The reason I learnt to meditate and the reason I became a Bright Path Ishaya monk was that I was tired of the rollercoaster. All I wanted was stability, a point of reference, some control.
Not external stability, all was well there, I was living exactly the life that I wanted.
But having everything on my tick list did not equal contentment or satisfaction. There was something missing. I had this continually nagging doubt, a voice that constantly said “Is this it?”.
Drove me a little mad that voice did.
I was tired of being up and then down. I was tired of pining after my ex-girlfriend who didn't want me. I was tired of the worry about this or that. I was tired of looking for something - something I knew not. I was tired of not being satisfied.
I was so tired of looping around in my head, thinking the same thoughts, worrying the same worries, wishing the same wishes.
I was tired of my own mind.
What was this life all about?
What I found was exactly what my swimming coach said to me back when I was a wee fellow of fifteen with Olympic dreams in my head.
He said the mental game was the most important game there is.
It is the foundation for everything.
Without the mental game, all the best preparation, all the best intentions, all the best goal setting in the world is for nothing.
Getting your mind sorted means you have a very fertile foundation for everything you want to do life.
In any and every area of your life - sports, business, parenting, relationships, art, music, study, health. Everywhere.
When you get a good mental game, when you learn to be the boss of your mind (and not let it be the other way around), every part of your life improves.
You get better at what you do, instantly.
And you also lose that sense of something being wrong or missing.
You become content.
You become happy for no reason.
You get off the rollercoaster.
Now, I became a monk so you don’t have to. You don’t have to give a single thing up. In fact the only thing you have to give up is limitation.
We live largely in a box defined by the limits of our minds.
Every now and then we get to see a sneak view of the world as it is - and it is wonderful.
And then the mind takes over again.
The mind is the source of all your happiness, all your sorrow.
If you want to live outside of the box, you have to learn to put the mind back in its place. You have to.
It’s easy to do. Simple, just not many people really know how to permanently be the boss of their own minds.
How?
Be super present. Choose to be right here.
Simple huh? Easy, perhaps not so.
The thing is it can be.
Come along to my mini-retreat weekend course 20-22 November and I will give you everything you need to live free as a bird, to make it simple and easy.
I will give you every tool I use and tell you everything I know. I promise. I don't hold back.
If you want a place send me an email and tell me you want in.
Enjoy your day!
Watch your head - don't let it be the boss.