Here are some more emails that I received from readers on this topic:

“As a real estate appraiser, I am subject to being “influenced” as to what I should do to make something work out for a client. Should I do what’s right or should I “give in” and hope nothing goes wrong? The economic collapse of last week is in part a response to real estate appraisers “giving in” in order not to “bite the hand that feeds them.”

Recently, I have started using a “breath prayer” that I say many times during the day. I inhale slowly, then exhale and say “Heavenly Father, I trust in you.” When called to do an appraisal for whatever reason, if I detect that I am going to be asked to compromise my ethics and values, I politely excuse myself from the work and recommend the client call someone else.

Other times I may accept an assignment, but after some initial research find that I can’t professionally do what is wanted. I will call the client and let him know I can’t reach his number. That has cost me a lot of money over the years, but I still get calls from people who want an honest opinion. If you take the high road, your feet won’t get wet. It’s best to be judged for what you think you did right, than what you know you did wrong.”

* * *

“My religion and my spiritual beliefs are my own and I don’t take it to work place. I don’t take my work place problems home either. I don’t discuss religion and politics at work. If somebody starts talking about it, I quietly try to steer the conversation to some other topic. I spend about 20 - 30 minutes of quiet time at home before I go work; and I think, that helps me keep my cool.”

* * *

“I agree that it can be uncomfortable and difficult to talk about, and deal with, spiritual beliefs in the workplace. However, I believe that all of us have the potential to be spiritual beings, if we don’t already believe that we are, and that we can “bring” our spirituality with us into any sphere we choose. The catch is that no one has to explicitly know.

We can “be” spiritual, but we don’t have to share that fact with anyone. In addition to that, I believe that one can be spiritual, and others can be… whatever they want to be! However others may act, I may choose to believe that their actions and words are PART of my spiritual awakening, or I may choose to believe that they’re “holding me back” from my spiritual awakening… but in the end, it is my choice. I choose how to respond to, or learn from, the people who are coming into my life.

Personally, I choose to believe that everyone I come into contact with is an enlightened being (or some variation on the theme), who is here to teach me a very important lesson — whether they know it consciously or not!”

* * *

“One thing that comes naturally for me in the workplace (or anywhere for that matter) is to smile at everyone, looking into their eyes if possible. Most of the people I meet remember me for this positive trait, but what I remember about them is they gave it back. They in turn remind me that peace must come from within before it can be shared with others.

Peace is not always easy when hardship is present. But changing the mind to believe that attaining peace is always possible, is easier to do when we can actually see our smile change the peace we see in someone else’s face or eyes. There is no easier way to share love and peace than to give a smile.”

* * *

“I run a small business. I follow what appears as correct to me as per my belief system that is very much decided by my spiritual beliefs. Of course I am careful not to mix up religion and spirituality. I share my concepts with very few others of my organization. In my business I avoid, and also tell all others to avoid, CHEATING any client. I have come across many, who say that CHEATING is a part of business — never for me.

I also find that only people who, overall think in somewhat similar lines like me are able to stick with me, though still there are some differences amongst us also.

It is also true that I am not able to find a right person to look after my sales needs in line with my belief system.

The result? Though I stay in business more or less at the same level for some time now, my growth is much smaller compared to a few businesses in my own area. However that has NOT affected my happiness or feeling of contentment. Only personal problems have more effect comparatively on me than what happens in my business.

There are times definitely when I can not help but feel as to why I remain this way, and why cant I change, but I give up because I conclude that this is the only way I know to be!”

* * *

Once again, I wish to thank everyone who took the time to send me an email and share their perspective on this topic.

– Jeff Keller

I appreciate the many emails that I received in response to my last newsletter. Each contribution is valuable. Of course, space does not allow me to publish all of the emails that I received. In this newsletter, I am going to share with you portions of five emails that I received.

* * *

“I have been faced with many challenges in bringing spirituality into the workplace being employed at a psychiatric hospital. The baseline “energy” if you will is one of frustration, loss, anxiety and hope all rolled into one. I begin each day with a prayer to let go of all judgments. This is the biggest struggle I face in my daily life. If I let go of judgments, the energy is one of acceptance and love.

