Thoughts & Feelings

"Just This"

...........so once settled, let the mind roll on, let the thoughts come and let them go.........

Just this is exactly what it says, just this. Just this means being with the present moment.
Any thoughts that dive into the past or project into the future simply take you away from the impact of this very moment.
If you get involved in the thoughts, do business with them, you simply get lost in monkey mind.

The interesting point here is that there is nothing else except this very moment.
Anything else is just part of your memory mind, memory of your past, or mind projection into what might be (or not be) the idea of a future. Our minds are so often busy with everything but now. Instead of enjoying the greatest gift, the gift of now, we are off on a mind trip elsewhere.

What is happening now, you reading these words is the most unique, perfect moment you can experience, and it is also the only truth about what is happening. 
You cannot be anywhere else.
Again I remind you, whatever is not happening now is only a thought. Worry is thought, stress is thought, desire is thought, anger, pain, disappointment, whatever are all mind based.
By focusing on now, away from thoughts, the moment intensifies, it becomes complete and your mind becomes quiet because it doesn't get the attention it so much craves.

Another way to look at this is to think about how giving something attention, again a thought or maybe pain in your body intensifies the condition. If you are angry about something and keep thinking about it (I don't like the way he treats me) you will notice your whole body tenses, your emotions (which are again just thoughts) rise up and your heart rate increase.
If you let these feelings go, within a very short moment your body re-settles.
This is of course why we spend time mediating, sitting and literally watching how our minds work and how that working effects our lives so much.
The more intimate you become with yourself, the better you know yourself, the easier it is to let this bothersome self go.

Everyone has demons and monsters in their minds, everyone.
You are not alone, so no worries at all on this count.
The only difference between us is how we deal with them. No one has a pure mind, nobody (whatever that might be).
If you think that a monk goes around with a clear mind, only chanting mantra's and seeing Buddha, you'd be mistaken. If a pretty girl (or boy) walks into the monastery, you can imagine how his mind might go.
No problem, we are all murderers, rapists, arsonists and everything else ists.
Its just a load of thoughts coming and going. Priests, monks, Mother Teresa (who was very much tortured by her own demon mind) experience these sorts of black thoughts and well as the rest of the usual rubbish.
Yes, all of us, so just let your mind be. Let it be, don't try and control it, just watch it and if it gets really silly, laugh at it, tease it  ....................
(talk continues )

Namasté

Mark-Hans,
Amsterdam Friday 29th August  2008