Horse and Chariot

This week I showed up to a client’s home, and they asked me, “Nora, what can I do to clear my mind?”

I chuckled and responded, “Don’t try to clear your mind. It’s a futile task. The more you try to empty it, the fuller and louder it will seem.”

So what can you do when your mind feels too crowded?

Number one. Recognize that you are not your thoughts. One of my favorite teachers, the teacher that taught me how to be a teacher, Kumi Yogini, likes to say, “You are not your body, you are not your mind; you are something divine.”

Number two. Expand the space between who you are and your thoughts. The mind is like a wild horse pulling chariot. In an unobserved mind, the thoughts pull you chaotically in all directions, making the chariot unstable. If you yank on the reins to try to control it, the horse will only buck harder and you will feel entirely out of control.

Number three. Start to observe the thoughts. Notice how they move, their speed, their size, the feelings around them. Think of laying back in the grass looking up at the clouds. We don’t judge clouds for their speed or size or shape or color. We notice them and let them drift onward.

Number four. Let go of your attachment to your thoughts. So much mental anguish stems from the belief that we can bend the universe to our will. You might imagine that you are a stone sitting at the bottom of a river bed. The thoughts are the water passing over you. There is no stopping the flow of that water; it simply continues to flow as you sit watching it move.

Number five. Notice how observation and releasing attachment slows down and quiets the thoughts. With your attention, the wild horse of the mind becomes calmer, ready to acquiesce to the guidance of the reigns. The chariot now travels a smooth path. And the clouds and water and thoughts flow onward.