Mind drills to keep your grey cells ticking
We recognize that our physical wellbeing is bound to a large extent to regular, sensible exercise. What is not always realized is that this has a counterpart in the healthy development of the mind. Mental exercise is as necessary to the mind as physical exercise to the body especially if you are a senior citizen.
Bulging muscles are not developed in a day, neither are alert and healthy minds; both are built over a considerable period of time by reasonable and regular exercise. Ten minutes a day of regular exercise for a month will achieve more than hours on end followed by a long lapse.
If we would give the same attention to keeping our minds active, we should find a new zest in life, says American psychologist John. B. Nettleship. He adds that traditional terms associated with physical drill such as “Attention”, “Stand at ease”, “Right about turns” and “Forward March” can also apply to mental drills to keep us mentally fit and active.
Attention:
According to Nettleship, the mental counterpart of this injunction is the art of Concentration. Our “butterfly type of mind” which flits from one thing to another –relinquishing one task because it is too difficult , turning to another and deciding it does not like the look of that either- gets little done and finds scant satisfaction in the process.
The yogis, who prepare to spend years in training to become focused in their thoughts, call these random reflections “Monkey Thoughts” that get little or no worthwhile results. Unless you are among these few yogis or have invested your time and energy in some form of spiritual discipline, you will be amazed just how quickly your mind wanders to other topics.
If we want to keep our minds alive it is important to learn to control and discipline the mind, says Nettleship. According to him “Controlling” is the operative word there. Here concentration does not simply mean fixing our minds immovably on a single point, as we do in some of the meditation practices, but in letting our minds move in a controlled manner about various aspects of the matters in hand.
The buying of a house, for example raises many problems and we need to concentrate on finding solutions. Obviously the mind will have to deal with many aspects of the problem such as situation, cost, type of house etc. Our “controlled mind” will be able to deal with these in turn, to relate one to another , weigh one against the other. The whole action is one of “Concentration” but it is “Controlled Movement” concentrating one factor with another. This is what “Concentration and Controlling” means according to Nettleship.
Here are the two best exercises he proposes:
One of the exercises in concentration, suggested by Nettleship is to take an imaginary problem and weigh the pros and cons. This is perhaps best done by setting down first the advantages and then the disadvantages of any particular course of action and then coming to a decision, by which, if the situation was a real one, you would be willing to stand.
Another useful exercise he suggests, is to take a paragraph or two in a paper or book on a subject in which you have no actual interest at all and compel yourself to read and reread it until you have done so without skipping a word.
Order and systematic thinking in what we do is one way of developing the power of concentration. One of the practical applications will be to have a plan of activities each day, which followed as scrupulously as possible, helps us to develop our concentration considerably.
Stand at ease
All exercise is a matter of rhythm between activities and rest, says Nettleship. It might well be argued that the whole of our life, mental and physical, consists of similar rhythm. In the psychological realm the counterpart of this command “Stand at Ease” is the matter of relaxation which plays a large part in our mental health, says Nettleship.Therefore it is important for us to incorporate some relaxation techniques to our daily routine.
On a more formal level, there are relaxation exercises, preferably performed lying on the floor, where one consciously relaxes one by one every muscle in the body. A little practice will show most people that this is one of the most refreshing of activities. The relaxation has much the same effect on the mind that a soothing warm bath has on the body.
Dr. Norman Vincent Peale in his book, “Inspiration Messages for Daily Living” suggests the following method to relax the mind. He wrote “I suggest that you think of your mind as a wash basin with a stopper in the bottom.Mentally remove the stopper and imaginatively see the mass of soiled material including all your thoughts of the day disappear down the drain. Then mentally replace the stopper and fill the mind with clean waters, with some pleasant thoughts’.
His suggestion is to do this every day before you go to bed so that you get a good night’s sleep which is an essential luxury .
Right about turn
More than half of our mental unrest is probably caused by our preoccupation with things which are best forgotten. We shackle ourselves to the past in a way that can only mar our “Present Moment”. We need to completely break from these things and make -a “Right About Turn” – it needs an initial effort of will, but it is well worth the while, says Nettleship.
The way to do that is to learn the art of giving, he says. This is not ordinary giving, but giving while expecting nothing in return. Too often we expect things back in return, and that causes a huge amount of suffering in life. Give to life; give all your energy to this moment, expecting nothing back. When you have no expectations life becomes so interesting. You are not demanding anything, but life gives you so much, says Nettleship.
This giving is not restricted to material things. Senior citizens can give so much like sharing knowledge, wisdom and life experiences to benefit the younger generation and society.
Forward march
“In the forward march in your journey of life, travel lightly: Don’t go travelling with a backpack full of rocks. Throw these rocks away / and only keep in mind, the present moment…what is happening now,” writes Ven. Ajahn Brahmavanso, the famous Buddhist Meditation teacher in his book “Wisdom of Silence”.
What Ajahn Brahmavanso refers to as the backpack with rocks includes brooding over past mistakes, turning over in our minds unkind things people have said or done to us, thinking of all the things we might have said and done in past situations, if only they had occurred to us at the time.
So simply his advice is that at least for a few minutes at the beginning of a day, sit in a quiet corner and try to forget all those things that happened earlier and only concentrate on the “Present Moment”. These few minutes immediately enable us to throw off the cares and preoccupation of the previous day and enjoy peace and relaxation in the mind, making us more productive.
So let us take these simple and familiar activities of physical exercise-Attention, Stand at Ease, Right About Turn, Forward March –and apply them to build a happier life both physically and mentally.