Healthy Mind
It is Time to Let Go of All the Junk in the Mind
Imagine if you could not go to the bathroom – as in NO urination and NO defecation. Just accumulation of toxins and waste inside of your body. After a few weeks, you would probably die a horrible and smelly death. Thankfully, our bodies are built to excrete what is unnecessary when it comes to digestion. But have you ever heard that you can also excrete what is in your mind?
You probably have a lot of junk sitting there right now, don’t you? It works like this. Say you and an ex had a favorite song…. your song. But then they cheated on you and left you for a new person, and now, every time you hear that song, it triggers some painful memories. That is mental junk. The song itself is not painful, but you attached a feeling to it that does not serve you anymore.
What if I said that you can let that go? Thenat you could hear that song anytime without even a slight flinch. And not just that, but everything that makes you feel anxious, sad, depressed, lonely, and stressed… all of it? And what if I said that those problems were all made up in your mind which means that you hold all the power to get rid of it?
The answer to all these theoretical questions is YES, it is possible! From birth until now, we have only added and accumulated the “sh*t” into our minds and now it is time to let it go. This doesn’t mean to not possess material things or to give up your will. It means to not hold onto your thoughts and past images in your mind. This will create a space inside you that will bring you true fulfillment. Let us change the heavy mind that is clogged from past experiences to the true mind by following the steps of this meditation practice!
When you clear your mind from all the mental junk through this meditation method, you will find true positivity and clearness within you. Since the problem is within you, the answer is also within you.
SungHee Lee
SungHee Lee
Work has always come first in my life. My work day starts early in the morning until late at night. Unfortunately, because of my workaholic nature, my body suffered tremendously. I never worked out I never had time to cook, and I always had too little energy during the day. In my heart of hearts, I knew I had to start getting in shape, but with such little energy and time, I did not have the motivation.I felt helpless.
One day, after an especially difficult day of work, I felt pain in my chest. My doctor diagnosed me with a heart condition and told me I had to find ways to reduce the stress or my heart would fail. So I started practicing meditation because I was desperate to reduce my stress level. It is commonly said that “the origin of illness is in the mind”, but I never thought I would have learned this lesson so clearly after my near-death experience.
My meditation instructor helped me find all the things that were creating stress in my life… my clients, my family, my busy schedule, my pattern of negative thinking when it came to taking care of my body… and showed me how all of these minds were weighing me down and literally causing pain in my body.
If it is true that the mind and body are one, and that the origin of illness is the mind, then this meditation is learning how to become a surgeon and cutting out all the deep-rooted causes of disease rotting in your mind. Once you’ve had a chance to feel what it is like to surgically remove these negative thoughts permanently from the mind, you can never be the same. It is life changing and I am so grateful for the meditation, for my instructors, and for the other meditators who helped me through this incredible journey of self-discovery, defeating my workaholic nature, most importantly, improving my body condition.
Woney
Woney
Moving from South Korea to America as a teenager was a cultural shock to my system. Many of the values that I grew up learning in the East, for example - respecting elders at all times or following the boss’s instructions without question - were not values that my Western peers valued or cared for. These differences were apparent in all aspects of my life and made it difficult for me to connect with others.This meditation taught me that the changes I was going through in my environment did not have to hinder what was going on inside of me. I don’t know if people American born citizens can relate to my situation, but I’d like to share a list of the positive changes I saw from an immigrant’s point of view:
1. My frustration with “trying to fit in” and feeling “other than” disappeared
2. My anger that I felt for those who had taken advantage of me or patronized me completely resolved
3. My anxiety about speaking a foreign language decreased
4. I was no longer felt embarrassed when I could not remember a word in English or forgot how to say something
5. I was able to get rid of my sense of inferiority about being a “second class citizen” and I no longer questioned who I was
6. I stopped feeling homesick and depressed about being in a new place with no friendly faces
My anxiety about my future disappeared I no longer worry about what other people think of me or how I have to portray myself to the world
Daily stress decreased so I was finally able to quit smoking cigarettes and drinking Body aches and pains were relieved – especially the muscle tension on the right side of my body and constant migraines
Namdae Lee
Namdae Lee
My favorite quote is, “you cannot fight against the ego and win, just as you cannot fight against darkness; the light of consciousness is all that is necessary. You are that light.” I love this quote because I remember fighting against the darkness. Times that I struggled financially.Times that I fought with my loved ones. Times I ended a relationship and times they ended it.
