Further to my last post and having finished 'Eat Pray Love', I have been thinking more about the idea of meditation. In the book, she talks of a Balinese version where all you do is sit in silence and smile. She also talks of an Indian version where there are various mantras to help you silence the mind and focus. Jonathan Haidt says in 'The Happiness Hypothesis' that people who are struggling to find happiness can often be helped with Cognitive Therapy, Drugs or Meditation or a combination.
I have always been a little concerned with mantras, oaths, creeds and the like where you repeat something until you believe it, or just repeat it hollowly because you have to. I have thought of it as a kind of brainwashing. Something that gets people to repeat what they have been taught rather than thinking for themselves.
The thing is, the mind is a very powerful thing... and we spend most of the day in conversation with ourselves. So... if you spend the whole day with thoughts like,
- I am lonely
- I am busy
- I am never going to be able to do it
- I miss her so much
- I can't believe he did that
- I am never going to get organised
and alike, then it is bound to affect you in some way. It is easy to be cynical about figuring out ways to repeat positive sentiments, and 'the power of positive thinking'. Especially since people often overdo it and make out as if the world is all rosy with nothing wrong, and try to spin everything to be positive.
But I am starting to think that putting aside time for this kind of thing... for focusing on strengths and things that are going well, and for generating positive energy is very important. Perhaps positive mantras have some value?
I will still need to get completely over my cynicism, and then there is that whole inertia thing where I can add this to my list of things I want to do... like eating healthily, stretching more and getting fit.
That said, you have to want to do something before you do it.
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