For example, whether I am facing a family member who is very upset that their loved one was brought to our hospital by the police, or before going into a meeting, I take a few seconds and “send” love to those whom I am to meet with. I approach them with so much love (nothing is said, only felt) and it always seems to work in my favor. When you give love, then there is nothing that will come back except love.

The family leaves the hospital perhaps with answers they didn’t want to hear or accept, but there is also a calmness, an acceptance on their part. They may not know why, but I know why. They are loved. To me, that is bringing spirituality in the workplace; silently and unobtrusive; complete and total acceptance from deep within my heart.”

* * *

“Regarding coming into contact with people who I believe are acting in contrast to my spiritual beliefs, I consider myself incredibly fortunate to be self-employed. This gives me the luxury of choosing to not work with people that I don’t want to work with and includes customers who give me a hard time, customers who lie, cheat or steal to earn a living, or anyone else who I believe will try to pull me away from what I believe to be “right.”

To me, we all have that choice, whether we work for ourselves or not. At the end of the day, we all have to look ourselves in the mirror and I choose to be able to do that with a clear conscience. A method I like to use to “judge” a situation is by asking myself, (in any potentially questionable
situation) ‘If I do this, will I be able to tell my children about it and use it as an example of “good” behavior? Will I be able to answer their questions and believe I’m helping to teach them lessons that will allow them to become good human beings?’ If it passes the “kid test” I believe I’m on a good path.”

* * *

“A few years ago I read The 7 Habits of Effective People by Stephen Covey. One of the habits in particular has helped me from the spiritual standpoint in the work place. It is “Seek First To Understand, Then To Be Understood.” When I do this, other people seemed to feel valued and are not put on the defensive. Then, when it’s my turn to talk, I can approach the situation with a much more peaceful heart.

I also notice that when I simply want to be understood first, it merely ends up in defensiveness on both sides of the communication with not much being resolved at a deep level.”

* * *

“I find I am most often frustrated when I believe I must change someone because their behavior is not in keeping with my beliefs. At these times, I remind myself that God gave us ALL free will. It is not my place to deny anyone that privilege. I find peace and comfort in the knowledge that I do not allow their behavior to alter mine. It is not always easy. Sometimes I must take deep breaths and repeat the Reiki Gokai, but I sleep well at night and I continue to lead by example.”

Reiki Gokai:

I will let go of anger.
I will let go of worry.
I will work diligently.
I will be thankful.
I will be kind.

* * *

“As a relatively new practicing Christian this is one area that is dramatically developing for me. I have several inspiring documents - scripture, poems, etc. - taped on the wall of my office. I reference them during discussions that take place in my office when the opportunity arises.

I’m trying to live a spiritual life regardless of where I am - work, home, church, WalMart…wherever. I don’t want to be a person that practices situational living adapting to whatever culture I’m currently in. I did that for many years. I was a people pleaser that could tell you exactly what you wanted to hear.

I also don’t want to come across as a “pushy” Christian because I recall viewing those types as holier-than-thou “Jesus freaks” that turned me off to the Gospel. But, I do want people to notice that I’m different and that difference is not me, it’s God’s Spirit in me.”

* * *

I will continue to share reader comments on this issue. If you wish to offer your experiences and insights on spirituality in the workplace, please email them to me. If you haven’t read the previous message in this series, please read that message before you send your comments.

Your name, e-mail address or location will NOT be published if your comments are used. Thus, your privacy will be maintained.

Thanks again for your enthusiastic contributions on this topic.

– Jeff Keller

I’d like to open a discussion on the ways in which you apply your religious and spiritual beliefs at work.

Most of us would admit that there is a challenge in maintaining our spiritual outlook at work. We interact with co-workers, management, vendors and customers who, at times, are acting in a way we believe is contrary to our spiritual beliefs and values. Needless to say, this can be frustrating.

Even if you run your own business and work alone, there are instances every week where you feel others are trying to operate in a way that violates your spiritual principles.

How do you handle the spiritually challenging situations at work? Do you prepare yourself (by prayer or other means) before you go to work each day to ground yourself spiritually? Do you do anything while at work to keep your spiritual focus?