It is simple, really. In times of struggle, I thought my lack of money, my family, and my ex’s were the enemy. That’s why I fought them so hard. But through meditation, my consciousness completely changed. I learned that all those struggles and fights were just a mirror reflecting the true enemy hidden in the darkness, my own ego.
Now, when a difficult situation arises or I start to feel a hint of disagreement surfacing up, I first pause to ask myself, “what is this person showing me?” If they are showing me my self-centered and selfish ego, I know that is not who I am, that it is a false illusion, and I immediately thank that person for shining a light on the ugliness that is my ego.
This has completely changed the way I see the world. Where I used to see darkness, all I see is positive light.
Yuna Sung
Yuna Sung
When I was a child, I watched helplessly as my father beat my mother. Growing up, I was tortured with the sound of my mother’s wails and I lived in constant fear of my father. One day, my mother whispered to me, “let’s just die together”. Hearing this from my mother’s soft voice traumatized me more than any of my father’s yelling because I knew my mother did not want to live anymore.I blamed myself for being the cause of my mother’s suffering. If it weren’t for me, my mother would not be married to a monster. I started questioning why I was born, why life was so unfair, and what kind of God would allow me and my mother to suffer so much?
I could not accept that this way of life was all there was to my existence, and when I was old enough, I set out to find the meaning of my life. At first, I wanted to find a way to heal from the trauma of my childhood. I tried years of therapy, but they did not work to remove the PTSD. Then I started this meditation.
The first time I enlightened clearly that “the universe is me”, I felt 30 years of agony melt away in a moment. And as I continued through the levels, I started to feel something I had never felt before – hope. I honestly do not have the adjectives to describe how amazing this meditation is. But what I can say is that all of the fear, trauma, suffering, and questioning that I had held onto growing up no longer existed inside of me. It is 100% gone. What a powerful method.
Michael Lindqvist
Michael Lindqvist
I suffered from anxiety attacks my entire life. I was always afraid of making mistakes or looking weak. Everything from being called out by a coworker to using the wrong choice of word, would trigger anxiety pains for days. I was jealous that everyone around me did not need to take themselves so seriously. They could so easily forget the awkward moments in their life, but my mind would re-play them over and over non-stop. The anxiety attacks got so bad in my thirties that I could no longer function normally and I realized that if I wanted my life back, I would have to actively put a stop to them.I read numerous self-help books and went to a psychologist. These tools helped a little but my attacks were still too overwhelming. It wasn’t until I started to meditate with the help of a professional instructor that I found the solution to my problem. First, I learned how to look within myself to find the triggers and the root cause of my anxiety. Through this reflection, I found that I had extremely high self-expectations and lived a life of perfectionism. The anxiety was brought on by the large gap between my expectation of the world and the reality of the world. My pride was hurt by the distance between these two realities.
Once I learned this about myself, the meditation allowed me to release it. With practice, I no longer fought the feelings of anxiety, but instead welcomed and accepted them in. What truly changed for me was when I had the revelation, “why should I be afraid of these feelings now that I have a way to deal with them?”. It was at that time that my shame, guilt, denial, fear and all the negative feelings that had been bottled inside for so long were finally able to be released.
I don’t need to be perfect anymore. I don’t need to be strong anymore. It has become easier for me to try new things. My mind has never felt lighter or clearer and I feel like a new person. I want others to know that it is possible to live a life where you are not controlled by your anxiety. If meditation worked for someone like me, it can definitely work for anyone. I can’t recommend it enough.
Sheikha Msangi
Sheikha Msangi
I grew up in an African society where it was taboo to discuss mental health issues. Nobody knew what depression was in those days and those who suffered from it, like my mother, were thought to be possessed. After witnessing how society completely ignored my mother, I did everything I could to appear normal and happy all the time.I pushed myself to show off the image of my happiness by always smiling, going out clubbing with a large group of friends on the weekends, talking about movies and trending subjects, and making everyone laugh around me. On days that I was too tired to put up a show, I would make myself very busy at home or at work.
[No matter how much money I earned, or how many things I was buying, or how many girls I was dating, or how well I lived, the joy of these things was temporary and not something that lasted. There was no fulfillment. Inside I felt empty and incomplete. Something was missing. My heart was longing for that forever lasting happiness that never disappears!]
The truth was that even though I looked like the fun party girl that everyone wanted to be around, on the inside, I was lost. I would get easily upset at the smallest things. I felt a void in my life that all the friends, dinners, and concerts did not fill. When things didn’t go my way, I felt betrayed and wanted to blame others for it. And I was constantly overwhelmed by the gazillion thoughts in my head.
