Peace Within and Peace Without – The Road to a Quiet Mind

Cheryl Croci

As a hypnotherapist, the mind fascinates me.  I have always had a strong “mental body,” demonstrated by my being the perennial student and my habit of “the need to know.”  Yet “losing your mind” is the path of spiritual growth.  It is time for each of us to transcend the mind.  It is time for each of us - a time of “communion” - to come into union with oneself and with all life…a time for Oneness.  We begin by learning to quiet the mind.

It is often a challenge to quiet the mind and I remind students there is a learning curve and that no experience, whether it includes meditation, self-hypnosis, relaxation or visualization is ever the same.  We are bombarded by stimuli continuously.  We are addicted to distractions from the quiet.  Distractions can come physically, mentally or emotionally when we begin a meditation practice.  Perhaps we will discover something in the quiet we do not want to know or feel.  Much of the challenge is because our mind is where our attachment lies – our attachment, identification, association to thoughts, emotions, events, people, experiences…our identification with the ego.  We tend to define ourselves as our roles, our qualities, our “history.”  (I’ve often done this exercise with students in classes.)  Yet what happens to us is not us, it may be the makeup of our experience, but it is certainly not who we are.  We are the consciousness who experiences.  We can only discover that in the quiet.

I first read in a Ziggy comic “We are human beings, not human doings.”  None of us are taught to just be.  Our Beingness is just as valuable as our “doingness.”  Who we are is our Being not our doing!  We appreciate that in the quiet of our mind.

The gifts of quieting the mind include knowing who you truly are by:

• Transcending the realm of thought moving into the realm of truth
• Knowing God/dess (or whatever name you give to Source)
• Experiencing your own energy
• Divinity as you expand beyond yourself
• Feeling yourself as Love/Consciousness
• Tapping into and listening for your Divine Guidance and Wisdom

We can practice skills to create quiet, calm and peace within and without.  The first is observation.  Become the observer of life, stay in a state of awareness and move higher, learning to live as your Higher Self.  Notice things - notice your thoughts, notice your feelings.  Noticing requires observation with no emotional charge on what you are observing.  Be perceptive, alert, discerning.  There’s no other way to say it.  Simply practice it - as you do it you become more and more conscious and aware in your everyday life.  Make it a game and “pretend you are the observer.”  It is a technique in your daily routine as well as a fine beginning meditation practice.  The Buddhists call it mindfulness as you make your whole life a meditation. 

Observation implies non-judgment.  Judgment is an activity of the conscious mind, which is a label factory. Try removing labels from your life, good or bad, right or wrong, etc.  Practice non-judgment, accepting and allowing things to be.  People resist acceptance.  Acceptance is the first step to changing something.  Acceptance does not mean we like the situation, condone someone’s behavior or that we would not change the situation.  We have two choices in any situation - to accept it or not accept it.  Non-acceptance or resistance only causes us pain in some form and is a fear-based experience.  Non-resistance is an important aspect of inner peace.  “What you resist will persist,” I was always taught.  Therefore, releasing your resistance to any situation or person transmutes the energy, allowing it to change and transform.  Our negative focus on what we do not like only keeps it the same.  So acceptance, allowance, non-resistance are important keys to peace within and without, creating a quiet mind in meditation and in life.

We all know the benefits of stillness.  We know there are as many different ways to meditate as there are people.  The first step is your breath, learning to focus and release distractions and then allowing yourself to experience the stillness.  A quiet mind - it is worth the journey.

Copyright @ Cheryl Croci, C. Ht.,  3-10-08

Cheryl Croci, Certified Hypnotherapist and Educator, is an elective instructor at Irene’s Myomassology Institute.  Cheryl’s private practice and classes focus on healing, personal and spiritual growth.  Irene’s, an accredited massage school in Southfield, provides a massage program, clinic, and store.  For information, please call  248.350.1400.