Feeling Trapped in Your Mind
The mind is like a mansion of many rooms and it is your awareness that moves through it, which means you can choose which area of the mind you spend your time in.
Dandapani describes the mind as a mansion with many rooms and awareness as the thing that walks through it, opening and closing doors. He points out that if you let your environment direct your awareness you can end up living in an unhappy or jealous area of the mind, and that people settle into a favourite area the way a cat has a favourite napping spot.
What this talk covers
- Imagine the mind as a mansion with many rooms, and yourself as awareness walking into it and opening doors.
- You can stay in a room as long as you want, or step out, close the door behind you and keep walking down the corridor.
- The mind does not move; awareness is what moves within the mind.
- If you allow your environment to control your awareness, you could end up in an unhappy or jealous area of the mind rather than a happy one.
- Learning how the mind works, how awareness moves, how to focus and how to develop willpower lets you move your awareness to areas that are uplifting and rewarding.
The mind doesn't move. It's awareness that moves within the mind.Dandapani
Questions
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Dandapani says you have a choice about where in your mind you spend your time. It may not be an easy choice, but the choice is always there.
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Some people make the sad area of the mind their home and feel safe there. We can get comfortable with things that do not serve us well, because going somewhere new can be fearful.
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In his model the mind is a place, like a mansion of rooms, and awareness is what travels through it. The mind stays still; awareness moves.
Transcript
669 words · 3:55
Did you know that you have a choice where in your mind you spend the most time in? In fact, you can choose to reside anywhere in your mind that you want to. You have that choice. But most people don't realize this.
Most people aren't even aware where in their mind they spend their time in. Imagine your mind like a mansion, a huge house with many, many, many different rooms within it. And you are pure wends walking into this mansion. Now you can go anywhere in this mansion, you can go to
the games room, they probably have a home theater, they have a kitchen, a dining room, a former living room, perhaps a library and office, bedrooms, guest bedrooms, bathrooms, toilets. So you walk up the stairs, you go to the second floor, you walk
down a corridor, you open the door, you enter a room, you find yourself in the office, the home office of this mansion, and you have an experience of the home office. Now you can stay there as long as you want, or if you don't like being there, you could just step out of the room, close the door behind you, and keep walking down the corridor.
And if you keep walking down the corridor and you decide to open the door to another room, then perhaps you walked into the master bedroom, and it's this big beautiful room with poster beds in a beautiful bathroom with a bathtub and lovely shower and vanity and the whole works. And you say, I'd like to spend time over here. This seems like a lovely place to be.
The mind is no different as well. Our awareness moves within the mind all the time. The mind doesn't move. It's awareness that moves within the mind. Now, at any point in time, either you you are moving your awareness to a particular area of the mind, or someone or something around you is dictating where your awareness is going. Now, if you allow your environment
to control your awareness, you could end up in an unhappy area of the mind. You can end up in a jealous area of the mind. You could end up in a happy area of the mind. The goal is for you to have mastery over your awareness. So you decide where in the mine you want to spend most of your time. Just like a cat in the house. If you have a cat,
the cat probably has a favorite place it likes to take naps in. Maybe on a windowsill with a little bit of afternoon sun on it, maybe on a couch, maybe on your blanket. But it has its spot and that's where it goes all the time. People tend to create that in their life as well. Some people like to go to the sad area of their mind and just live there and wallow in
their sadness. They feel very comfortable there. They in fact feel so safe there. Sometimes we can get comfortable with things that don't even serve us well because to go to somewhere new can be very fearful. Other people make a happy area of the mind their home and that's where they go and reside all the time. Some people make a jealous area, the area of the mind that they go to,
and that's where they spend the most time. At the end of the day, what is most important to realize is that you have a choice. You always have a choice. Now it may not be an easy choice, but you do have a choice. You learn how the mind works, you learn about awareness in the mind, you learn how to focus, and you learn how to develop willpower, then you can learn how to
take your awareness and move it to the areas of the mind that are uplifting, that are rewarding, that bring more joy and happiness to your life.