Laugh at Your Mind

I've always been intrigued by the eastern perspective about human life. When I was in graduate school, I was first introduced to eastern philosophy when I studied Psychosynthesis as part of a master's program in human development/psychology.

Psychosynthesis is an approach to psychology that was developed by Roberto Assagioli, an Italian psychiatrist influenced by Freud, Jung, and eastern spiritual traditions.

Some of the main concepts of psychosynthesis are:

• Disidentification: The ability to detach from one’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors and observe them objectively (the eastern yogic concept of pure consciousness)
• Self: The core of one’s identity, distinct from the ego and the source of creativity, wisdom, and will (what some would call God within us)
• Will: The capacity to make conscious choices and direct one’s awareness and actions towards a goal. (otherwise known as free will, or what differentiates humans from animals)
• Superconscious: The level of consciousness that transcends the ordinary awareness and connects to higher realms of inspiration, intuition, and spirituality.

It was Psychosynthesis that piqued my curiosity about consciousness. The fact that we can observe our own thoughts, meant that we are not just a body, mind and feelings, but that we are more broadly a pure state of consciousness. This realization changed my life forever.

After becoming aware of the inner Observer, I began to understand that my mind had caused all of the pain in my life until then. From my teens to my early thirties, my mind and feelings took me on a royal roller coaster ride. It was often the same cycle: excitement, joy, and anticipation, followed by anxiety, dread, fear, maybe a brief glitter of hope, then disappointment, and back around the roller coaster. By giving my ego (my mind and feelings) the authority to lead my life, I was pulled around by them like a dog on a leash.

If you study consciousness, you realize that the mind never skips a beat. You especially notice this in meditation. When you get into the Observer state, you realize that you are constantly thinking; that your mind is always whispering - noting, analyzing, catastrophizing, judging, questioning, etc. and that your feelings are constantly aligning with your thoughts. You eventually realize that you have to get beyond this to have peace and progress on the spiritual path.

I especially became aware of the pull of my mind in relationships with others. I realized that the mind wants to pull everything apart - even the most fantastic things, like love, and instill fear and doubt instead. For example, when I had my first argument with my new husband, I wondered, "Does this argument mean he doesn't love me?"

Often the mind is so full of B.S. If you watch your mind long enough you will realize that it's not really your best friend. You may have a brilliant mind, but it is going to get you in trouble if you don't laugh at the absurdity of what it comes up with sometimes. For example, you might do something that takes courage and then your mind says, "Why don't you reward yourself by stopping at Subway and order a couple of foot-long submarine sandwiches and potato chips on the way home?" Then you do and realize it was not the kind of reward you really needed.

I like where I'm at now with regard to my relationship with my mind. I try not to take it too seriously. Sometimes I slip and let it convince me about something that takes me toward the roller coaster, but I usually catch myself. I rely more on intuition, and experience more joy, beauty and love when I can laugh at my mind. I need to use it at work, and for other tasks, like driving and getting to the grocery store, and putting together an outline, but I have to daily put it in in its rightful place.

Beyond the mind are higher realms of inspiration, creativity, wisdom and love. Practice going there, and you will be more and more amused by the antics of your mind, and be happier, too.

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