Many of the techniques employed by mystical schools, e.g. Christian or Buddhist monasteries, Yoga-based Ashrams or Islamic Sufi schools, have a big component relating to understanding why you think the way you do “know thy self”, and how to bring the destructive and useless aspects of thinking under control. Without attending one of these schools, but using some of their basic principles and exercises, you can gain great rewards and slowly begin to experience the world/your life, in a far richer way, bottom-line, a big increase in joy and happiness.

Step 1 - Getting the Mind on side.

A little bit of Self Observation.

For a few days try to watch and take note of what you are thinking, try to get the feeling that you're watching TV and your thoughts are the commentary. After doing this for a few days you will, hopefully, notice 2 things. Firstly most of your thoughts are re-runs ie repeat episodes (who would watch a TV station that played repeats 90% of the time). And Secondly the programme/thought selection process is driven by emotional experiences from the past and more often than not it is a painful experience e.g. regret -- "I wish I had said this when they said that" or "they have no right to treat me like that" etc etc. This step is very important, it's basically getting your mind on side, because you are about to ask it’s cooperation to relinquish a little bit of it’s control over the Empire, so if it believes that it is for the good of all, then just maybe, it will step aside occasionally, without putting up a huge fight and calling in the palace guards.

A little bit more convincing.

Okay. So where does pleasure come from, we know it is a feeling, very little pleasure comes from thinking, you can bring about a certain amount by remembering ie reliving a joyful experience (this will come in handy in a minute*) but now it is important that your thinking, that part of you which is reading this, understands that it is not the source of your joy. Joyful experiences, are generally emotions generated by physical experiences, which happen in the present and the less thinking going on at the time, the greater the pleasure. Simple experiment, the next time you eat something that you particularly enjoy, once you get it into your mouth, close your eyes, you will find that the amount of pleasure increases dramatically, why? Because your thinking takes a back seat to the wonderful sensations generated by your taste buds.

Okay, so it's simple to experience a more joyful life, you just have to stop the never-ending dialogue which we call thinking. Yeah right, if it were so simple, seeing we all want more joy in our lives, why isn't everyone doing it, or if it is so simple why does as a Zen monk train for a lifetime to achieve this.

Step 2 - The Link between Breathing and Thinking

Well the answer is that it is pretty simple to do for short periods of time, and that's all we need to do to greatly increase the amount of joy in our lives.

So take a big breath and hold it, go on do it________________________. Okay, so what were you thinking when you were holding your breath---nothing!!!! they say pause the breath and you stop the world (this is really why people can't stop smoking, watch them hold their breath, especially if it's in the 1st couple of puffs, for a moment they experience freedom from all the worries and thoughts that continually plague us, the 1st sign of stress or worry, give me a cigarette please). Obviously your thoughts are going to rush right back in, they are just like the wall of water Moses held back, they are there waiting to swamp you again, so the trick is what you do with this short moment of freedom????

Step 3 - Gently Replace Thinking with Sensation

 It is so simple. Quickly transfer your attention to your senses, just like when we close our eyes and quadrupled the joy of our favourite meal, for example, in this moment of stillness, created by holding your breath, begin to listen to the sounds around you, e.g. someone is talking to you, you are in a busy street, don't comment just listen, smell, feel the sensation of your body, are you holding something too tightly, are you walking in a balanced way. All these simple sensations can lead to enhanced joy and pleasure. Doing this amongst people, you will begin to know in an instant what they are feeling----do you know what that means???? it means your life starts to become a continual new release movie and you end up watching far fewer repeat episodes and reruns. Try this next time you are in the shopping mall, you will find it will transform the experience from being in the midst of a stampede of wild animals, to being in the middle of a multitude of exotic movies, as you notice all the different expressions, and you begin to feel what each person is feeling, no kidding, try it.

Now obviously to continue to get benefit and for this benefit to grow and grow and grow, you have to continually make a small effort, but with very little practice you will find that the results are instantaneous, and it won't seem like an effort, because you will want to do it, because it feels better, doing something that brings you instantaneous joy can hardly be classified under the heading of what we usually call "EFFORT".

Step 4 - Taking the Wind Out Of the Sails of Repetitive Thoughts

Previously we talked about repetitive thoughts that are driven by some sort of painful event, this can be a big thing that happened in your life e.g. "you had your heartbroken" or it can be an everyday thing e.g. something going wrong at work, or your friend or loved one not treating you the way you feel you should be treated etc, all these type of events have an emotional energy which is the fuel for many of our repetitive thoughts (you will discover this for yourself as you begin to observe your thoughts a little more objectively). I have outlined above the steps to take, firstly to observe them and then get free of them, but what you will also need to do is take away the emotional force which gives them their energy, when you do this, then following the steps above will be ever so much easier.

Achieving this is really, really simple, and I refer you to the "Disentanglement Exercise" here it is in brief for more info - it is the 1st exercise in this philosophy section, or simply click on this link Disentanglement Exercise

Lie on a flat surface on your back, hands by your side, palms down and slightly away from your body. Do not cross your legs or feet. This position allows you to get used to being vulnerable in your most receptive area.

Say out loud (if possible), “I ask gold light-beings to disentangle me from my pains and discomforts. If other teachers or guides or light-beings of other colours want to help, I ask them to assist the gold light-beings.”

It is important that you try not to think while this process is taking place, so if you have a technique for stopping your thoughts then use it, otherwise you could try to squeeze your eyelids shut and then focus on the light patterns – don’t think. If you catch yourself thinking, gently bring your attention back to the light patterns and continue. Do this for as long as you feel like doing it or until you fall asleep. This can be done twice a day.

If you do this exercise regularly, you will find that when those thoughts driven by painful events come up, as they will, you will discover that you will not feel the same level of pain and discomfort that you felt previously, so when this particular type of thought presents itself to you, it won’t consume you, & you will have the choice not to proceed with this thought, ie using the tools above.

You may think that asking for these things for yourself is selfish, but the bottom line is, the more joyful you are, moment by moment, the more chance you have of spreading this feeling around, and if you have any interest in saving the world, then this is probably the biggest individual effort you could possibly make, a win-win for everybody as they say.

*Another technique that you may find useful, when you catch yourself in the middle of a repetitive thought driven by a painful emotion, hold your breath, and in this moment of stillness remember some event or something that brought, or brings you great joy e.g. a walk along the beach, playing with your dog, your mind doesn't really care what it thinks, as long as it's getting the fuel to keep it going in a particular direction, this can be a negative emotion or a positive emotion, your choice.