A Calm And Settled Mind

Innate Wisdom

Accessing Innate Wisdom

Of course, once I saw the power of this deeper intelligence, the next question became how to slow down my thoughts to the point where I could actually benefit from it on a regular basis.

Generally speaking, drivers use the tachometer to let them know when the engine is functioning optimally and when it’s time to shift gear. Now imagine that instead of measuring revolutions per minute, RPM, our mental tachometer measures thoughts per minute, or TPM.

Let’s say that our brain’s TPM tachometer runs on a scale something like this:

0–50 TPM: Deeper wisdom/beautiful feelings

50–100 TPM: Healthy functioning/good feelings

100–200 TPM: Beginning to overload/mild stress

200–300 TPM: Spinning out of control/persistent stress

Over 300 TPM: Mental burnout/extreme stress

So, if we want to make the journey from stress to peace and from burnout to wisdom, we need to find a way for our thinking to slow down. We intuitively know this, which is why meditation and hypnosis have become increasingly popular in Western culture over the last 60 years and have been standard practice in Eastern and Oceanic cultures for several millennia.

The meditative state of mind is the closest thing to a ‘magic wand’ that I’ve come across in 25 years of exploring the human potential. It heals the body. It’s the gateway to deeper wisdom. It opens up a world of deeper feelings. It gives us glimpses into the nature of the universe.

Most people who understand its power have learned to access it through discipline and practice over time. In fact, people put an extraordinary amount of effort into attaining and maintaining a peaceful state of mind. They try to protect their mind from disturbance by not watching the news, not reading the papers, and not allowing negative people into their life. They employ meditative techniques designed to still the mind through inquiry, mantras, and visualizations. Or they shift their attention away from their mind and onto their body, using intense exercise, gentle movement, or focusing on the breath to change their state.

Each one of these practices can be an effective way of experiencing greater peace of mind and the insights that come with it. But there’s a difference between having a meditation practice and being in a meditative state of mind.

If you want to slow down your car engine, you do it by not pressing on the accelerator; if you want to slow down your thoughts, you do it by not revving them up. Which means that there’s nothing you can do that will quiet the mind faster than doing nothing to quiet the mind.

And when you recognize meditation as your natural state, there’s nothing you need to do to attain it. It’s not only right where you are sitting now; it’s the one who’s doing the sitting.