Do you say anything to management or co-workers if you feel the conduct of those in the organization is in conflict with your spiritual principles? Where do you draw the line? In other words, when would you consider leaving the organization?

You may feel that you are able to lead by example without having to say anything. Can you just let things be as they are, without the need to change anyone or anything?

I’m not trying to steer the discussion in any particular direction. How you reconcile your work and your spiritual beliefs is an individual matter. There is no right or wrong answer. I think we can all learn from hearing the different perspectives on this topic.

I think there’s a growing concern and frustration that spirituality and the workplace don’t mix. We feel we can practice our spirituality at home but that organizations today are run in such a way that spiritual values (such as love, compassion, cooperation) are absent.

I’m not looking for horror stories you could tell about your employer. This is not about bashing anyone. I’m looking for ways in which you constructively deal with the challenges in the workplace and where you set your boundaries to maintain your spiritual perspective and stay true to your values.

Please email your experiences and insights to me. If I print your comments, your name or email address will NOT appear, and I will not include any facts that would allow you to be identified.

I look forward to a fruitful discussion of this issue.

– Jeff Keller

This is the final message in this series on quieting the mind. Some of the recent news events in the United States highlight the effect of an active mind. These include:

Turmoil on Wall Street and the collapse of large financial institutions

Turmoil resulting from the damage caused by Hurricane Ike

Accusations and bitterness involved in the 2008 presidential campaign

The active mind, with all its beliefs and opinions, is feasting on these events. We see sensational news coverage with graphic images. We hear opinions, many of which focus on blame and criticism. With all this mental activity stirring, do you feel peace – or do you feel stress?

With regard to the presidential campaign, we see polarized minds seeking to bolster their own side while “defeating” the other side. Everything is a competitive battle. There are few signs of cooperation. This is the way the mind and ego operate, and the results are not pretty.

The active mind will always want to take sides. It will delight in the downfall or criticism of those taking an opposing view.

We’re often tempted to believe that this open airing of views and opinions lead to better solutions and a better world. I see just the opposite. I see stress on the rise, and verbal and physical assault on the rise.

It is the quiet mind that can see the whole picture more clearly. It is the quiet mind that has the compassion needed to implement solutions that serve all. It is the quiet mind that connects with intuitive wisdom.

The problem is that we’ve never been taught that the quiet mind can be trusted to produce beneficial results. Furthermore, we’ve never been taught how to quiet the mind.

To go on a campaign to convince others to quiet their minds will not work. Each of us must make that commitment first. It can be a lonely, uncertain path at the beginning, especially when you’re in the minority playing by a new set of “rules” while others cling to the “old” system. Most people view a quiet mind as a very weak, passive way to approach life. You’ll face some challenges if you walk down this road of quieting the mind.

Once you attain a quiet mind, you will develop more peace and harmony. Others will then be attracted to that. By the way, when you develop a quiet mind, it doesn’t mean that you won’t hold opinions any longer. You just won’t be attached to them as you were before. And you will be more open to allowing others to hold contrary opinions.

In the end, everyone wants more peace and less anxiety. We also want to live in harmony with others. An active mind will never bring these to you. We’ve given a busy mind thousands of years to show what it can – and can’t — accomplish. I, for one, am not impressed with the results produced by busy minds.

Maybe now is the time to see what a quiet mind can bring.

– Jeff Keller
© 2008

In this message, I’ll be discussing another technique to quiet the mind. Here it is:

BECOME LESS INTERESTED IN OPINIONS.

This includes your own opinions and the opinions of others.

Before getting involved in this topic, I must admit that this message will be full of contradictions. There is no way to cover this subject without contradictions. Here I am, asking you to give up your preoccupation with opinions, and much of what I am offering are my opinions. In fact, in all of the essays I’ve sent you since this newsletter began, I’m giving you my opinions and commenting on the opinions of others.

And yet I’m sticking with my earlier advice: Become less interested in opinions. That includes becoming less interested in my opinions. You don’t need to be in favor of my opinions, or against them. Let them be. By doing so, you will quiet your mind and find more peace.

Some of you are thinking that there is an important distinction between your opinions and FACTS. In other words, some things are simply not debatable. As I see it, what you claim as fact is just another one of your opinions. You’re free to disagree with my opinion on this issue.

