Have you been in situations that your mind was racing and you were offended about something that someone had said or done?
How did you resolve such situations?
The way that I have resolved such situations lately is doing two things after taking a deep breath:
- Repeat two mantras few times
- Go over list of people and things that I am grateful for (for two minutes)
The mantras that I learned from my teacher may shock you! I would have been shocked if I had heard it two years ago, as well.
The mantras are: “I am nothing. I know nothing!”
One may ask, why do you say such a thing while almost everyone has issues with self-confidence?
These mantras challenge our “ego” which has been causing us suffering.
At first, like anything that challenges the status quo, you may feel resistance repeating the mantras. It will get easier as you will experience their benefits.
Let us dive into the sentence “I am nothing”. What does it challenge?
- There are situations that we identify with a role as who we are (good father/mother, engineer, spiritual person). We try to defend the role and we get offended when our identity is challenged.
- There are situations that we identify as bad/weak/unworthy and we judge ourselves viciously.
The word, “I am nothing”, energetically is like having mud all over our body and taking a hot shower. It has a cleansing effect that causes one to drop any identity (good or bad).
Next, let us dive into the sentence, “I know nothing”. What does it challenge?
- It reminds us to pay attention to our assumptions which can be wrong.
- It reminds us that our reality is based on our perception and beliefs.
- It reminds us to be open-minded, curious and humble.
My experience of using these two mantras is freedom, peace and calmness!
Our mind stops racing, when there are no more roles to defend and there are no more ‘expectations’ to meet or demand.
Copyright .2021 by Shervin Hojat
But there is one thing I know for certain. The more that I know, the more I find out that I don't know. But I sure can look it up. And with the Internet at my disposal, it sure saves going to the library finding nothing.
Ron