How to Control My Mind?

The first step in controlling your mind is simply to strengthen your consciousness against wandering thoughts. All the wandering thoughts are a manifest of your external objects, not your true self, as explained in Who am I?, your mind is simply a reflection of past experiences imposed on you, coupled with your current experiences. All experiences are external to you, not your true selves.

If you come to this article, you might have noticed it is hard to control your own mind, and it can cause real trouble in life. That actually shows your mind is not you. There are people who know they shouldn't use drug, shouldn't gamble, shouldn't drink, but can't help it - they have to follow their destiny to experience a tragic life. Addiction is a sever form of losing control of one's own mind.

Form Who am I?, you understood you are your consciousness, and you mind is a monster that your consciousness need to tame. You mind actually carries habits from both your past experiences in this life and your experiences in past lives, which explains why everybody is born with unique personalities, even in the same family. Why an inherited weakness is very difficult to change? It has been carried from many past lives. And finally, do you believe in spirits? Spirits are actually consciousness in different dimensions, which can interact with our mind if there is a reason. Some spirits try so hard to control your mind, to make you do things that satisfies them. All of these forces are controlling the way you think, so you are not your mind! Your thoughts can be injected by your enemy from past lives. Many people who have addiction are actually influenced by spirits from different dimensions, spirits that try to kill them by first isolating them from family and friends, then take their lives when there is a chance. Don't call them demons or evils though, they ruin people for a reason too. They are just suffering spirits same as human beings. People do the same thing, carry grudges and make enemies, makes other people's lives more difficult. When they die, if there is a chance to interact with their enemies' mind, they sure follow their hatred to do so! About Addition there are a lot more to it, which we will cover in Why am I addicted?

Why do we want to control our mind? For people who have addiction, it is obvious. For ordinary people, it is less obvious. Have you read the book The Secret? We may not notice it, our mind actually controls our fate, our lives are shaped by how we think, as explained in Do we have a destiny and How to change destiny. When you have full control of your mind, you can do anything as you wish - it is mind that made this world.

So leave out after life, just focus on this life, how to control our mind to generate the right thoughts, or simply eliminate thoughts? It takes practice. Many ancient practices, from meditation to Yoga, are both physical and mind exercise. There are all kinds of meditations, focus on different things, either a meditation sound, or your own breathing, or peaceful music, for the same purpose - control your mind.

As a Buddhist my favorite form of mind exercise is chanting the name of Amitabha. Amitabha established the pure land for after life, and if we chant his name upon death, he will meet us and guide us to the pure land. The daily practice of chanting his name is a mental exercise, so that the mind can focus at the last moments of this life. If pure land is not your drama door, you can chant anything that makes you happy, say your parents' name, or Jesus Christ if you are a Christian, anything that carries the message of kindness and compassion.

By the way, Buddhists are not involved in the discussion of which religion is a better religion - There are 84000 darma doors in this world, and in the history there has never been war at the cause of Buddhism - the religion that suits you and makes you a better person is a better religion for you, and it would be wise not to impose a personal choice upon other people, unless they ask for it.

No matter what you decide to chant, just make sure it is a positive word and makes you feel secure and perceful, not excitement or anger. For example, if you choose the word Get Rich Quick, you have made a wrong choice. The message carried in it is greed, and that ruins people's life, including yours. Just for comparison, the word Give to Others is also about money, but gives a different feeling. Try to chant ten times of each to sense the tension Money raised in your brain. That sense of greed is harmful and will make you poor - opposite to what you have thought. I don't want to contradict with what is explained in The Secret - if you look at money everyday you will get more money, only if you can do that with a relaxed mind with no worries.

You can chant anytime when you feel bored, say on the bus or on the train, so you can save money on smart phone and 4G services. Holding your purse in good position, you can half close your eyes and chant the word you choose. You can count too, every ten chants accumulates to one count, and compete with yourself see how big a number you can go.

If you can chant and you can count, little by little you can strengthen your consciousness through chanting, and gain higher control of your mind.