Anyone but my mind

“On and on the mind spins its tales.”—Eckhart Tolle

In interviews, I’m often asked about mentors. Who do I look to for advice? What books do I read?

And while I admire SO many teachers and have read thousands of books, my current guru of choice are the birds right outside my window.

They come in different colors, different sizes, different species and, yes, they occasionally jockey for the best territory on our bird feeders.

But never, as far as I can tell, do they hold grudges or ruminate or make up stories about their differences.

If they had a human mind, they’d be squawking a story like this: “Can you believe what that woodpecker just did to me? He thinks he owns this bird bath. He has no consideration whatsoever for my feelings. How could I ever be expected to trust him again?”

And this is why my practice is to bypass my human mind and rely instead on the deeper awareness that’s underneath it all. I’ve found this inner aliveness (hidden beneath my mind’s squawking) is much kinder, more compassionate and has no interest in keeping the crazy going.

The mind, on the other hand, constantly spins its wheels, furiously attempts to solve things.

“Just give me a problem, any problem,” the mind urges.

But my mind, I’m discovering, isn’t capable of solving problems. It’s extremely gifted at creating problems, projecting falsehoods, exacerbating suffering. But it doesn’t solve a lot of problems. In fact, its insistence that there’s a problem is where it all begins.

We live in a culture driven by the mind, driven by the will. Our penchant to think we have to figure everything out confines us to a conceptual straitjacket. “Create your best self,” the mind likes to shout. But the mind only sees a teeny slice of reality, most of which is spiritually drained and echoes nothing but old perceptions.

So my mentors will always be the birds, the trees and the alive dance of presence that lives south of my neck, forever waiting patiently for me to catch on.

#222 Forever!

Pam Grout is the author of 20 books including E-Squared, E-Cubed, Thank & Grow Rich and her latest book, The Course in Miracles Experiment: A Starter Kit for Rewiring Your Mind (And Therefore Your World)