autogenic training

http://antaryamin.wordpress.com/category/theoretical-knowledge-are-hindu-gods-real/

Gangetic plains of yesteryears.  Flower trees are shedding their blossoms like little showers falling from white clouds. They are hiding  behind lush green leaves enchantingly.  Skipping deer, dancing peacocks, and the scintillating songs of ‘Koels’— Koel ki kuhu kuhu, Papihe ki pihu pihu have all made the scene manohar—beautiful.                 

In the quietude of such serene forest, hermits are reflecting upon the amazing powers of the mind.  A seer realizes that the mind is endowed with tremendous speed and an unobstructed entrance to the remotest corner of the universe.  It goes on desiring myriad objects, thinks its own thoughts, spins its own doubts. Marvelling at the sheer strength of its imaginative power, they start chanting hymns glorifying its omnipotence —

That which guides men’s deeds as the charioteer guides movements of his horses, that which is speedy and deathless and which inhabits the hearts, may that mind of mine be absorbed in noble thoughts.

What a profound thought!  No other hymn could perhaps better describe the enormous fund of energy possessed by the mind and the possibility of harnessing that energy for doing any kind of job.  It is in appreciation of its abhorrence for vacuum, seers started feeding it with virtuous reflections, for such auto-feeding was found to keep the mind in good stead.  Mind you, all this was prior to the modern psychologists coming out with words like sublimation etc.  But these simple thoughts were lost in transit.

Today, psychologists say: ‘as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he’. Of course, the present day computer analogy coupled with the premises of Cybernetics reveals that the brain functions simply as it has been programmed.  The quality of picture images that we paint and ‘run’ within the deeper recesses of the mind is the actual software through which we experience the real world.

Believing in this premise, let’s auto-feed our mind with affirmations that matter most in today’s life and see if it will make any difference:

For today, I will be as friendly as I can be with the people I work with.  I will   treat them as if they were responsible for keeping me in my job and be grateful they are there. 

For today, I will try to see the good in every situation and will look for something to praise in every person who works with me

For today, if I correct someone, I will do it with as much grace as if I were the one being corrected.

For today, I am not going to insist that everything I do be perfect.  I will do what is in front of me with competency but not painful compulsion.

For today, I will feel happy I am at work, alive and well and not in a combat trench.

For today, I will not have any expectations about how I should be treated.  I will just be glad I am who I am.

For today, I will not worry about “What is ahead for me”.  I will think only about what I can do to help out in every situation.

Dr. Emile Coue once said that when the ‘Will’ and ‘Imagination’ are at conflict, it is always the imagination that wins.   Therefore, repeated reinforcement of positive thoughts would obviously strengthen that imagination.  It might make all the difference.  If not anything, it would certainly save wear and tear of our most valuable asset – Peace of mind.

- GRK Murty