Training Your Mind

One of the foundational skills that will both open doors and lead to a mastery of many things, is to develop the powers of your own mind.

Just as learning to read introduces you to ideas, countless different worlds and information, developing your own mind really opens doors. Developing this skill enables you to focus both your intention as well as your ability to use your mind as a lens. Eventually, you will learn to use your mind and energy in concert with those of others, raise power together, and accomplish what at this point may seem remarkable and surprising. 

Just as learning to walk , run, or play soccer starts with learning to crawl and then balance on two feet, using your mind often starts with meditation. This is not the only path, of course, but the reason it was been used so much for so long is that it works, and can become incredibly powerful. 

Meditation can be healing as well, and has been used successfully to overcome trauma and unfortunate blockages resulting from situations in the past. I don’t want to present meditation as a cure-all, as some healing processes are best achieved through therapeutic work with others. It may take training your mind through meditation to even realize there's something bigger to take care of. In any case, gaining the skills that meditation offers will really help you achieve success.

Often, as a beginning practice, especially in Buddhism, an effort is made to empty your mind, bringing your awareness to what is happening in the very moment you are experiencing right now, perhaps by following your breath, or by slowly walking. The skill required to truly empty your mind of all of the chattering thoughts is nearly impossible to achieve without incredibly difficult work, which is actually the whole point. Once you are able to focus your mind on something like your breath, and keep it in your attention, your ability to concentrate increases. And this concentration allows you to focus.

Of course, along with this skill, your awareness also increases. When your mind is wandering into who knows what distractions, you will also become notice what those distractions are, and thus learn more about yourself. Learning about yourself, and how the world and others around you operate and interact is really important and valuable. Once you learn about these things, and how they move in positive or negative directions depending upon the energies and intentions used, you become aware of how things like karma work. 

One of the really empowering things about mind training happens when you learn to recognize (life force) energy, the places where it resides, and how to work with the energy around you. This is perhaps the essence of the craft, as working to focus this energy, often with others of a like mind, so that together you work to accomplish something important. 

So not only is your mind a tool, it’s also a door, and a key to understanding yourself and the world around you. And once that understanding becomes more complete, you become happier, stronger, smarter, and more connected with your surroundings. Pretty good for starting out by paying attention to your breathing…