Everyday in our normal working lives we are faced with many opportunities to work on our spiritual development, but we usually waste it on unproductive mind chatter. Why not put this time to good use, it really doesn’t matter how little the time is, because in establishing a new mental pattern it all begins with these wasted moments. Why let the mind control you and take you to places that don’t have any meaning or you don’t want to go, eventually adding weight on the back of your mind. When we take a close look at our internal dialogue, beyond our duties and normal reactions, most of it is complete gibberish, this technique is designed for that and can cultivate stability and mind control. You can work on these moments to advance yourself spiritually, strengthen the mind and concentration, you don’t have to give up anything.
No matter how busy our day is we experience down time with gaps in-between places, which can become mentally and spiritually productive. So many times we are caught between appointments and destinations, and it seems like a big part of life is wasted time, most of the time we fill it up with mental gossip, desires, fears and worries. Why do we reinforce bad behavior in our thoughts and not our kids.
Practice these pauses can also be done with the eyes open, whether in front of the computer, TV, reading, or any number of ways. I was able to find many ways throughout the day, there is no need of posture. When it’s down time anyways why not do it? Why entertain all this childish mind stuff that just provides more issues. There is no need to be obvious, keep it hidden, under the radar, you can do spiritual work any time and any place, a series of pauses can help you regulate your emotions. It’ll give you a calm foundation to check in at throughout the hectic day, give you a sense of peace in trying moments.
Negating thoughts by superimposing another dialogue over them works well here and necessary part of this. Catch the stupid thoughts as quickly as you can before the energy takes over with a snowball effect. The sooner you do the easier it is to shelf them and return to spiritual dialogue or down them in a meaningless and childish rhetoric.
Another technique is withdrawing your attention away to observe and focus on internal energies, thereby being in the moment with that energy. You will notice different types of currents and sensations that once observed (without thinking) in short time starts calming them down. It will depend on what you’re involved with at the time, but by going in you start defusing the situation. The over stimulated areas loose their concentrated energy, leaving the energy to flounder aimlessly, dissipating it without direction resulting in a spreading action. You can perceive this and different kinds of wavy currents, heart rate, blood flow and heat changes. I actually enjoy checking in with the life-force whenever I can. It’s like a short detour. It’s good to start with these pauses, because sitting for long periods of time in a thoughtless manner is hard to master, so you work up to more time. When you are in the background observing the current the mind ceases, but when your involved in thought your back to the foreground and the world. It’s a change in direction with your attention and focus, by falling back to the rear position before the energy you can sit and watch the inside energy move. It improves your mental health.
Remember you are not what you observe in life, so be what you are, and separate yourself from what you are not, this is the goal of peaceful pauses and meditation in general.