We live in a world where opinions are given tremendous importance. We aggressively hold opinions that our beliefs are right and that those who disagree are wrong. We do this with our religious and spiritual beliefs. We do this with our political views. We do this with our social views about how people should look, dress, and act.

Watch any of the news shows or talk shows on TV and there is an endless parade of people offering their opinions on the issues of the day. One person argues for one side of the issue. Another person argues for the other side. Often the people get personal and start to ridicule the person holding the other view.

These opinions put your mind and ego into a busy state. You root FOR the person holding your view and AGAINST the person expressing the contrary view. The same holds true for message boards we find online. The mind finds it difficult to remain civil when engaged in a clash of opinions. Invariably, these discussions end up in shouting contests and a battle of egos.

Consider your own experience with opposing opinions. When you meet someone who disagrees with you on an issue, your mind launches into action, often going on the attack to fight for your opinion. Your body follows right behind, and you feel tension. You lose any heart to heart connection with the other person. You are “locking horns” at the level of the mind – seeing the other person as different, or in some cases as “the enemy.”

Interestingly, even when you run across someone who agrees with your opinion, you’ll tend to activate your chattering mind as the two of you engage in discussion to bolster your opinions. The two egos can take comfort in being on the “right” side. Eventually, you’re likely to move into a conversation where both of you can criticize those who hold a different view.

We are taught to think that holding opinions or “standing for something” is helpful and makes the world a better place. In some ways, this is true. We can certainly say that those who hold an opinion that prejudice is wrong help to establish equal rights and encourage respect for all. Those who speak up for the oppressed help to protect them. Thus, holding an opinion can benefit society.

I told you there were going to be contradictions in this message.

Opinions, in my opinion, cause more problems than they solve. Sure, there are those opinions like those I mentioned above, where we can argue that they improve the world. But let’s be honest and look at the vast majority of our opinions – the ones running through our mind throughout the day.

Do they bring us peace? Do they help to solve our problems? Do they improve the world? Do they make us more compassionate?

I would answer NO to those questions – although that’s only my opinion.

What can we do about our opinions? I am finding it best to just let them be. It won’t help to resist them. That only makes them stronger. Instead, we can apply a technique I offered in Part 3 of this series: just observe these thoughts and accompanying emotions as an impartial witness. You are watching the thoughts and emotions generated by the opinion without being “attached” to them. If you do this, they will begin to dissolve and will drift out of your consciousness, like clouds moving through the sky.

Equally important, we can voice our opinions less and less. Or to put it more bluntly, we can keep our mouths shut. Voicing our opinions is like poking a stick at a nest of hornets. It leads to a lot of buzzing, activity and defensiveness.

We don’t have to discuss our political beliefs with everyone we meet. In 99% of the cases, the discussion serves no purpose other than to attempt to prove how clever we are and how we are right.

If you feel that you MUST engage in such discussions to make the world a better place, go right ahead. I’m not stopping you. You may come to recognize that you can only do so if you are willing to give up the possibility of attaining a quiet mind. It’s one or the other.

Since we are in the midst of a presidential campaign in the U.S., you might ask if I have given up my opinions and if I have kept my mouth shut. I haven’t. But I am more aware of my opinions as they arise, and I am allowing more of them to pass without feeling the need to comment.

There is also the issue of passion to consider. Passion is given high praise in most societies. Many people have been conditioned to believe that it is important to be passionate about our opinions, and that we will be boring if we don’t hold strong opinions. This sounds logical, but I have not found it to be true.

I’ve been around many people with strong opinions, including those who share my opinion. Being with them, engaging in discussions with them, does not bring me peace. I may get excited temporarily, but I don’t feel peaceful, loving or compassionate at those times.

If you ever have the good fortune of being around someone who has a quiet mind and has no need to convince anyone of anything, you are more likely to know what peace is, what compassion is. I would trade that for passion any day, although I realize most would not.

The person with a quiet mind allows ALL opinions to be as they are. They aren’t in favor of some opinions, and against others. They allow people to hold whatever opinions they want. They allow their own opinions to arise without judgment. They are compassionate and accepting toward all.

