Man in the Mirror PROJECT - The Mental Body

"When you're in this state of disturbance, your tendency will be to act in order to try to fix things.  You don't have the clarity to see what's gong on; you just want the disturbance to stop.  So you start getting down to your survival instincts.  You may feel that you have to do something drastic.  You may want to leave your husband or wife, or move, or quit your job.  The mind starts saying all kinds of things because it doesn't like this space, and it wants to get away from it any way it can."     - The Untethered Soul

There is a concept that is taught in yoga.  That you must stay in the pose, even though your mind wants you to move from it.  Your nose may itch, your thigh starts to burn and your mind asks "How much longer are we going to stay here?".  The training is simple.  It allows you to view your thoughts, to stay in the moment and just notice how the mind wanders.  When you realize it is only the mind, you can then begin to take control and master one of the other four lower bodies - the mental body.

Whether you are on or off the mat, the mind is the same.  Our thoughts produce pictures and scenarios that may or may not be true.  Sometimes it is the conditioning of the past that reflects in our present and we face the same thoughts and circumstances again and again until we can hold witness to them, as if we are only the back seat driver in the car our mind seems to be driving.  

Many times when we find ourselves in crisis or hear disturbing news, the first thing we want to do is "something".  The ego wants to fix it, wants to say that it's wrong, or even sometimes tries to defend itself.  In stead of re-acting to the mind, we have an option to just witness it.  To observe the feeling that we have, why it's there and the thoughts associated with it.  Ego will engage the emotions and fuel the thoughts with anger, but the witness, the true self, can stand back and like a child, view the entire situation with an open mind.  Perhaps the thing that you think will "fix" the situation will backfire.  Maybe you are trying to defend something that was improper to begin with or perhaps the situation or thoughts need to be left for some time to let the true self reveal to you what it is that you should do, if anything at all.

They say that patience is a virtue and when you engage patience in your mind, breath into your body and openness into your being, many times you are able to grasp at a higher vision of any given situation.  What is right for you to do then, may not be right for someone else to do, but you will know in your heart, that it is the right space for you to reside in because you have moved away from the thoughts that made you want to engage immediately.  Now the mind becomes a fertile field.  You can consciously plant the thoughts that ring true with you and if there is something "to do", you can begin to do it with a knowingness in your heart that it's right for you.