Mind Calm (17 page)

When using Mind Calm immediately after the Peace with Mind Protocol, be especially vigilant to any thoughts about the problem that you are healing your relationship with. Whenever you notice such thoughts, see them, don't be them. Return to GAAWO, use a Calm Thought, and re-engage GAAWO until you notice that you've been thinking about the story of the problem again, at which point repeat the three steps of Mind Calm.

Anytime a special thought crops up, use this protocol to get peace with it and then return to your usual Mind Calm routine. Over time you will find that it becomes a very natural, almost instantaneous response within you whenever you start thinking about a problem. You will see the thought that you are resisting and where the associated
emotion is in your body, then let go of any resistance by letting it be present within you.

Occasionally your special thought will have an image associated with it. This image will be a visual representation of the thought. More often than not, the pictures that you mind will come up with will be extreme or exaggerated. For example,

• The image might be you homeless begging for money on the streets when thinking the special thought:
  What if I lose everything?
  
• The image might be you old, alone and lonely when thinking the special thought:
  I will never meet anyone
  .
  
• The image might be you looking in the mirror at a physically obese reflection of yourself when thinking the special thought:
  I'm never going to lose weight.
  

Upon noticing the image, use it in the same way you would any other thought. At Step 5: ‘Bring It On', let the image be in your mind with no resistance. As usual, you will find the feelings associated with the image subside, you get peace with it and your mind will no longer bring it to your attention again (or if it does, it will be easy to let it go).

Sometimes when using this protocol you may think you've found the special thought that you need to heal your relationship with but, as you start to move through the protocol, another more emotionally charged thought comes to mind. That is perfectly normal. If you find a deeper judgement thought that you are resisting, just move over to work on that special thought instead.

INTRODUCTION TO THE 10-PART MIND CALM PROGRAMME

Liberate your Self by getting peace with your life. Move your attention away from inwardly judging and resisting how things are; being attached to making life look how you think it should; and overthinking about how you can fix, change and improve stuff. Instead, cultivate a calm and contented relationship with life that makes you happier, loving and, as a result, more successful. Mind Calm is a meditation practice to use every day, indefinitely. To get off to the best possible start, this 10-part programme provides a framework to get peace with the main aspects of your inner and outer life - including your thoughts, emotions, body, relationships, money, career, environment, society and life in general. By the time you've completed the programme, it is my hope that you'll be free to enjoy mind calm, irrespective of how each of the aspects of your life happens to be.

Just because you are at peace with how things are, it doesn't mean you cannot change things if that's what you want. The difference is that you'll no longer postpone feeling good until your life fits your mind-made rulebook of requirements. You enjoy the journey. You will make changes from an inner state of completeness and perfection and be able to see other people and world affairs through more compassionate eyes. Remember, the outer universe reflects the inner one. Peace on earth begins with you finding peace within your Self and a more loving world starts with you learning how to love unconditionally.

Over the course of 10 weeks, or more quickly if you prefer, you will focus on bringing the 10 states of being included in the
10 Calm Thoughts
into your conscious experience of life. For each part, you'll focus on one Calm Thought so that you can fully integrate it. I offer additional Mind Calm Games to play that can boost the benefits possible and also invite you to get peace with mind in relation to the key areas of life.

Commitment and the mind-set of
persisting until you succeed can make
getting what you want inevitable.

Now I appreciate that you might have limited spare time at your disposal, so the programme is designed to fit into
a potentially busy schedule. To benefit fully, you need to be willing to invest 30–45 minutes per day in making mind calm your way of life. It is my hope that by now you are inspired to do this and can see the gigantic gains in doing so. Not only will you get more done with a clearer mind, but you will also find that your inner experience of life improves massively by making meditation a priority.

Due to the health and wellbeing benefits of meditation, I'd suggest that regular practice is up there in importance with eating, drinking and sleeping well. You wouldn't dream of not making time in your day to eat, drink and sleep, so why would you deprioritize meditation? Living without conscious awareness, you risk missing your day because you are distracted by your mind. You risk rushing around, from one thing to the next, while never fully enjoying and experiencing the precious life you've got. To increase the likelihood of completing the programme, I highly recommend you fit your day around meditation instead of trying to fit meditation into your day. This shift in priorities is the level of commitment you need to transform your relationship with your mind, for good.