There is a fine line between apathy and holding too many opinions. We don’t want to reach the point where we don’t care. On the other hand, we don’t want to get our minds in a frenzy advancing and defending our points of view, where little good comes from it.

Perhaps one way to resolve this is to ask your heart. If you ask your mind whether to express an opinion, the mind will almost always say, “Yes, let’s do it.” If you ask your heart about voicing an opinion, your heart will often tell you “No, there is nothing to gain by going there.” In those instances where your heart tells you to get engaged in your opinions, you’ll know that you are doing it for the right reason.

Become less interested in your own opinions and the opinions of others. It will go a long way to quieting the mind. Don’t be concerned about becoming boring or passive. The opposite will happen. Many people will be drawn to you and your stillness. This is a stillness that is alive and energized.

May we all experience the benefits of a quiet mind.

– Jeff Keller
© 2008

I appreciate the many comments and insights offered by subscribers during this series on quieting the mind. In this message, I will share some of those comments.

As you will recall, I previously offered the suggestion of spending some time each day sitting quietly by yourself. One subscriber offered this alternative:

“I found that if I sit where I can look at nature it helps to make the quieting easier. I may pick up a leaf to hold and examine or look at the clouds or tree tops….feel the wind on my face etc…I find it easier to be still that way than when I am in the house and have the items around me that are part of the busy part of my life.”

This is an important point. There is no set way to spend time being quiet. You don’t have to sit inside. If being outside while focusing on something in nature works better for you, by all means do that.

In response to my message on the importance of making a commitment to quiet the mind, one person offered these insights:

“Quieting the mind is a journey that one must be willing to sacrifice for. Because it does change your life and who you are — to who you were meant to be. For some that is a scary thing because our true self comes out and sometimes we have to let go of our old self and go through the changes. And sometimes change hurts too much. So we pick and choose what we want to change and what we don’t. Quieting the mind doesn’t work that way. In order to quiet the mind, you must be willing to change all that is required of you.”

Here are excerpts from an email I received from a subscriber who used the principle of a quiet mind in an athletic competition:

“I play competitive squash and have always had difficulty living up to my own potential. Last week I was scheduled to play the second ranked player in my local competition. I had been playing well and was undefeated to that time. We started and the game was tough. I lost the first by one point. At this stage I normally would get upset, berating myself for losing. Then I thought of your articles. I decided to ‘quiet my mind’ and simply be in the present focusing on only what I wanted to do in the instant.”

“All of a sudden I experienced an exhilaration I have seldom known. I was scarcely aware of my opponent as a person. I saw only the ball and I didn’t ‘think’, just played the game. The effort went out of it and the match was soon over. I won comprehensively. At the end of the match my opponent said, “That was the best match I can remember. I don’t mind losing. You were much better.” I didn’t tell him I had a secret advantage. I was just there, just me, not my mind, no noise in my head, no emotion. I wasn’t even joyful that I had won. I was simply there. I have long known the importance of being there, but this is the first time I have associated it with the quietness in my universe.”

Isn’t that fascinating? And it makes an important point about the practicality and power of a quiet mind. A quiet mind helps us in ALL areas of our lives – in business, in sports, in making decisions. When the mind is quiet, and we are fully present, we demonstrate skill and mastery at higher and higher levels.

On the topic of SURRENDER, I received many emails. Everyone who commented recognized the benefits in surrendering, but expressed the view that it is difficult, if not impossible, to surrender COMPLETELY. They said that they could only do a “partial” surrender.

Of course, I am in the same boat with you. To surrender totally is quite a challenge.

The conditioning of the mind and ego are very strong and they don’t easily accept total surrender. With total surrender, the mind and ego are left with a very limited role. The mind and ego fight when you try to write them out of the script.

Even if we can’t surrender control of everything in our lives, I think it is worthwhile to surrender the majority of our concerns and begin to trust God. As we see our lives working out well in those areas where we have yielded control, we will let go of more and more. We will come to recognize that it is far better to dive into the unknown and trust in God — than to place our trust in our limited mind, which has disappointed us again and again.

In the next message, I’ll be offering more suggestions for quieting the mind. Thank you for your enthusiastic support of the messages in this series.

