Inner Balance
A short exercise
Do you think too much? Try this 30-second exercise: Be still. Close your eyes. Take a deep breath. Now watch your mind…see those thoughts going by? Do you constantly shift from one thought to another? Do you find it impossible to stay separate from those thoughts? Are there any moments of peace?
Emotions arise from past actions
Sometimes, we languish in our thoughts. We ruminate over things that have happened. We imagine possible pasts that never took place. We are emotional beings. We can feel happy, confident, trusting, and generous. We can also feel sad, hesitant, suspicious, and jealous. These emotions are temporary, and often a result of this focus on past events.
When you avoid the present
Thinking is an important aspect of human awareness. But sometimes, our mind can occupy our attention to the point where you are never really in the present moment. When you have an active mind, you can constantly feel anxious about things that haven’t and might never occur: what if that meeting that will take place tomorrow doesn’t go well, and I get fired and wait a minute, the credit card bill is due next week!
Stress and Human Evolution
Through our evolution, we are conditioned to imagine and prepare for potential dangers; stress is a physiological response that helps us respond to them. Fortunately, we aren’t living in the savannah among lions. Unfortunately, parts of our brain are wired to produce stress as if we are. This is the fabled fight or flight response, treating a tough meeting as if it is exactly like a charging lion.
Reducing stress through Meditation
You can reduce stress through meditation. In Sahaja Yoga meditation, stress is produced by an imbalance in our right channel, and is caused by physical or mental overactivity – all that thinking and work. The direct effect occurs on our liver, which, within our subtle system helps manage our attention. Through meditation, you can cool down the liver and the right channel. This will help slow down your thoughts, improve your attention, and reduce stress.