If you have a dream, if you want change, if you strive for progress but no one seems to care for your ideas, let me give you a nice Gandhi quote. He said: “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win”. Indeed: and then you win. So ssht. Don’t worry. Work. And keep working. And meanwhile, meditate on ssht, to keep your thoughts from playing games with you.

In his book ‘The Trouble With Being Born’, philosopher Emil Cioran said: “Man is a robot with defects”. Now despite it’s great title, I didn’t read the book, yet I agree with what he says. Many of our daily routines make us act like robots, and most certainly we all have defects (nobody is flawless). But now it gets interesting: science says that 95% of the time our unconscious mind is running us on its automatic pilot mode. What that means? Well, let’s begin with defining the unconscious mind. Wikipedia says: “(…) the unconscious is all the processes of the mind which are not available to consciousness. (…) Unconscious phenomena have been held to include repressed feelings, automatic skills, unacknowledged perceptions, thoughts, habits and automatic reactions, complexes, hidden phobias and desires. So… whilst we think we control our mind, in reality our mind controls us. As Sigmund Freud put it: “The conscious mind may be compared to a fountain playing in the sun and falling back into the great subterranean pool of unconscious from which it rises”. To me being still is the answer. Sink away to the deeper levels of yourself, let your feelings speak, use your intuition to guide you. In order to make room for feelings and intuition, learn to be still before your thoughts starts yelling they have it all under control. Because they haven’t. Meditation is a great way to practice in quieting your thoughts. It helps you to make room, to be one with the rhythm of your breath and enter the deepest source of wisdom that lies within you, waiting for you to find and use it.

Wondering around in the New York City subway, you’d expect a noisy rat race. Right? Wrong! This film shows that with your eye and ears focussed on something peaceful, you can find moments of meditation even in the busiest situations. Let yourself be carried away for a couple of minutes and experience how the ‘bending sounds’ of the NYC subway and the music of various street musicians bring you in a calm state of mind. And really, it’s only because the filmmaker concentrated on them, that we you will notice and appreciate their soothing contribution to busy everyday life. In the end, it’s all about attention. Whatever you put your attention to, will grow. Or as I said earlier in this post: The way we see reality (and in this case also hear it), is how we create reality.

Here’s a little poem that I once wrote. I recently decided to post it (and analyze it’s meaning).

When I have an objective,
I will be much more effective,
when I keep being objective.

First, what exactly does being objective mean? It means: 1. (Philosophy) existing independently of perception. 2. undistorted by emotion or personal bias. 3. of (or relating to) actual and external phenomena as opposed to thoughts, feelings etc.. So, why is that important? Because when striving for an objective, it’s easy to get caught up in all kinds of distractions and assumptions. We become dependent of perception, we are distorted by emotion or worse: personal bias and we relate to our constantly changing thoughts as opposed to actual phenomena. To be objective, start with a clean sheet and keep it clean as long as you can – for it keeps you objective along the way.

Sometimes, when you face a difficult decision, thoughts and feelings can get you all mixed up. The pressure and the importance of making the right call, make it unclear for you to know what’s best. In that case: Shssst. Be still, for silence is the temple of our purest thoughts. Sarah J. Hale said this and I think it’s really inspirational. Instead of running after your thoughts, trying to sort them out, simply take a moment to sit down and be all quiet. Then your purest thoughts will present themselves to you. Or as Ralph Waldo Emerson said: “Let us be silent, that we may hear the whispers of the gods”.