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Whoa, man, what a trip! (trippy clipart)

What's a "stoner"? It's a person who habitually gets stoned, so much so that they have a lot of time on their hands to wonder. What they wonder about is of a class of pointless peculiar mind blowing questions, KOANS -- "stoner thoughts" like:

1. How many Lowe's would Rob Lowe rob if Rob Lowe could rob Lowe's?
2. What if there were no hypothetical questions?
3. Why is the word abbreviation so long?
4. If you're waiting on a waiter, doesn't that make you the waiter?
5. If tomato is a fruit, does that make ketchup a smoothie?
6. Sex workers in Japan will get a bailout because that country has a more enlightened view of sex work. Not a stoner thought, just true. 
7. Do nudists have any private parts or just public parts?
8. Did you know "up" for something and "down" for something means exactly the same thing?
9. Last month 90 thousand travelers went through LAX Airport, where last year 2.1 million went through, so if the Wright Brothers were time travelers who came back today and looked up, would they say, "We developed flight, and you didn't do anything with it!"?
10. If a dyslexic is reading a book about a dog, does he think he's reading a Bible?
11. Shouldn't buildings be called builts?
12. Why do doctors call it a practice? You're still practicing?!

13. 

    Koan practice comic (Ioanna Salajan)

    If you're a guard at the Samsung Store, are you a "Guardian of the Galaxies"?
14. "I'm sorry" and "I apologize" have the exact same meaning, unless you're at a funeral. lol!
15. Do you realize the word bed looks like a bed?
16. What if your name were Tony but spelled like Bologna (baloney)?
17. "Faded AS" is the same backward and forward. (It's not, but a stoner won't know).
18. If someone dies in a living room, is it still called a living room?
19. Why do we drive on parkways and park on driveways?
20. What if we're all dying, and everything is just our lives flashing before us?
21. Was "Dazed and Confused" Woody Harrelson's first movie? (No, he wasn't in it. It was Matthew McConaughey's first movie playing the character "Wooder.")
22. Nothing is on fire; fire is on things.
23. If you smoke pot on a boat, is it then called seaweed?
24. If we see water, do fish see air or, like, when they swim to the shore, is that the beach for them?
25. If you put on a sweater when it's hot, soon you'll become a sweater.
26. If humans get hemorrhoids, do astronauts get asteroids?
27. ॐ मणिपद्मे हूँ (ཨོཾ་མ་ཎི་པ་དྨེ་ཧཱུྃ)

POEM: "Until I Come to Rest"

Poet Joseph Nicks Liberato edited by Dhr. Seven and Ashley Wells, Wisdom Quarterly

UNTIL I COME TO REST

with time left to labor

happily hammering away

at this amorphous mound

of long-unfinished work

until i come to rest i wonder how much of this

matters to anyone but me

some of the time left i wander

from highway to hilltop

from shadows to shore

just trying to take it all in

until i come to rest i wonder how so much

of it still escapes me

some of the time left i slumber

at least until my conscience intervenes

and drags me from my dreamlessness

back up to the day's unrest

until i come to rest i wonder why

i even sleep at all

some of the time left i sit here

on the edge of the night and bed

with the same old silence seeping through

the numbness of all this new improved noise

until i come to rest i wonder where it is

everyone's gotten off to...

Tales From the Otherground

Poetry by Joseph Nicks (amazon.com)

The 102 titles in Tales From the Otherground: 30 Years Tending the Wordrows of Elsewhen represent about 10% of the author's wordwork for the three decades spanning 1983-2013.

Some recurring themes are: working, studying, hoping, thinking, walking, remembering, doubting, more thinking, driving, regretting, resolving, thinking again, leaving, loneliness, returning, and thinking some more. If you appreciate antiquated language... More

The Buddha's Path to Awakening (Part 3)

Mindfulness Matters: Tools for Living Now
Dr. Arnie Kozak (Beliefnet.com)

Another distraction that might arise is feelings of impatience, restlessness, or boredom. Typically, this happens when the mind projects itself into the future or tries to make this practice into something other than this simple looking at the breath.

You can acknowledge these feelings, without buying into their stories. They are concepts and hold no necessary power other than the power we invest in them.

In response to impatience, restlessness, and boredom, and to take their power away, you can give yourself permission to be with the breath, and return to the present without needing to make this moment anything more than it actually it is. You can investigate whatever arises during practice with interest and gentle curiosity.

Come back to this moment as it unfolds. You are learning about your mind and how it works, the sensations, thoughts, feelings, and images that emerge, and how there is a tendency to move away from the present moment.

In response, give yourself permission not to get frustrated or discouraged. Frustration or berating yourself for not being concentrated is just another story to come back from.

Keep coming back to the feelings of the breath. That's the practice! And if you can do this in a matter of fact way, you'll be moving into mindfulness. The goal here is to practice, to sit with yourself rather than produce a certain "outcome."

It's the process that's important and not the destination. There is no destination; it's a journey to become intimate with your lived experience in this moment and then the next.

Remember that awareness of breathing can happen at any time, not just when you sit down to meditate. Throughout the day, many times a day, you can try to remember yourself in this way. You can touch the breath, bringing awareness to a few cycles of the breath as you are hurrying through the day or coping with something stressful.

You can bring yourself into the now by giving your attention to the breath. More>>

The Buddha vowed not to get up until he was fully awakened and became buddho ("awake"). This process is explained in the Satipatthana Sutta or the "Discourse on the Awakening of Mindfulness" A beautiful explanation of this discourse can be found in Larry Rosenberg's Shambhala Classic: Breath By Breath: The Liberating Process of Insight Meditation. For more information and audio sample, visit Exquisite Mind.

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Arnold Kozak, Ph.D., is a mindfulness-based psychotherapist, author, and speaker; clinical instructor Departments of Psychiatry and Medicine, University of Vermont College of Medicine.

"108 sparkling insights into mindfulness" -- Larry Rosenberg, author of Breath by Breath

"Playful, wise, and memorable" -- Tara Brach, author of Radical Acceptance

"Fresh and straightforward voice"-- Shambhala Sun Magazine

Wild Chickens and Petty Tyrants

Meditation: Easy as 1-2-Breathe!

Basic Techniques of Breathing Meditation
Shannon Curtin

• The purpose of step-by-step breathing meditation is to create a peaceful mind. A peaceful mind is free from worries and mental discomfort. To meditate first set the stage by stopping distractions and clearing your mind. This can be done through simple breathing.

1. Choose a quiet place and sit comfortably. Sitting may be in the traditional cross legged position, a chair, or any comfortable seat that allows your back to be straight to prevent sluggishness.
2. Partially close your eyes and begin to focus on the natural rhythm of your breath. Be aware as the breath enters and exits the nostrils.
3. If the mind is busy at first it's normal. There's no need to follow different thoughts as they arise. Remain focused on your breath in spite of everything.

• Persist. Practicing patiently gradually teaches the mind to focus, and stray thoughts subside. Soon there is an experience of inner peace and relaxation. Enjoy this state of mental calm whenever it arises. Breathing meditation is simply the first stage of meditation [according to the sutra on the "Four Foundations of Mindfulness"]. Insight leads to deeper forms of meditation. It is important to learn to calm and steady the mind before advancing.

• Stress and tension come from an unruly and restless mind. Once the mind stabilizes, with the abandoning of restless thoughts and the gaining of stillness, there is an experience of happiness and peace. This form of contentment leads to better coping with everyday stressors. Difficult situations still arise, but now there is an ability to handle them with ease. In time, relationships improve. It's as easy as 1-2-breathe. More>>