This past weekend opened my heart to see even more of my true self. I attended a meditation retreat and was blessed to be in the presence of one of the greatest Buddhist teachers, Anam Thubten Rinpoche. I went to the retreat with the intention of furthering my meditation practice, not realizing that I would be in the presence of a magnificent human.

There were many enlightening teachings he shared with us throughout the retreat. I didn’t bring a writing tool or anything to write on (until the final day), but because his words were so empowering, there was no need to write any of them down. My heart opened up and took them inside, hopefully to never forget him or his words.

I want to share with everyone what I thought were the most powerful moments of the retreat.

It is not easy to convey his messages via writing, because there are no real words for what I experienced. However, I will try my best to explain the past couple of days in a few short, but wonderful words.

DROP THE MIND

SURRENDER to any Concept or Belief you feel is making you suffer.

EXHAUST yourself with your concepts, beliefs, and thoughts so that the only way out is to DROP THE MIND.

Once you DROP THE MIND, you will be awakened to your true self and what will reveal itself is PURE Freedom, PURE Awareness, and PURE Emptiness (Emptiness: Once you rid yourself of all your made up beliefs about yourself and life all that will remain is Pure Emptiness).

So how do we achieve such things? The first step is to become more aware of our thoughts and our life. We must begin to train our minds to focus and live in the present moment. It begins with…

Mind Control.

Meditation is a very useful practice to help train our minds. Meditation allows us to become more aware of our thoughts, which then helps us to control our thoughts. Once we have learned to control our thoughts we can then begin to un-attach ourselves from the delusive beliefs and concepts we have created throughout our lives.

Daily meditation or even meditating 2-5 times a week will have a profound impact on the quality of your life.

Meditation Practice:
Sit with yourself in silence for five minutes. Focus your awareness on the breath, the inhale and exhale. When a thought arises, don’t label it as good or bad, simply observe it and then let it go, returning your awareness back to your breath. REPEAT.

Once we have learned the practice of meditation, dropping the mind will not seem so foreign. After meditating for only three weeks you will see a vast change and will be more aware of yourself and your life. If at times you feel overwhelmed by the busyness of your mind, simply ask yourself to “Drop the Mind”. It will become easier once you tame your mind to live in the present moment, because that is what mediation is. It is living for right now, for this very moment!

“Saying that you don’t have time to improve your thoughts and your life is like saying you don’t have time to stop for gas because you are too busy driving. Eventually it will catch up to you.” – The Monk who Sold his Ferrari.

If you would like to learn more about Anam’s retreats you can go his website and check out his schedule. He is one busy man, traveling every other week, however he travels all over the U.S. as well as internationally.