The mind can be divided into the intuitive mind and the judgmental mind. Also called the instinctive mind and the contrast mind respectively. When you are working and there are no thoughts interrupting your work, then you are working with the instinctive mind. Suddenly the contrast mind (the mind that contrasts constantly between good and bad) arises and comments on how great the work is going on. You become conscious immediately and work suffers. When you are working with your instinctive mind, you do not even notice how much time has passed. You have become one with your work. Scientists call it ‘being in the zone’ or ‘being in the flow’. The contrast mind makes the impersonal instinctive work as personal work and corrupts the flow and gets you out of the zone.
Worrry is a product of the contrast mind (judgmental mind). When you are with the instinctive mind, you are in the present, in the moment. The moment you bring in your past or the future, then you are operating from the realm of the contrast mind. The whole secret is to be with the instinctive mind as much as you can so that you are always in the zone. To do that you need to understand on what premises do both these minds work. Following are the premises (foundations) from which the instinctive mind (IM) and the contrast mind (CM) operate:
IM : Work is impersonal. I have become one with my work. CM : It is my work. It is very personal.
IM : I am neither interested in success nor in failure. Work is more important.CM : I have to succeed. Success is good. I shouldn’t fail. Failure is bad.
IM : I can only be in the zone. I cannot and need not experience spiritual truth or any feeling of enlightenment. CM : I need to see it to believe it. I have to experience it and only then will I be convinced about the Truth.
IM : When you work, do the best you can.
CM : What if my work turns out to be bad? What If I fail?
CM : Why do I commit such stupid mistakes?
IM : I need not see God or the Truth. I need not imagine how He looks, how It feels.
CM : How will God look like? How will It be like? Can I take it? IM : Being in the present is happiness.
CM : What happiness have I attained in the past? What happiness will I attain in the future? Will I be happy at all?IM : Whenever there is no work, there is no need to think. CM : Nothing can happen without thinking. What will happen to all the work I have done so far? What work should I take up so that I can keep myself occupied?
IM : At one time, there is only one thing to do. Thus I am never burdened.CM : There is so much to do. I have to complete so many unfinished things now. The entire burden is on me. IM : Everything is happening spontaneously and automatically.
CM : I have to do things. Things are not happening properly. There is so much to do. I am great that I do all these things. I am stupid that I made some mistakes. Until I am sure of things, I won't even begin.
IM : Life is bliss, a dance, a demonstration.CM : Life is happiness only after all my problems have been solved.
IM : All are one.
CM : I am separate from others.
CM : Everything is scarce. There are lesser resources and more people.
So learn more about your contrast mind and instinctive mind. Learn to operate from your instinctive mind by being in the zone.
Work when you worry
When you are in danger, the body produces chemicals that fill the body with immense strength. When you see a lion in the forest ready to pounce on you, you run for your life. You are amazed as to how you could run so fast. The answer is simple – your body’s flight mechanism produced chemicals and enzymes that gave it this ability. Your body is programmed to do that.
The problem is that your body does not understand the difference between reality and imagination. Thus, even if you are mentally worrying that a lion will pounce on you, the same chemicals are released. Thus, whenever you worry, you are creating mental images of danger. Your body reacts as programmed. It releases the chemicals required to spring the body into action. But you are sitting in your couch and making mental images. You do not actually run, as you would have if there was a lion preying on you. So the chemicals remain unused in the body. These chemicals then turn into toxins. These toxins then cause diseases. Thus, be it worry or fear, you are creating toxins in the body and growing more sick.
So the best thing to do whenever you worry is to get your body into action. Do some physical work whenever you worry or fear. Clean your house. Paint a picture. Exercise. Drink lots of water. The moment you do physical work, the chemicals released get used up. They do not convert into toxins. Doing physical work when you worry or fear is the most scientific advice one can ever give you.