The small mind and big mind
are like two people
with dissimilar perspectives.
What dominates your life:
patterns from your brain
or the true nature of your being?
When
you talk to yourself, who is the other person and what do they say? Fluent
communication between your small mind—the thinking process and big
mind—the feeling process depends on how effortlessly the two relate
with each other. If you fight and get angry at yourself, your small mind
and big mind are merely rivals.
Do you enjoy your relationship with yourself?
The small mind is strongly repetitive; once
the motion of thought begins, it has difficulty stopping. It operates
within established routines and does not like change, often resisting
the assimilation of new information.
People use their intellect more than their
heart because our culture emphasizes thinking over feeling. Importance
is placed on the Intelligence Quotient while the Emotional Quotient is
ignored. In society, the relevance of what we feel is secondary, but in
actuality, our feelings govern the quality of our life and whether we
want to live or die. In a healthy small mind/big mind relationship, there
is a harmonious interplay between the thinking and feeling processes.
Look at your meditation practice as if it
were a relationship, an opportunity to balance what you think and how
you feel. Nurture your meditation, and your conscious awareness will give
your brain the needed space to unravel its complexities. Everyone needs
inner space. The Practice provides a way to experience the timeless bounds
of that space.