Zero It Out - Hack Away the Unessential
Here I will introduce a few concepts and techniques for clearing the mental and emotional clutter...
provided to you so graciously and constantly by society, friends, family, and the media - clouding your mind and altering your opinions, perspective, and judgement.
This section is fun because the techniques and concepts I will teach you here - once you learn, apply, and master them - will literally return control of your mind, emotions, and therefore life; back to you.
So, diving right in; the first thing I would like to teach you is Void Meditation. This is a great meditation to do anytime you need to settle your mind to focus on a particular task, or just to calm your mind after a busy day at work and free you from distractions.
"Void Meditation" is also known as "stilling the mind" - and when practiced regularly - will build your ability to turn off unwanted thoughts and influences at will, and allow you to control your thoughts instead of your thoughts controlling you.
This is the meditation utilized when you see martial artists or others participating in spiritual disciplines that are extreme in nature, such as remaining perfectly still for extended periods, practicing katas in uncomfortable environments, etc.
To get started, first:
Focus on your Breathing. Try to tune out all other thoughts and focus on your breath.
Breathe in for a count of 5-7
Hold your breath for a count of 5-7
Exhale for a count of 5-7
Repeat this several times until you feel relaxed. Feel the air move through your nose down to your lungs, and feel them empty as you exhale.
Only hold as long as you feel comfortable. If holding for a count of 7 is not comfortable, hold for a count of 4, or even 2. Just make sure you are uniform in your counts. Don’t hold longer than what is comfortable since the goal here is to relax, and to clear your mind.
Try to get your entire mind to be completely still with no thoughts or music playing in your head. Your mind should be a total blank. You should focus on being in the here and now.
As thoughts or music come into your head, tune them right back out. Focus on your senses versus thinking about what’s going on. Hear what’s going on around you, feel the temperature of your environment, the texture of your clothes, your heart beat.
Whenever you find your mind beginning to wander or distracting thoughts drawing your attention, focus on one of these to clear the distraction.
At first, you will probably only be able to maintain a true complete absence of thought for a second or so before you begin to think about your breathing, or anything else. As you progress you will be able to hold this clear state of mind for several minutes. Continue the exercise for about 5-15 minutes, or for however long you feel you need to.
This technique, when mastered, can help you maintain control over your thoughts and emotions, and give you a clear starting point when beginning a new train of thought.
Begin to put this into practice anytime you feel negative, confused, or unsure about a situation. Equanimity will be developed through constant application of this technique - especially in situations involving multiple sources of input on a single subject or situation - allowing you to truly determine your personal motivations and opinions and tune out what others are saying, and the emotions they are inflicting on you via their actions, and also their personal emotional state that they bring into your environment.
So, diving right in; the first thing I would like to teach you is Void Meditation. This is a great meditation to do anytime you need to settle your mind to focus on a particular task, or just to calm your mind after a busy day at work and free you from distractions.
"Void Meditation" is also known as "stilling the mind" - and when practiced regularly - will build your ability to turn off unwanted thoughts and influences at will, and allow you to control your thoughts instead of your thoughts controlling you.
This is the meditation utilized when you see martial artists or others participating in spiritual disciplines that are extreme in nature, such as remaining perfectly still for extended periods, practicing katas in uncomfortable environments, etc.
To get started, first:
Focus on your Breathing. Try to tune out all other thoughts and focus on your breath.
Breathe in for a count of 5-7
Hold your breath for a count of 5-7
Exhale for a count of 5-7
Repeat this several times until you feel relaxed. Feel the air move through your nose down to your lungs, and feel them empty as you exhale.
Only hold as long as you feel comfortable. If holding for a count of 7 is not comfortable, hold for a count of 4, or even 2. Just make sure you are uniform in your counts. Don’t hold longer than what is comfortable since the goal here is to relax, and to clear your mind.
Try to get your entire mind to be completely still with no thoughts or music playing in your head. Your mind should be a total blank. You should focus on being in the here and now.
As thoughts or music come into your head, tune them right back out. Focus on your senses versus thinking about what’s going on. Hear what’s going on around you, feel the temperature of your environment, the texture of your clothes, your heart beat.
Whenever you find your mind beginning to wander or distracting thoughts drawing your attention, focus on one of these to clear the distraction.
At first, you will probably only be able to maintain a true complete absence of thought for a second or so before you begin to think about your breathing, or anything else. As you progress you will be able to hold this clear state of mind for several minutes. Continue the exercise for about 5-15 minutes, or for however long you feel you need to.
This technique, when mastered, can help you maintain control over your thoughts and emotions, and give you a clear starting point when beginning a new train of thought.
Begin to put this into practice anytime you feel negative, confused, or unsure about a situation. Equanimity will be developed through constant application of this technique - especially in situations involving multiple sources of input on a single subject or situation - allowing you to truly determine your personal motivations and opinions and tune out what others are saying, and the emotions they are inflicting on you via their actions, and also their personal emotional state that they bring into your environment.
The next concept is a little more straight forward...
I am going to give you a "simple" mantra to include in your every day life to help check your perspective, which is:
You Don't Have To Prove Anything To Anyone(.)
At face value it sounds simple enough doesn't it? But the vast majority live their lives in complete opposition of this statement, completely fixated on what others think of them to ever discover or develop their own opinion of who they are.
The more you focus on creating the life you think others expect you to have, or the image you want to portray, the more you will be moving away from who you truly are.
The more you focus on creating the life you think others expect you to have, or the image you want to portray, the more you will be moving away from who you truly are.
When that is what's happening - no matter what level of success you achieve - you will never be satisfied with your life because in the end, what you have achieved isn't in line with who you really are.
These two concepts applied together will allow you to begin taking personal inventory to assess which of your habits, relationships, viewpoints, and goals are serving you in helping you get to where you want in life, as well as determining any superfluous, shallow, or outside influences on who you are/have become and what you want to achieve in the future.
By clearing your perspective of these outside influences, answering the question why more clearly - for any purpose or goal - will become much easier, and will be increasingly more reflective of who you really are/who you want to be.
By clearing your perspective of these outside influences, answering the question why more clearly - for any purpose or goal - will become much easier, and will be increasingly more reflective of who you really are/who you want to be.
The next section will cover techniques for developing powerful mental focus and resolve allowing you to plow through obstacles towards your goals: