Having a monkey’s mind is daunting, my thoughts keep racing and I am not able to stay focused for a decent amount of time. The more I want to quiet your mind, the worse it become. I have more fluttering thoughts (“i.e. unwanted guests”) entering my mind (i.e. “home”) and the more active my monkey’s mind is. As a result, the more I want to get rid of the unwanted guests and the more stressed I become and am less able to concentrate. This is a viscous cycle, which I have been trying to get out for the longest time ever. I know the getting out of the viscous cycle is the only way to improve the quality of my life.
To get out of the viscous cycle, I diligently browsed through books and search relevant websites, to find and discover ways to tame the monkey’s mind. The word “mindfulness” keeps coming out in these books and articles related to my search.
This “mindfulness” word is so deeply ingrained in my mind, to the extent that my heart jumped when I came across a workshop relating to “Introduction to Mindfulness”. I know it is a workshop that I must attend and true enough, after that workshop, I embarked on my mindfulness practice journey and I have not looked back since. During my journey, my life has been greatly transformed, which results in positive changes in all aspects of my life, physically, emotionally and most importantly mentally.
I started with the beginner course taught by that school and progressed steadily to intermediate and advanced level. As I have benefitted greatly from these courses, I would like to pay it forward to become a mindfulness practitioner, to share more about mindfulness, with my future fellow students, want them to know the benefits and the tools that they can apply to help them control their minds, instead of letting the minds control them. Hence, I started collecting the relevant certificates with long term goal of being a practitioner.
Within a short span of time, I am able to stay mindful, be aware of the present and welcome those “unwanted guests”, to invite them to my “home” and leave my “home” naturally. I am able to stop and breathe, be aware of the present and all these comes naturally, without much resistance. I have come so far, thanks to the tools taught during the courses.
I have also attended “Mindfulness-based stress reduction” program which is an eight week course, which expanded my knowledge of mindfulness and helped me combat stress. Stress reduction has helped improve my health and make me a much happier person.
Being mindful is secular, not religious. It is similar to breathing; you need to breath in order to live. You need to be mindful, in order to stay sane and enjoy every present moment you are in. Though the start of the journey is tiring and uncomfortable, with a strong mindset and persistence, you will be able to be mindful at all times and enjoy all the benefits of being mindful. This is such an awesome experience which no words can describe, you have to experience it yourself in order to see your life change three hundred sixty degree for the better.