Get Some Headspace: 10 minutes can make all the difference

“Over time, this will get easier. You won’t want to run out into the road quite so often and you’ll find it easier and easier to just sit and watch the thoughts go by. This is the process of meditation.”

“Imagine a clear blue sky,” he began. “Feels nice, yes? It’s very hard to feel down when the sky’s blue like that.” He paused, as if to appreciate the space this image brought to the mind. “Now, imagine that your mind is like this blue sky. I’m not talking about all the thoughts, confusion and craziness,” he said chuckling. “I’m talking about the underlying essence of mind, the natural state.” I took a moment to think about it. Imagining a clear blue sky was one thing, but imagining that it somehow represented my own mind was quite another. There was nothing clear about my mind back then, it was just full of thoughts and confusing emotions. “It doesn’t matter whether this is your experience right now,” he said, “simply imagine for a moment that this is how things are. In fact, think back to the last time you felt very happy and relaxed and it’s probably not so very difficult to imagine.” He was right, when I thought about a happy time in my life at the same moment, it was actually very easy to imagine. Try it for yourself right now.

“Okay,” he said, “now imagine a very cloudy day, no blue sky at all, just big, dark, heavy clouds.” He said each word very slowly, as if to emphasize the point. “How does that make you feel?” he asked, still smiling, “not so good, right? Now, imagine those clouds are the thoughts in your mind, how sometimes they’re fluffy and white and appear quite friendly, whereas at other times they appear dark and heavy. The color of the clouds simply reflects your feeling or mood at the time.” It was true—when I had lots of friendly thoughts racing around, the fluffy white clouds, I wasn’t that bothered about having a busy mind. Unless I was trying

But it was the next bit of his story that really resonated and that I hope will stay with you too for a long time to come. “In order to get to this monastery you must have flown in a plane?” he asked, knowing full well what the answer would be. I agreed. “Was it cloudy when you left?” he asked. “It’s always cloudy in England,” I replied, smiling. “Well then,” he said, “you’ll know that if you get in a plane and fly up through the clouds, there’s nothing but blue sky on the other side. Even when it appears as though there’s nothing but big, dark, heavy clouds, there’s always blue sky there.” There was no denying it, I’d flown a lot over the years and he was right. “So,” he said, shrugging his shoulders, “the sky is always blue.” He chuckled to himself as though everything I ever needed to know was in that one sentence, and in a way it was

is stepping back and allowing the mind to unwind in its own time and its own way that you will find a genuine sense of headspace.

It was a process of giving up control, of stepping back, learning how to focus the attention in a passive way, while simply resting the mind in its own natural awareness.

When the mind is always busy there’s no room for these thoughts to arise, so by training your mind you’ll actually make more space for these creative thoughts to arise.

What you need to ask yourself,” he continued, “is how much of your thinking is helpful, productive, and how much is unhelpful or unproductive.

fact, if it were possible to control your thoughts then you’d never have any reason to get stressed at all. You’d simply block out all the unpleasant thoughts and live peacefully with all your happy thought

turns out no amount of force will result in a feeling of calm.

My teacher continue

it does is shine a big bright light on your mind so that you can see it more clearly. This bright light is awareness. You may not like what you see when you switch the light on, but it’s a clear and accurate reflection of how your mind behaves on a daily basis.