Meet your mind

Meet your mind

October 2014

By Sharmila Bhosale

The Restful Mind By His Eminence Gyalwa Dokhampa, Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton, 256 pages, Price Pounds 16.99

Lyrical and soothing, yet immensely practical, The Restful Mind by Gyalwa    Dokhampa opens up, simply and spaciously, the world of our mind.

His premise is clear; yet one that we often do not perceive: it is with our minds that we create our world and our place within it. Hence all the spectrum of experiences that we go through is given meaning, and life, in our minds. So, understanding how our mind works is actually the key to everything.

Though a lot of books have covered the nature of our mind, how it functions, the meditation process, and mindfulness, Dokhampa does it with rare simplicity, wisdom, deep understanding, and sheer elegance.

He also does it with several well placed exercises, suggestions, questions that nudge introspection, and tools that make the wisdom practical, to make the words real for us. We can allow ourselves to experience whether his teachings actually work in our day-to-day existence, and transform daily, the quality of our life.

He compares the attributes of the restless mind and restful one, giving us a glimpse as to where our mind is at present and how with knowledge and a simple shift in our habits and awareness, practiced diligently, we can acquire what is the greatest treasure and strength of the human existence: a restful, peaceful, calm and centred mind.

As Dokhampa puts it: “We are our thoughts and actions. That is why caring for our mind is so important as our thoughts are the beginning of the chain reaction that leads to our words, and ultimately, our actions. It is with the mind that we create our world, and how we’re going to live in it.”

Open the book, and let it take you through your mind, opening along the way spaces that will let the light in.