A boat themed wooden display for plants/ artefacts - from the CHITALE STUDIOS. Enjoy the woody journey starts from getting the raw material - wooden strips cut from a wood block from a saw mill.
Humans by their nature think. Brooding over
recalled memory is part of thinking. This nature of humans makes them revisit
the good and bad episodes of their lives, as if our mind projects a movie over
and over again on the mental screen. Unkind, recalled memories become one of the
reasons for depressing thoughts and depression.
Thoughts leading to sadness or bad mood can be effectively curbed by
invoking a neutral thought as a predominant thought.
There is a practical way of fighting depressive
thoughts and depression by indulging in a meaningful activity. A meaningful
activity is any task that gives a sense of purpose, joy and satisfaction. It
can be a creative idea, it can be creativity, it can be art, it can be pursuing
or developing a hobby, learning new things, indulging in social work, keeping
surrounds clean, indulging in deep studies on a subject of liking, it can be as
simple as setting a routine and adhering to it or it can be repeating a healthy
thought and making it a predominant thought.
Some people have no agenda for the day. They
don’t read, they don’t indulge in any hobby, they don’t carry out primary
cleanliness of their surroundings including their house, their sleeping area.
They have no routine, they don’t exercise. They are not creative and are miles
away from art. There is a typical pattern shown by those who are bored, have
depressed thoughts or reeling under depression. The bored community are late
risers, have very less physical and mental activity, and indulge in mindless
outsourcing of simple day to day tasks which otherwise would have kept them
busy motivated and happy. People outsource everything – instead of going to
market they call for 10 min delivery. Instead of fixing common problems by themselves
they call for a service provider. Now a days everything is there on mobile, so
they spend more time onscreen, outsourcing day-to-day work. Once a mobile is in
hand, we get distracted by social media posts and the chunk of the time is spent
on these reels, checking status of others and getting sadder! Buying or
ordering art pieces online is not a meaningful activity its outsourcing.
Decorating the house with bought out art pieces is a meaningful activity.
Pursuing an art as hobby is a meaningful activity. In that one gets involved
from designing to gathering of raw material. Raw material put to use to create
artwork and to achieve the desired art effect is a meaningful activity.
Conceptualizing art piece and giving direction and getting it done is a
meaningful activity. Mindlessly buying art pieces is outsourcing and not a
meaningful activity. Social service is a meaningful activity whereas outsourced
social service is not a meaningful activity. Artistic creation is a meaningful
activity and so is healthy hobby. It gives great satisfaction. Joy of creation
is paramount than any other form of passing time. Recitation, repetition of
name in which one has faith is a time tasted simple effective meaningful
activity. In contrast to meaningful activity outsourcing falls under the
category of automation. Meaningful activity rises when scaling down of
outsourcing starts. Outsourcing in moderation is good when one is already deep
into meaningful activity. Both are bad, Inactive person indulging in
outsourcing brings in boredom and unbridled outsourcing leads to inactiveness.
Meaningful activity takes time, keeps us engaged as it is an involved process,
as against watching reels and arranging outsourcing. Key is to scale down outsourcing of any
meaningful activity.
Some people wait for motivation to start an activity.
Instead try starting a meaningful activity. Activity leads to motivation and
motivation in turn propels activity. The cycle then consumes the person and
gives purpose to life. Joy achieved by meaningful activity lasts longer than
the Joy achieved by any outsourced outcome. The journey brings in joy rather than the destination
itself. In outsourcing we miss the journey and arrive at the end result. Such
outsource masters will never get to experience the joy accrued during the
journey. The destination or end result brings in limited satisfaction and is
lost the moment the item is unpacked or the destination reached or the end
result achieved. Meaningful activity and a predominantly neutral thought ensures
a healthy mental health.
Each thought brings in
good or bad feeling. The moments associated with the feelings shapes the mood.
Especially when things go wrong, bad memories get ignited and then whole day
one plunges into unkind memories, as if somebody pulled the thought bob of the
mind pendulum and left it to ding dong the whole day! This disturbs the mental balance
and releases the chemicals that inhibit happy hormones leading to a bad mood.