At last, I realized that deep down, I was the same as my mother… empty inside. I had just found ways to cope better than she did. So I decided I didn’t want to hide anymore, I wanted to really live the happiness I was showing off. One day, I found a website that said the one thing I wanted to do most in the world. This website said, “cleanse your mind”. It led me to a meditation center.
Through meditation, I was able to discard all the pressure I felt to fit in, to look the part of a normal and happy person, to stop seeking those temporary highs and chase what was not true happiness. I still hang out with my friends, but I no longer rely on them to fill my void. Through meditation, I was able to embrace myself.
It has freed me completely. I have gained mental strength and awareness. I am very positive without trying to be positive. I have found my true happiness within me, which is my true self. I enjoy every moment that life can offer. It is beautiful to breathe without worries, stress, and pain. I am truly happy now.
Mike Mihai
Mike Mihai
As a small boy, I asked big questions. I could never get a straight answer from my parents, teachers, or even the priest at my church for the question, “why am I here?”. As a young adult, I traveled the world in search of the answer to this question. It led me to many religions, gurus, shamans, clairvoyants, hypnotists, spiritual guides, and healers. They all talked about the path to enlightenment and finding Truth within me. But when I asked, “how can I find Truth inside of me?”, the various techniques and methods they taught never led to any real change.After searching for years, I realized that they spoke only about what they read from books and recited only what they had heard from others. None of them had really become Truth and my questions remained unanswered.
Why am I here? No one knew the answer; no one knew Truth or the way to Truth.
But I could not accept that there was no answer. One evening in Australia, I found a meditation center while on a late night walk. What really captivated my attention was that the meditation instructor explained everything I had studied from my 20-year search and packaged it in a 20 minute lecture. Ultimately, it ended with a promise that I would not have to memorize scripture to understand Truth, I would become Truth itself. The revelation that I could become the answer I was searching for itself was the reason I immediately signed up.
After only 2 weeks of practicing, I found one of the answers I had searched for all my life, “who am I?”. What. A. Miracle. I was hooked. At every level, I kept enlightening to more answers. After I completed all the levels, I experienced the thing that I had searched for so long. I knew the answer to why I was here and that is when my whole world shifted.
I want to make it clear that through this guided meditation, all my questions have been answered. I now live a life without stress, worries, pain or suffering. To describe what it is like is beyond my vocabulary. However, I encourage anyone who has ever had an existential crisis, to not waste 20 years in a futile search, and take the first step to sign up like I did. This works. Period.
Mason Kim
Mason Kim
Every year, Forbes publishes the top 400 richest people in America – called the Forbes 400 List. But I always wondered, where is the list for the top 400 happiest people? How is happiness measured? Who is happy and who isn’t? What makes them happy and unhappy? I have always wondered about the true meaning of happiness.I enrolled in a psychology degree to find the answer to these questions. I thought, I will study happy people and finally know the secret to becoming truly happy. I found that some countries were happier than others, but their overall GDP was much lower than the richest countries. Some people had life circumstances that made them happier, but not everyone fit into these hard drawn lines. A lot of people were actually pretty miserable.
The truth was there was no recipe for happiness. The answer was not more money, a bigger house, more expensive cars, higher status in society, marriage or single life, children or non-children, or any of the temporary joys that people search for. The more I studied, the more I realized that there is a strong connection between happiness and the mind.
That is when I started meditation. I figured that if I can’t find answers in the material world, then perhaps the non-material world will have some answers? And I’m happy to report that I was on the right track. The reason why you feel unfulfilled is because everything that you think will make you happy in this world is from your ego, also known as the false mind.
This false mind is the mind of hunger and greed. It can never be satiated. People talk about minimalism, but that is also false because even the mind of living minimally is a mind of hunger and greed in different wrapping paper. Enlightenment and happiness are achieved when there is no ego, no false mind, no hunger, no desire, no greed, and no selfishness. You may think that is impossible and even if it is possible, you still want the big house and the nice car.
That is the best part of this meditation. It doesn’t turn you into a monk living in the mountains. Because I can now live my life authentically, my career, my relationships, and even my financial status has completely changed for the better. There is nothing to stop me from living that life of luxury, I just don’t have the greedy mind that comes with it. It is truly freeing.
Don’t chase temporary materialistic happiness. It will always lead to emptiness and a feeling of incompletion. Throw away your selfish ego and live in a world that money cannot buy. Be truly happy!
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