Think less and live more

Think less and Feel more for a happy life

11/3/2016

We spend most of the time thinking whether we are walking, talking, eating, sitting, listening or seeing anything. Although, we are physically doing all these mentioned activities but our mind is absent; it is thinking something else. Doctors say that don’t think too much as it is one of the reasons for hypertension and worries.

But our mind is designed in such a way that it does that thing first which is restricted and in this way, we actually end up thinking more and increase our worries and tensions. The absence of your mind from the physical activity is the main reason for your worries and tension.
So what we do?
Simple, the secret of happiness is to think less and feel more. This can be done by changing your state from thinking mode to the feeling mode. This shift will automatically reduce your tensions and worries.

Feeling is the sensation of the situation or an activity through your senses like eyes (see), nose (smell), ears (listen), touch and tongue (taste). Well, I am practicing this shift for some time now and believe me that I have felt a drastic change in my lifestyle as now I have started enjoying more like never before. You can say that I am in the process of evolution. The feeling mode keeps you in the present moment, helps you in noticing the physical sensations, you tend to enjoy more and readily accept the change that come your way.
Have you ever noticed why children enjoy the most?
It is because of the fact the young children are in the state of feeling mode most of the time.

Well, if we practice following things then we may observe a great change in our lives:

(1) Feeling the things or the situation keeps you in the present moment

You cannot remain in the present moment if you think more; the only way to live in the present moment is to feel more.
Actually, when you involve all your senses into feeling the present moment, then you get no time to repent your past or worry about your future. As all your senses are involved in doing the present activities, you are most likely to come out with the effective solution of any problem which will automatically shape your future and make it bright.
We all wake up in the morning do our daily chores without actually getting involved in it. You are taking a bath but your mind is thinking about the next activity to do after bathing. You are having breakfast but your mind is thinking and saying that you are getting late for the office. The process of thinking the next event or the future event is a root cause of unnecessary worries. Try to remain in the present activity or in the present moment, the feeling mode makes you do that very effectively.

Try to feel the water on your body and enjoy the sound of the running water.
When you are getting ready for office, feel the warmth of the clothes while putting them on
When you are having breakfast, try to feel the every bite of your food, feel its taste over your tongue and the movement of your mouth.
Similarly, when you are in the office while talking to your customer, colleagues or the boss, try to feel the conversation instead of just talking
When you are sitting idle, try to feel the breath coming out and going into your body, feel the chirping of the birds, feel the tick of the watch lying in your room

All these activities will keep you relaxed most of the time and you start enjoying your life.

(2) The feeling mode breaks the monotones and boredom

Why most of us think that we are leading a monotonous and boring life?
It is because we think that we are doing the same activities and following the same routine for so many years. We don’t have anything new to do in our daily lives. What if I tell you that you can get new parameters, new activities or ideas every day which can make your life thrilling and interesting, provided you change your state to the feeling mode.
Listening to good music acts as a stimulant which puts your mind in the feeling mode and you start enjoying, forgetting all your imaginary worries and tensions. Similarly, with regular practice, you can make and design your mind to shift to the feeling mode so that, you start feeling your daily activities with your senses. And when you start doing this, you will start finding your daily tasks very interesting and full of freshness.

(3) Feeling mode makes you respond more effectively to the difficult situations

Our mind generally reacts negatively in a difficult situation, for example, you had a fight with someone and he/she started abusing you, your quick reaction would be to respond in the same manner. But when you feel the situation with your senses, your reaction might be different. You might feel or see the real reason behind his/her anger that has unfortunately vented out on you. This feeling and realization will make you avoid unnecessary argument or fight. Your right feel of the situation with your senses results in the release of authentic emotions, most suitable and appropriate in that situation. You can say that the feeling mode helps you in calculating the real worth of any situation. Practicing this improves your patience level; doctors patiently treat their patients despite their violent behavior; they actually feel the pain of the patients and are more effective in treating them.

(4) Feeling mode lets you pay attention to the minor details

The feeling mode puts you in the relaxed state and you start noticing the minor details of the situation or any activity. You can come out with solutions of many interesting things by noticing and feeling the minor details through your senses like:

Why there is a change in sound quality when you enter into an empty room from the crowded one?
Why we tend to close our eyes while sneezing?
What is the reason behind the whistling of the pressure cooker?
Why one side of chapatti is thicker than the other?

Moreover, most of the inventions were made by paying attention to the minor details like Newton invented the law of gravitation while noticing the fall of an apple from the tree. Practicing this will improve your imagination skills; your life will become more interesting and you can solve most of your life’s problems with this approach.

(5) Feeling mode tethers your mind to be in present

When you feel through your senses like feeling the warmth of the sun, feeling the smell of the clay or mud in the first rain of the season, feeling the taste of the food, feeling the texture of the material, colors around you; you are actually keeping your mind in the present moment. Now your mind is thinking about the present situation, not the past or the future. Consider another case, you are physically driving a car but your mind is thinking about an argument with your boss in the office previous day; a past event. In this case, your mind is absent, now you are not feeling the steering in your hands, not noticing the colors around you, not listening to the music playing in your car; a total mismatch between your present activity and the state of mind. A mismatch often creates problems, worries and tensions.

Conclusion

When you start feeling more and thinking less, you actually make your mind to remain in the present, which works effectively to find out solutions for the problems in the real situation not of the imaginary past or future situations. Your life will become simpler, interesting and you will actually start enjoying life. This mode or state of feeling will rejuvenate your life by keeping away unnecessary worries and tensions which are self-created by you. The art of being in the feeling mode will enable you to enjoy the minor details of your everyday life that will erase the monotones and enrich it with interesting events. To keep yourself in this mode, you need to practice daily, initially if not all, but try feeling a single activity like preparing a cup of tea or eating food and then subsequently, apply this state of feeling to other activities. Gradually, you will realize that all your worries and tensions in life are replaced with more interesting things. You will feel that earlier you were ignoring life and now you are actually living a happy and meaningful life.