“For he who has conquered the mind, the mind is the best of friends. But for the one who has failed to do so, the
mind will remain as the greatest enemy.” – The Bhagavad Gita
WE ARE NOT OUR MINDS. Nor are we our bodies for that matter. We can control both. It is easy to understand how the body is under our conscious control. We can just think: “I” will move my hand. The hand is not in control. It is the “I,” that says, ‘I will move my hand,’ which is clearly in control. The mind, however, is a little trickier because we deal with thoughts that can either be conscious or subconscious. If subconscious thoughts are controlling our actions, then it is the mind that is in control of our lives. When we recognize that we have conscious control of our thoughts, i.e. “I” think, only then can we say that we have conscious control of our thoughts, and thus have power over the mind. The mind is merely an instrument or a tool to be mastered in pursuit of fulfillment. Of course, the definition of fulfillment varies widely and is subjective to the individual. One must be conscious of the mind as a tool to use it… or else, the tool will use its master, the “I” behind the mind, as we shall see.
One excellent reason to establish control over the mind is that it is estimated for the average person, over 95% of thoughts are repetitive, and of those, 80% are negative! That’s a lot of negative thoughts! And these negative thoughts are guiding the trajectories of our lives. We need to get conscious control of our thoughts to guide our ships upon optimal paths. Living mostly with negative thoughts is clearly not the most fulfilling existence and will never yield the life that you dream of.