Why do we act the way we do? What’s driving us? Are we really who we think we are? Why many times we have no control on our own actions?
Is there a “real” us inside, deep within? Did we lose touch with ourselves?
Our attention has become the new currency. Everyone wants it. Everyone.
Overwhelmed. This is how I feel many times. So many things to catch up, so many things to read, so many things to do, so many goals to achieve.
But then, I end up doing this…
We all are running, all the time. The next big thing, the next happening stuff, the next hot trend.
So many things to do, but very little done. Why?!
How many times have you felt that your brain is not enough? Like you have used up all your mental energy for the day? Have you ever asked yourself why you feel stressful half of the time?
We questions ourselves on our beliefs and ideas. We strive hard to know more, to become smarter, to outwit the rest of the world. So much so that we keep pushing ourselves, thinking all the time.
You have a presentation tomorrow. You have prepared well but you are shit scared. This is your first presentation and the stakes are high. The more you think about it, the more you get scared. You think of all the ways it can go wrong. You just can’t help it!
You are actually feeding energy to a concept the more you think about it — here, it is about you failing in your presentation. You are making “the presentation fear” more and more formidable, the more you think the way you think.
You want to stop thinking, badly. But you can’t. What can be done?
Did you know that “conscious” thinking as we experience it, is just part of our intelligence and not all of it? But still we have to constantly kill ourselves to come with better ideas, don’t we?
But what if we are doing this wrong? What if, to go the next level of thinking, we need to stop thinking for a bit? What if “unthinking” is the solution to be better at thinking?
This is exactly what Thich Nhat Hanh proposes. And its called Mindfulness.
Yeah, we have all heard of mindfulness, meditation, yoga, blah blah. It takes time, it is effort right?
Not really.
What the author proposes in the book is a simple practice. All you got to do is to just concentrate on your “in” and “out” breath. That’s it. Whenever you want, wherever you want.
Waiting for the traffic to move? Got 5 mins at work? Eating? Taking Bath?
You can focus on your breathing any time you want. You will realize that when you do so, you are able to enjoy the activity you are doing. Try the practice while listening to someone. You will be able to listen at a totally different level.
How does it help? First thing is that, it raises a wall between your senses, habits and your will to act. You will be able to “see” how things connect to each other in your head. How a sound of a car near by is triggering images of the car fight scene you saw in the movie yesterday and how it immediately reminds you to check your mobile for more videos, to relive that excitement. More importantly, the practice allows you to stop any of these impulsive actions.
How cool it will be, when the next time you are about to “go bonkers” in a situation, you can literally “see it” and walk away from all of it?
A whole book that just talks about this simple “practice”? In a grossly simplifying way, yes. But when the author talks about what’s causing our brains to behave the way its, the book transcends “spirituality” category and overlaps with “cognitive psychology”!
Is there something “within us” that we are trying to neglect? Does our brains actively looking for distractions to avoid facing “truths”?
Thich Nhat Hanh asks a bunch of such interesting questions about human brain and behavior. The author uses bunch of stories, anecdotes and meditation practices to explain what’s happening inside our heads. You will end up understanding yourself much better than before.
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I am a story teller with amazingly positive hopes for the world. Obsessed with human behavior, technology, and future. Dons different hats — Writer, Product Builder, Marketeer, Speaker, Researcher. You can reach out to me on twitter.
