Mechanics of the Mind

In life, we are constantly buffeted by winds of joy and sorrow. We are pushed in different directions by our minds. Both sorrow and happiness are just two extremes. When we are sad our minds are pushed to a negative low. If we give free rein to our minds then we get thoughts that tend to magnify our worries and sorrows. The mind cooks new doomsday scenarios. Joy is just another extreme. We are pushed into a positive high. While joy is welcome too much of it is also quite dangerous. While we can sit back and enjoy the ride when we are happy we should not get too carried away. Otherwise, the world takes on a nice pink hue and we fail to see the world for what it really is. After all joy also is just a state of mind.

What is more appropriate is to maintain a sense of mental equilibrium regardless of whether we feel pain or happiness. There has to be s certain sense of detachment towards our mental states. This way we will not feel let down when our positive high ebbs.

Our minds can be likened to cotton candy machine. In the cotton candy machine we put in sugar and coloring material into sugar bowl into the bottom. The spinning cotton candy machine coupled with the intense heat produces wooly candy. Similarly our hopes, desires, wishes or fears are the ingredients to the mind which is constantly spinning. The mind creates thoughts from our innermost feelings and wishes. If we tend to be afraid thee mind will automatically generate fearful thoughts and create situations which will produce more anxiety. Similarly when are tend to gloat over our successes the mind throws thoughts which try to substantiate the feelings of pride. We soon tend to go overboard with thoughts of our own self-importance.

However our minds are truly remarkable instruments and can serve us immensely if we understand the mechanics of the mind. When we are faced with a tough problem in life we can throw this problem into the cotton candy maker of the mind. After we spend an adequate amount of time wrestling with the problem we can just park the problem in our candy maker. Given some time the mind will continue to spin and work the problem out on its own. Similarly if we are interested in any creative activity like writing, playing an instrument or painting the mind is truly capable of real creativity. We however have to teach our brains by practicing the skill we are interested in. Buried deep in the recesses of our brain are our neatly organized ideas, rules coupled with innumerable associations and correlations of what is good and what is beautiful. The spinning mind can constantly throw up new and interesting combinations.

If we put in the right ingredients and ideas into our candy maker and let our mind do what it does best we will have truly discovered the fount of creativity.