There are several ways to elevate the mood. One is to indulge in mood elevating
drugs or other is to remain busy in work or indulge in creative art or think
about some unsolved mysteries facing mankind. In short, the good, bad, happy or
sad feeling stays till the thought prevails like the ever-increasing concentric
wave circles in the mind pond when a thought stone is dropped. Thoughts don’t
leave us in sleep also. Connected and unconnected thoughts flash as episodes
and we live the dream till it melts when we wake up. Scientist August Kekule
lived such a dream of six snakes eating tail of next snake in a ringed fashion
which explained the mystery of Benzene molecule. Was it so easy that the elusive
molecular structure got explained by a mere dream? The dream would have been an
outcome of a predominant thought on his mind during the days of his research.
For sure those days leading to that famous dream would have been the best days
of August Kekule. Healthy thought, which is predominant acts like an anti-depressant,
energy giver, mental soother.
On emergence of a thought, person with stable mind,
devoid of any feelings of anger, happiness or sadness is a saint. To have
thoughts without any associated feelings is best for mental health, but it is difficult.
There is no guarantee that the invoked thought would result in happy moment. Moreover,
unhealthy thoughts tend to latch on to a person’s mind. To keep our self away
from the unhealthy thought, cultivate a skill of healthy thought and make it predominant
for the day. Base the predominant thought on a chosen theme. The theme can be future
plans, world politics, unsolved mysteries of the human race, social issues,
current politics, daily riddle, puzzle, crossword, skill, new topic. Anything
larger than life and not directly connected to self is good to be taken as healthy
thought. That thought which does not stir emotions - sad or happy feelings but still
consume the mind as if you are in a trance, is a neutral thought. Neutral
thought is healthy thought. This trance
due to a predominant thought does wonders for one’s mental health and time
flies. Aim is to bring in neutral thoughts.
Is there any way to
have a predominant thought which is neutral? Here are few steps as an exercise
to have predominant neutral thought. There are three ways to get a predominant neutral
thought. First and simplest is start the day by chanting your favorite GODs
name or reciting a prayer. Continue this whenever there is void period – in
between conversation with someone, in between mobile use, in between two tasks
or during idle time. Idea is never to keep mind idle, but it should overflow
with chants. The second way of bringing in predominant neutral thought is to
get submerged in a creative hobby, Job or skill which requires focused
attention or to get into some kind of social service (a service without any
expectation in return). That social service should be carried out by self not
to be funded or outsourced. The third and most difficult way is rational
thinking, reasoning it out the purpose of life and thereby training our mind to
be in a zone of neutral thought and make it a predominant thought. Easier said
than done. All three ways can be tried and adopted depending upon one's liking viz
– devotion, service or reasoning. Person can try combinations of all three and
then decide the route for oneself.
A predominant neutral thought brings in
wonders. In times as ours, ability to delve in a predominant healthy thought is
equivalent to drugs which control body hormones. The drugs which are available
to sooth the nerves and upswing the mood induce side effects like dry mouth,
weight gain, drug dependance, lethargy, drowsiness. In the treatment of lifestyle deceases, getting a predominant healthy thought is a big win for the
person as it complements the therapy.
Additional reading -
·
In chapter 8 verse 6 of Bhagwat Gita - Lord Krishna explains that a
person’s predominant thought at the exact moment of death determine their next
state of existence-
·
यं यं वापि स्मरनभावं त्यज्यत्यन्ते कलेवरम्।
· English translation - whatever state of being one
remembers when he quits his body, O son of Kunti, that state he will attain
without fail, because of being always absorbed in that thought.
· To introduce this topic Krishna starts in the verse 5
that those who relinquish the body while remembering Me at the moment of death
will come to Me and to summarize the topic Verse 7 says - because no one knows
when death will arise, Krishna advises practicing constant remembrance while
carrying out daily duties – therefore think of Me at all times and (fight)
· As a matter of fact, it is difficult to artificially
force a specific thought at the just moment of death – therefore, the mind
naturally defaults to whatever it was most obsessed with or accustomed to
during life and it attains that – like a final exam – suddenly no new learning
emerges but it has to come from earlier whatever the student has practiced.
CHAPTER 20 - START A BETTER
LIFE – LESSON 3 – (PART V) – WALK THE TALK
Rationalists, service oriented and
devotion minded are the three ways to keep trying to control the organs and
associated thoughts. So even if it is difficult to control senses, if every
time we become aware of the need to control the senses, half the battle is won.
