ABSOLUTE MASTERY OVER THE MIND AND EMOTIONS

Articles In This Section:

· MEN AND WOMEN ARE LOOKING FOR LONG LIFE

· NEEDS OF YOUR BODY

· ABSOLUTE MASTERY OVER THE MIND AND EMOTIONS

· THREE MAXIMS TO KEEP IN MIND

· NOTHING BEYOND THE HUMAN REACH

Sometimes you may find that, having considered every angle carefully, you want to delay your decision—sleep on it. This is an excellent approach. Not surprisingly you will discover the following morning that you know "instinctively" what you really want to do. This is the result of having permitted yourself to benefit by the subconscious functioning of association—which we sometimes call intuition at work— with your subliminal mind free to arrive at inevitable conclusions, or at least conclusions that are inevitable for you.

Concentration of this kind is a sure guide to future action, for it helps you act on the basis of your best and deepest instincts combined with inner knowledge, rather than on shallow impulse or because you are allowing yourself to be pushed into a decision; pushed either by others or by your own uncertain sense of values. Such concentration helps develop independence of mind and also self-sufficiency, the lack of which is nothing more nor less than a lack of faith in your own self. Learn, therefore, to think straight so that you can trust yourself fully.

Remember Pantajali's definition of Yoga as "the achievement of absolute mastery over the mind and emotions." Once a person has become fully aware of Self, this great teacher always stressed, he never again becomes so lost in what is happening in the world around him that he forgets to live a real inner life of his own.

But you must learn to live your inner life without undue tension. Introspection can mean enlightenment; it can also mean self-destruction. In the process of learning who you are and what you are, there will be a time when, having observed yourself, you will not like what you see, for deep down each of us is his own severest critic. Do not make a career of tearing yourself down. By all means analyze your present shortcomings and defects, bring them into the open plane of your mind, but do not dwell on them. Determine to change what you dislike, and start on the problem systematically, a little each day.

Try also to get a clear insight into the fears and anxieties you have been harboring. Make an actual list of them if you find that otherwise you shy away from grappling with them. Once you have done this, once you have confronted your private ghosts, you will be able to exorcise them in the clear light of day. Let the clean wind and the sunshine of lucid knowledge blow through the hidden corridors of your subconscious.

You will become a new person. For, the moment you face fears, most of them turn into nothing—few are realities. It is as President Roosevelt once said, we have nothing to fear but fear itself.

The fears that are real must be faced; that which you cannot change must be accepted. But instead of letting yourself be routed you must learn to live with reality. This is not easy and cannot be accomplished in one swoop, but neither is it as hard as you may think. The main thing here is your own determination. The clear light of reason is your best ally—that is why clear thinking, achieved through Meditation and Concentration, is all-important to your new orientation. With it will come a courage you hardly suspect you possess!