– Jeff Keller
(c) 2008

In Part 3, I suggested these two techniques for quieting the mind:

1. Spend some time each day sitting quietly by yourself and do nothing.

2. Become an impartial observer of your thoughts and emotions.

As I discussed in Part 4 of this series, it’s important for you to make a commitment to quiet the mind. That means you have to be willing to live your life differently as you begin to receive guidance. There is no way to know in advance precisely what type of guidance you will receive.

The commitment I referred to doesn’t involve trying harder or attempting to force new thoughts. Those strategies have caused us to have an active mind. We can’t rely on the mind to quiet the mind.

I’d like to introduce another strategy for quieting the mind. It is probably the most effective of all techniques I will discuss in this series – and yet it is the strategy people are least likely to follow. That strategy is SURRENDER.

In some ways, surrender is the simplest strategy. You don’t have to do anything. No specific thoughts or practices are required. You just give up any control you believe you had and put complete faith in God to guide you. We’ve all heard the phrase, “Let go and let God.” That’s what surrender is all about.

Almost all religions endorse the principle of surrender as an effective way to live our lives and establish an intimate connection with God. Putting our lives in God’s hands and surrendering to God’s will – this sounds like a wonderful way to live. Can we find a better leader (than God) to point the way on our journey? Why would anyone resist that?

As you know, the answer is FEAR. Fear of the unknown. Fear of what you will be led to do. Fear of what you may have to give up. Naturally, all these fears are generated from the mind, which seeks to preserve its dominant role in your life.

Surrender means TOTAL surrender. We can’t pick and choose what to hold onto and what to put in God’s hands. Although we say that we have complete trust in God, most of us are not willing to yield control of our lives to God. We don’t have the level of faith we claim to have.

“If I surrender, what happens next?” The uncertainty is too much for us to accept. Most of us would rather stay in a “known” misery than venture into the unknown – even when that unknown can lead us to peace and fulfillment.

Surrender requires you to quiet the mind. You are telling your mind that it is no longer needed to figure out things for you. You aren’t relying on your mind to create a certain mood or to achieve a particular result. You are giving your mind a vacation, and allowing guidance to come from another source.

Surrender brings up another fear – survival itself. We believe that without actively using our minds, we won’t be able to survive. We believe that we will just sit on the couch and do nothing. We won’t eat. We won’t work. We think we need an active mind to carry out these functions.

How many people have you read about (or heard about) who surrendered their lives to God and then died because they sat on the couch and did nothing? I’ve never read or heard of anything like that.

Yet, we tend to think this way when surrender is mentioned as an option. Our mind immediately says, “You can’t just shut me up and hope to continue living as you are living. Who will earn the money? Who will wash the dishes and do the laundry? You’ll have no motivation or ability to function.”

This is all nonsense, but you can’t know for sure what will happen until you surrender.

Surrender is usually our strategy of last resort. In other words, we won’t surrender until we feel all mind strategies have been exhausted.

When things are going well in our lives, or even if the situation is bearable, we won’t surrender. We still have hope that we can use our mind to make changes that will improve our lives. When we experience enough unhappiness, enough anxiety, enough frustration, we may come to the point where we know our way isn’t working. At that point, we may be willing to surrender.

By the way, surrender doesn’t mean that your life magically transforms into bliss and peace overnight. It rarely unfolds that way. There are no rules and no timetables. Surrender means you allow whatever comes…and whenever it comes.

I understand that you may have no interest in the principle of surrender right now. You may not see it as a practical or useful strategy. I’m not trying to convince you that it is the “right” move for you now. It probably isn’t. However, surrender can be so effective in bringing the peace of a quiet mind – and that is why I included it in this discussion.

For some, this message may be timely. Even if this message means little to you now, perhaps it will mean something in the future. I don’t know. I’ll just surrender and let your heart take it from here.

– Jeff Keller
© 2008

Did you have an opportunity to experiment with some of the exercises discussed in Part 3 of this series? What, if anything, did you discover?

At the outset of this series, many subscribers were excited. They told me how they anxiously awaited techniques for quieting the mind – and how they would implement them right away.