Each day begins with a meditation entirely focused on the Calm Thought relating to the part of the programme you are in.

During the daytime there's a Mind Calm Game to play that explores being consciously aware. There's also a recommended topic for the Peace with Mind Protocol, so that you can transform your relationship with life during the 10-part programme.

The evening meditation includes all 10 Mind Calm Thoughts so that you can also continue cultivating all of the other states of being throughout the programme.

The 10 Mind Calm Thoughts bring into your conscious awareness the living experience of the intentions that sit at the heart of each of them. Ancient spiritual teachers from numerous traditions have been known to say: ‘You are what you seek.' Albeit rather confusing if you're not currently feeling peace, love, joy or whatever it is you happen to be ‘seeking', these teachers were referring to the essence of consciousness, which in the awakened reality of the here and now, is these stunning states of being and more.

If you're not directly experiencing your
exquisite being, then you are distracted
by the content of your mind and life.

The 10 Calm Thoughts are intentions; seeds that already exist within you. Engaging GAAWO and repeatedly bringing them into your awareness gives them the water, sunshine
and air they need to grow into their fullest potential. The more you nurture the 10 seed intentions with your time and attention, the more you will be pleasantly surprised to notice them present within your experience of life.

It is best to work with the 10 Calm Thoughts intuitively and with a wide-open heart and mind. This is how they originally came through to me when I first intuited them. I didn't sit down and intellectually think them through logically. Instead, they came to me in an instant download when sitting in meditation. To use them with force, effort or control is to dilute their power and pollute their purity.

Avoid using them to push any human experience away, rather let them help you be at peace with whatever thoughts, emotions, physical sensations and life circumstances may be happening. Used with gentleness and openness, they act as real-time reminders of your heart's highest hope and give you the opportunity, when caught up in your mind, to make a more conscious choice - away from the mind-made version of reality to a more awakened awareness of the present moment.

In my personal experience, Mind Calm becomes more meaningful the more I meditate. During this programme I will share the meaning and purpose of each Calm Thought, along with what they can teach you. By sharing my personal meanings in this book, it is my hope that you will let your intuition reveal the living wisdom present within each of the 10 Calm Thoughts. I'm excited to learn what you will discover!

During the programme you will have a series of Mind Calm Games to play. Most of the games are best engaged with your eyes open and used alongside any other activities you are doing at the time. They help to cultivate the habit of being consciously aware throughout your day.

Some of these games will resonate with you and you will find that they work almost immediately. Others might not make any sense, or you may find them more difficult. My advice is to give each of the 10 Mind Calm Games a good outing. By actively playing with them you will make some amazing discoveries and, more importantly, you will make massive shifts in your unconscious thinking to a new and improved habit of present moment awareness.

There are three golden rules for all of the Mind Calm Games that you must adhere to, if you want to reap the immediate benefits:

1. You can't play the game wrong.
   So just play like a child. I remember as a kid I used to play for hours with a cardboard box and a couple of spoons, imagining that I was in a boat. I couldn't do it ‘wrong' because I was just playing. So don't try to get them right, just play and explore innocently and see what happens.
   
2. You can't do them later
   . You can only do the games now so don't try to analyse what you're doing or plan to do them later if you like the sound of them. Instead, just do them, immediately.
   
3. You can't think about doing them.
   You can only actively engage them. If they aren't working for you, then you can be sure that you are in your mind thinking about them, instead of being in the moment experiencing what I'm inviting you to notice.
   

The Peace with Mind Protocol was explained in Chapter 10
. During this programme, I'd encourage you to use it on specific issues in your life that you are currently judging and resisting as negative, bad, wrong or worse. Areas of interest to get peace with include:

• Your body
  
• Emotions
  
• Relationships
  
• Career
  
• Environment
  
• Your past and future
  
• Your potential for success
  
• Society
  

By working through them one by one, you will arrive at the end of the programme with a more peaceful relationship with your life and be free to live without feeling something is wrong - which is what a successful life feels like.