The journey towards trying to control the senses physically and mentally is
difficult but if we achieve through a medium of our bent of mind of being
rationalists, service oriented or devotional then the same journey becomes joy
filled and constructive. The attempts made to control the senses and attempts
made to remain mentally unattached with the senses either by reasoning, or by
indulging in serving or by devotion bears fruits which gives satisfaction,
enhances mood and positivity, refurbishes self-esteem and brings in a state of
happiness. Even the attempts in controlling give the satisfaction.
All three mental makeups are capable
of giving a person a direction so as to live a happy contended life. The paths
chosen are equally good and give peace, joy and lasting happiness. What happens
is either we falter in correctly identifying our mental makeup or we dither and
don’t tread the chosen path sincerely. We don’t walk the talk. Consistency in
approach is important. There are no
short cuts and there is no easier or difficult path. If we don’t choose path as
per our mental makeup then we find difficulty in treading that path and we don’t
get satisfaction.
Action leads to some kind of reaction.
The after effect of action sticks and gives happy and sad moments. To avoid any
happy or sad moments if action is shunned then also some kind of action takes
place. If not anything the action needed to maintain day to day body needs such
as taking food or having bath or even having daily ablutions is an action. Any
physical activity can be termed as an action and it’s required to sustain our
life. The minimum possible action brings along with it good and bad experiences
making us happy or sad. The fact is one cannot shun action altogether. So instead
face it in a different way by not getting emotionally attached to the action..........keep reading !!!!
CHAPTER 19 - START A BETTER
LIFE – LESSON 3 – (PART IV) – SADHANA
The suffering starts with getting
attracted to materialistic things and indulgence of sense organs. This desire
then leads to an action with the intention of a favorable outcome. Action brings
in contact with things which are external to self. Till the time the action
leads to favorable outcomes we are happy and enjoy the outcome. When we don’t
get what we desire makes us angry and frustrated. Anger is a side product of
ego. Anger makes a person lose logic. Once the rational sense is lost, person
gets into trouble. Trouble and unfavourable outcome makes the person sad and
restless. This cycle keeps repeating. Every now and then the person hopes, he
can get what he desires then tries to control things which are not in his
control. He loses the sense of what he can control and what is not under his
control. The truth is other than his mind to some extent, nothing is under his
control. Actions emanating from the mind looking for a favorable outcome then
end up in frustration as the outcome may not be to his likings. To lead a happy
life there is no prior requirement of happy situations or conditions. A person
can be happy in any situation. It is a choice and a state of mind rather than
depending on external factors. Happiness is mind dependent and mind can be
conditioned.
It is important to control our senses if we want everlasting happiness. We are under ignorance when we think we are happy by as a result of happenings in our lives which are external creations. Such kind of happiness won’t last long. In fact moments of happiness ends when the action ends and we start our craving for happiness and get more and more frustrated. Unless we control our sense organs our mind won’t be focused enough to see the happiness which is within. Controlling sense organs is not easy. Even if physically we control them it is seen that thoughts about the indulgence of the sense organs and senses gives even more frustration and restlessness. Moreover action starts with appearing of thoughts and thoughts are the main drivers of sense organs. Actions are the result of thoughts driven fueling of organs with the aim of achieving some desired results. We have to control the senses, sense organs and the thoughts behind that. It is difficult but we have to keep trying it. This is called ‘sadhana साधना’...............keep reading...........!!!
So even if a person who has
achieved highest conscience don’t undertake any desireful action, the person
still keeps carrying out righteous actions for the universal good. For one if
he stops, the followers will stop carrying out actions. Ordinary people do what
is done by the role models and leaders because it is seen that when a role
model accepts a thing as correct, the same is followed by people.
As per mental makeup of the
person, upbringing, experiences (bitter or good during growing up), influences
and situations a person becomes a desireful action doer or desireless action
doer. Desireful action results in suffering and desireless action results in mental
peace. Although the desireless action is better as it takes a person on a
higher conscience level, but majority of the persons are entangled in desireful
actions for various reasons. They are either convinced or unknowingly follow
that path. With desireful action the fruits are sweet as well as sour. Thereby
making a person happy or sad depending upon the outcome.
A balanced person of higher conscience and a leader should not be in a hurry to change a person’s orientation from performing desireful action to desireless action. Let the person himself through the journey of life discover the futility of desireful action....... keep reading
