The restless mind can be quite a challenge to human beings. This morning I was reading a book about meditation. There was a story of how many of us act when we go on a holiday. The suitcases are packed, the house is closed down, lights are off, heating off or at a lower temperature. Ready for take off. As soon as we start the car, our restless mind start to think thoughts like: “did I close the window in the bedroom”, did I put my mobile and/or computer in my bag”, “where did I put my wallet and my travel documents”? And on and on it goes. Not a very relaxed start of the holidays.

How to change the restless mind?

But how can we change these thoughts that automatically arise, how can we calm down our restless mind? It starts with consciousness. As soon as we become conscious of the fact that we are HAVING these thoughts and that WE ARE not these thoughts, we have already made a big mind shift. This is were meditation can be a very helpful tool. Meditation teaches us to become the observer of our mind and thoughts. We are not identifying ourselves with the thoughts, but we take a step back and just observe them as they come and go.

Film projector

Let’s compare this with a film projector. In earlier times there was this machine through which a plastic tape would move. As soon as the projector started running, what did we see on the screen? A movie. But look at the projector and the plastic band closely. There are only pictures glued together and because the band moves with such speed, we see a movie instead of the separate pictures.

Mindshift

Now, what happens with meditation? We become aware that we have “pictures” of thoughts that move with lightning speed through our mind which result in seeing the movie of life. Life becomes our reality and we identify ourselves with this “reality” movie. With meditation we start observing all the pictures that come and go and slowly start to realise that we are much more than our thoughts. Through regular practice we finally reestablish a stronger connection with our true source again.

We are the light

What is our true source? LIGHT. We come from the light and at the end of our life we go back into the light. To view the movie of our life, there is an important thing that the film projector needs and that is the LIGHT that shines on the separate pictures. Without a LIGHT shining on them, there is no movie to be seen. As soon as we start realising that we ARE the light and not the pictures, life because more beautiful. We will feel more HAPPINESS, JOY, LAUGHTER, HARMONY and LOVE. That’s why I encourage you to start meditating. Meditating is the highway to ENLIGHTENMENT!