{"id":4761,"date":"2016-03-02T12:00:35","date_gmt":"2016-03-02T17:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/?p=4761"},"modified":"2016-02-28T19:00:43","modified_gmt":"2016-02-29T00:00:43","slug":"quieting-the-mind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/2016\/03\/quieting-the-mind.html","title":{"rendered":"Quieting the Mind"},"content":{"rendered":"

Question:<\/strong> If we cannot force a mind to be quiet, how does a quiet mind come about that is not forced?<\/p>\n

Answer:<\/strong> The mind is capable of seeing that what is disturbing it is itself an opposite. Here I am, and I am so concerned about tomorrow — my mind just won\u2019t stop thinking about tomorrow. In the instant that the mind thinks about tomorrow, it has to create a sense of self that sustains the fear. The self that is brought into existence by the disturbance cannot end the disturbance. When one understands that resistance to the disturbance is the disturbance, the mind naturally quiets down.<\/p>\n

No opposite can cancel itself. Just like a Chinese finger puzzle… what happens the more you pull? The tighter it gets. So can the answer be to pull harder? But the self that pulls can\u2019t imagine what life would be if it weren\u2019t struggling. When you see that nothing you struggle with in thought can be put to rest by the thought that struggles with it, the mind will quiet itself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Question: If we cannot force a mind to be quiet, how does a quiet mind come about that is not forced? Answer: The mind is capable of seeing that what is disturbing it is itself an opposite. Here I am, and I am so concerned about tomorrow — my mind just won\u2019t stop thinking about…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":232,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[591,515],"tags":[2511,1428,2512,2154,1587,87],"class_list":["post-4761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mental-health-2","category-peace-serenity","tag-mental-disturbance","tag-quiet-the-mind","tag-struggling-with-thoughts","tag-the-opposites","tag-thinking","tag-thought"],"yoast_head":"\nQuieting the Mind - Letting Go with Guy Finley<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/2016\/03\/quieting-the-mind.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Quieting the Mind - Letting Go with Guy Finley\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Question: If we cannot force a mind to be quiet, how does a quiet mind come about that is not forced? 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His ideas cut straight to the heart of our most important personal and social issues - relationships, success, addiction, stress, peace, happiness, freedom - and lead the way to a higher life. Finley is the Founder and Director of Life of Learning Foundation, a nonprofit Center for Spiritual Discovery. He is the acclaimed author of \"The Secret of Letting Go\" and more than 45 other books and audio programs that have sold over two million copies in 26 languages worldwide. His work is widely endorsed by doctors, business professionals, celebrities, and religious leaders of all denominations. Through Life of Learning Foundation, Guy has presented over 5,000 unique self-realization seminars to thousands of grateful students throughout North America and Europe over the past 20 years and has been a guest on over 700 television and radio shows, including national appearances on ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, and NPR. 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