It is the nature of that happiness which we derive from our affection to be calm; its immense influence upon outward life is not known till it is troubled or withdrawn. Nothing in this World can be truly said to be more wonderful than anything else. The caverns of my mind are open, and they will not close. However, sometimes the mind will deceive itself by its own acuteness become some are either too busy living in the past, or trying to predict the future. Nonetheless, it is best to stay in the moment. Living in the past will create fear, trying to predict the future will create anxiety. There is a World, other people, your own self, and your own body. Most of us take that for granted. However, how do you know? More, how to you know you know? What makes you sure of the truth of any of the ideas you have been reading here, and the reality of anything you have experienced in your lifetime? If an idea races through your mind, where does it go? What process is involved when you think, learn, imagine, dream or feel? Take a moment to get an idea of just how fantastic your brain is. Every second of your life, from conception to passing, 10,000 separate sensory impressions bombard your sense receptors.

All over your body, inside and out, are sensitive little nerve cells (called neurons)—in the eyes, ears, nose, on the tongue, on the skin, and on the inner surfaces of the body, as well. These are constantly being stimulated by messages from the World in which you live. That is a pretty busy body you live in. 10,000 impressions per second, 600,000 impressions per minute, and 360,000,000 impressions per hour. Just imagine what would happen if only one hundred people tried to call you on the telephone at the same time. The switchboard and all the relays in the telephone transmission system would be tremendously overworked. However, the switchboard in your nervous system is capable of handling a fantastically larger traffic load than that. A few brains short-circuit (break down), but the really amazing things is that few do so. Of course, the brain does not plug in every one of these impressions. That would be the log-jam of the century. The brain simply cannot process that much sensory input at the same time. It filters and censors, and rejects or files most of it. However, it does so at the same time that it also relaying to their appropriate destinations the few messages it does accept. As if this were not enough, the brain is also the center of emotional experiences, cognitive processes, and learning. It has other jobs to do as well, which is why we need to live in the moment.

Mental training of focusing our awareness to what is present in front of us, versus clinging to the past or fears about the future. Wake up to your life in each moment, and pay attention to your purpose. Be aware of the present instant with acceptance. Experience your mind and body more closely, focus on yourself, and be tuned in to what arises without clinging to judgement or fear. Are you focusing on others or yourself in your thought process? Many people are living outside of themselves, they have a sense of entitlement, and this makes them police other people’s lives and ignore their own flaws. When you are on the outside, looking in, your image is distorted because you are not seeing the private messages, and simply having an emotional reaction. Mindfulness is often the first step needed for effective change. We cannot change those things we are not aware of, and this is why we need to mind our own business and focus on our individual lives. Why are you criticizing his private life, when your kitchen stinks and everyone can smell it? The opposite of being mindful is being mindless and doing things without thought or awareness—like when one eats a whole bag of chips, while watching Hearst Television, and not realizing you did so. Or driving from one end of town to another, and not realizing how one got there. If this is happening to you, it is because your mind is preoccupied, you are too busy focusing on other things.  This is the pause of awareness before one reacts in one’s habitual ways.

So if you want to be aware of being mindful and paying attention to your own lives, there are techniques for that. In the moment, observe how you are feeling, describe (to yourself) what you are doing, and participate in the present activities. For example, at a holiday function, focus on the decorations, and how nice they are, the food, and how delicious it is, not Mike Brown because you do not even know him, and holiday functions are rare, and it is a time to enjoy each other, and have harmony, not political debates; so do not make people uncomfortable in their own homes. Moving on. Mindfulness can be helpful in managing anxiety in that it allows us to become more aware of the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors associated with our anxiety, which can lead us to uplifting changes in life. It can also help us to feel less overwhelmed by our internal experiences. Cognition is the word we use to describe the various mental of intellectual function of the brain—the functions that make up the mind. A similar word, probably more familiar to you, is recognition. When you see something familiar, something you have known before, you say you recognize it. That means you are doing something again. You are cognizing again. What is cognizing in the first place? It means the brain went into action and experience you had become part of the information stored in that brain.

Just notice the experience without getting caught up in the experience, experience without reacting to your experience. You see this book. Your eyes convey one set of messages to the brain, and your hands (as they hold it) send another set of nerve impulses. Both of these together give you a visual and tactile (touching) experience of this square, bound-together collection of pages with words and pictures on them. This particular book is now part of your memory. You finish reading it, put it on your bookshelf, sell it, or give it away. Maybe you lose it. Whatever happens, the book itself is no longer there for you to see or handle. Is the memory or cognitive impression also gone? Our best information tells us that it is still part of you. Time goes by. You forget about the book. Have a Teflon Mind, letting experiences, feelings, and thoughts come into your mind and then slip right back out. Control your attention, but not what you see. Push away nothing. Cling to nothing. Some thinking is involved in all cognitive processes—recall, reasoning, memory, fantasy, imagination, intuition, or believing. Be like a guard at the palace gate. Be alert, to every thought, feeling, action that comes through the gates of your mind. When we think, something goes on in the brain to link our past with our present experience.  Some sort of mediating process fills in the gaps between the cue or stimulus (the book in this case) and the response we make to it.

Step inside yourself and observe. Watch your thoughts coming and going, like the clouds in the sky. Notice each feeling, rising and falling, like waves in the ocean. Notice exactly what you are doing. A stimulus is any action, object, or energy that produces a response, or change in reaction to the stimulus. Notice what comes in your senses—your eyes, ears, nose, skin, tongue. See others’ actions and expressions. Smell the roses (and I did)! One of the most important mediators is the concept. A concept is a general principle or common characteristic of a number of related events or experiences. Suppose you look at two dozen four-legged animals grazing in a field. You will notice that they are different colors, different sizes, many face in various directions, and so on. Yet, you also notice some similarities, some common properties. Describe them. When a feeling or thought arises, or you do something, acknowledge it. For example, say in your mind, “I love the roses and dogs” or “Stomach muscles tightening up” or a thought “I can do this!” Put your experiences into words. Describe to yourself what is happening. Put a name on your feelings. Call a thought just a thought, a feeling just a feeling. Do not get caught up in the minutia (content). Participate by entering your experiences. Let yourself get involved in the moment, letting go of ruminating. Become one with your experience, completely forgetting yourself. Your mind is an unsullied book of nature.