The gift of a calm mind
Calmness is silently beautifulA calm mind has the power to choose an adequate response in every situation. A calm-minded person can stay focused even when meeting difficult challenges, external pressures, or different crises.
However, that is not all, a calm mind can easily access creativity and intuition, and thus support innovation. Any calm-minded person is equally easy to work with and live with.
The calmest person is the most powerful person
A sharp-minded person who knows how to keep inner calmness is the one who leads his/her inner domain and masters any situation. Such a person has silent power.
How is this possible?
People who worry and get stressed tend to lose their attention. They can't focus when distractions appear. Their minds race.
The reality is that distractions around us are endless, from the news to daily background noises (be it in open offices or in our homes). However, the distractions in our busy minds are an even bigger problem.
When your mind wanders elsewhere (travels with other people's talk or is fascinated by the news story that plays on your TV screen), you miss opportunities in front of you. In such moments, you don't hear what the person in front of you is talking about.
The same equally applies in the case of daydreaming or worry. Your mind is occupied by your inner processes instead of being present.
As a result of your mind being elsewhere than your physical body, you simply fail to benefit from situations laid in front of you, as your inner alignment is missing.
In nature, being present and possessing the silent ability to observe keeps us safe. In offices, we also need such an ability, and it is based on the training of intrapersonal skills.
Noticing demands being fully present.
Noticing is easy when your mind is calm and well. However, noticing opportunities becomes impossible when you deal with your own worries, stress, anxiousness, or lose your mind in different fantasies.
Let's illustrate it on the physical body level – when you feel a strong toothache or a headache, you can't enjoy the sunshine, good music or sleep calmly.
When stress and anxiety pile up, it causes inner aching. Feeling such aching equals a loss of the power to be fully present.
Having a calm mind just doesn't happen.
Having a calm mind isn't a gift. It is a result of training your inner domain and letting go of different distractions that occupy your mind.
The problem isn't the action around you. The problem is your mind that loves to comment on what it hears, sees, and is involved in.
Until you react to everything, you are always one step behind. The brain researcher David Eagleman from the Baylor College of Medicine has stated, "When you think an event occurs, it has already happened."
He proved that unless you are fully present (aware of your awareness), your ability to notice what happens lags about 80 milliseconds behind actual events. An untrained mind often misses what matters. Science proves it.
Science also proves that your brain is neuroplastic, and training your mind has the power to change your neural patterns.
Learning to be fully present demands slowing down. Christmas is a good time for this! Use those coming days well!
A calm mind is a fully present mind; thus, you gain the inner power and capacity to benefit from the opportunities that arrive in your life.
An easy way to invest in calming your mind is just a click away.
HOW TO CALM YOUR MIND?
Most humans constantly dwell in their thoughts, imaginations, and experience emotional turmoils and chase endless desires while avoiding what they are afraid of. All those inner processes seem to have a will of their own, as those in most people run in an 'autopilot' mode. Those inner automatic processes never pause for silence, and if you don't look for inner silence, you can't find it.
We are extremely used to listening to noise around us and within our own minds.
Is your train of thought running and repeating what it has heard or been involved in? What did she say? What did he precisely mean?
If you don't understand something, ask right away! No matter what you think later, unless you do, you never know what the other person's intention is.
While you felt bad, the other person could have meant well. While you felt a critical remark, you were just provided an opportunity to see an alternative solution. Reality is, most people around you aim to mean well for you!
It is inevitably your own inner reactivity that sets a filter for how you hear things.
Let go of the past
Our thoughts are based on what we know. Even our worries and imaginations are based on what we have heard. If all those points were valid, then are you sure they are valid still right now?
An analogy of the old situation that your subconscious autopilot mode uses is never the current reality.
Remember, the world around us is in constant change. Nothing out there is permanent.
The only permanent level is consciousness, and it is silent.
Consciousness needs silence to appear. When your mind is calm, you can sense and become aware of things and situations.
Our constant inner action slips over any conscious pauses that appear, as we are often frightened of inner silence.
Reality is, calmness never bites. It contains no danger to our existence, as your inner silence is the essence of your existence. Your True self is actually silent and joyful.
Our thoughts are afraid of silence, as they need to stop for it to appear. All worry is a mental process combined with emotions and fears.
Your inner reactivity doesn't survive in inner silence. This, however, is good news, as reactivity is what removes conscious response and inner freedom.
Inner peace doesn't worry. A calm mind has no stress. No anxiousness or fears. It just is. Serene, free, and relaxed.
Calmness in nature always exists; we just need to stop and listen to it.
The calmness of mind demands a mental pause. It demands an emotional pause. You can't imagine calmness. You are the living peaceful inner silence!
The good news is, you can drop your inner noise and experience it!
The key is stepping out of the reactive autopilot mode.
One of the easy ways here is to find external calmness and let it sink in. In this video, there is an example of how to do this.
When you stand in silence, you need to give up everything besides being there and noticing silence.
Once silence around you meets silence within you, you just need to be aware of it. No other action is needed. Just experiencing it and being present. When you do that, you can start noticing the beauty of calmness.
You aren't your emotions, imaginations, thoughts, fears, or desires. You are a Human Being.
We often slip over being, thus we identify ourselves as human doings. We define even us by our position and profession (father, mother, son, daughter, or doctor, lawyer, programmer, expert on something, etc). But your True Self is none of those titles. It just is!
Silence or calmness of mind is the essence of being human.
In essence, you, as True Self, are consciousness – you are your inner calmness.
SEEK THE SILENCE!
When you have the power to become silent inside at will, you find the ability to enjoy the serenity.
Take a moment during this holiday season and seek a calm environment, like the wild nature. Go there and experience silence. Let it restore your inner wellness. It doesn't cost a thing besides your own willingness to surrender to silence and enjoy its beauty!
In the wild nature, almost all evenings and nights, especially during the winter, are silent or at least have long silent pauses. Notice those!
We need to value silence also in our daily life and modern workplaces. From silence, creativity and insights appear.
We need more calm homes and offices, it is the inner calmness that allows us to be well and thrive!
It is inner calmness and the ability to use awareness that allows you to notice where your focus is. ... and if your focus is influenced by outside events, a calm mind firmly restores it without giving in to inner reactivity.
Our constant reactivity within our minds leads to stress and, from there, slowly first to burnout and then often depression, as we so often forget to enjoy a silent pause. During free time or a holiday, don't seek constant action. Take time for a silent pause. Prolong such a pause.
In nature, silence always is; it is you who needs to pause for it. Similarly, you need to pause processes within your mind and become present; this enables you to notice silence within you.
Silence tolerates noise; it knows it isn't the noise. The noise never corrupts or spoils silence. However, constant noise tends to corrupt your mind. Unless you have trained it to tolerate and deal with noise and stay serene.
CONCLUSION
Take time to restore your inner calmness by establishing active contact with silence.
I recommend you schedule some silent time into your calendar during your days off work. If needed, set an alarm for it!
And if you can prolong that silence, take more time for it. Allow it to restore your inner wellness. Once you notice its value, we are sure you will book a silent time for yourself every day.
I start every day with a silent half-hour or hour, as it empowers me to deal with daily challenges later on. I recommend this, be first, and then start doing! It extends your inner freedom.
I have always benefitted from being the calmest person in the room! I am sure you can benefit from it too!
Inner calmness is a human superpower; to a person who acquires good intrapersonal skills, it empowers self-mastery. The mastery of always being the calmest person in the room is beautiful. It enables you to share the Joy of Life!
Merry Christmas!
Text and photos by Kaur Lass.