Once I offered the first two techniques in Part 3, the emails – and enthusiasm – diminished considerably. I think I know why – and some of you may not like what I’m about to say.

The reason most people can’t quiet their mind is that they don’t want it badly enough. They have not made the commitment to have a quiet mind.

There’s no doubt that just about everyone wants a quiet mind. But many of you want it only if it can fit nicely within the context of your current life. You want peace, but you also want to hold on to the majority of your current beliefs. You want to keep engaging in most of your current activities.

You’re not against change; you just don’t want TOO much of it.

I also realize that some of you are very committed to a quiet mind – far more committed than I will ever be. This isn’t an attack or criticism of those who aren’t committed. As I see it, you are exactly where you’re supposed to be right now. You can’t force it. When you are ready to loosen the chains of the mind, you will do so, and not a minute before.

I know a little about the difference of being committed or not committed to a quiet mind because I went through both of these stages. For a long time, I wanted a quiet mind, but wasn’t willing to pay the price I needed to pay to move in that direction.

You see, although a quiet mind sounds wonderful, the road to getting there is not smooth for most people. There is turbulence. Fear arises. This should not be surprising, since most of us have our identity wrapped up in the thoughts and beliefs of our active mind.

We are attached to conditioned thoughts and emotions, to the point where we believe we ARE them. In this series of messages, I am inviting you to relinquish the grip of these thoughts and emotions. Trust me, your mind is not going to calm down and step aside without a fight. The mind’s major weapon to keep you where you are is fear.

As you begin to quiet the mind, you feel a sense of peace, even if only for a moment. After that, however, you may have a feeling that you are losing your identity. Here’s why. The only way most people can describe themselves is by stating thoughts their minds have been fed, such as their name, the country of their birth, their religion, their gender, etc.

Without your conditioned thoughts and beliefs, who are you? The mind gets very nervous when you cut off its frame of references. There are moments where you have nothing familiar to hang onto to describe yourself.

At that point, the mind steps in to scare you. It cautions you to stop this experimentation with a quiet mind — and that if you continue your exploration, you will enter some type of unknown void or be a “nothing.”

That’s why quieting the mind is not for the squeamish. It’s for those who have suffered enough with the roller coaster of thoughts and emotions and want to get off the ride. It’s for those who are fully ready to embrace the unknown and the fear it brings.

I think you’ll find that you can’t have it both ways. You can’t have a quiet mind and yet live virtually the same way you are living now. As your mind quiets down, you won’t think the same as you did before. You won’t act the same.

What the active mind has created, the quiet mind may destroy.

Some of you may be thinking, “I just want to be less stressed, to be more positive, to get rid of the negative thoughts and emotions. I don’t need to lose my identity or go through major changes. I just want to be calm.”

What I have found, however, is that the only way to get that deep feeling of calm and peace is to empty the mind and stop it from offering its incessant flow of thoughts and emotions. You then become a vessel for new insights to reveal themselves at the heart level.

As long as you remain attached to the swirl of thoughts and beliefs, you will attain only limited peace. The magic comes when you are willing to calm the mind to the point where you lose your “old” identity and are open to whatever comes.

I’m not saying that to quiet the mind, you must quit your job, change relationships or move to another state or country. You don’t have to make any drastic changes right away. What I’m talking about involves INNER work.

For the process to work effectively, however, you will have to be open to new insights and new beliefs about yourself, the world, and the way you are living your life. As the mind slows down, your heart begins to speak to you. What you hear may surprise you!

You may start to question some of your core religious or spiritual beliefs. You may start to question the way you interact with others or how you spend your time. You may develop very different priorities. Your family and friends may not approve of the “new” you.

As all this happens, fear will raise its ugly head. It is the effort of the mind trying to warn you to back off and go back to your “old” way of thinking and living.

Over the years, I read many spiritual books and articles that said those who are able to quiet the mind are those who “want it more than anything else.” While this might seem to be an exaggeration, I personally find it to be right on target. It is only when I myself got to that point that I made significant progress in quieting my mind.

In the next message of this series, I will offer more techniques for quieting the mind. I felt it was essential to discuss the issue of commitment before moving ahead.

– Jeff Keller
© 2008