Thinking arises from the mind, which is actually one of the most marvelous mechanisms. But the problem arises when the mind becomes your master instead of a tool in your hands.

A small story:

There lived a king who had a very faithful servant. He was so loyal he had even risked his own life to save the life of the king on a couple occasions. On one such occasion, the king highly pleased with the servant asked him for anything he wanted.

The servant humbly replied, ‘I don’t need anything, O King. You have given me everything I need.’ But the king insisted. Finally, the servant said, ‘Ok. If you really want to give me something, please make me the king for one day.’

The king was a bit uncomfortable but he had already promised and had to keep it up. The morning of the day the servant became the king.

He simply pointed to the king and ordered the royal guards, ‘Kill him!’

The king was shocked and asked the servant, ‘Do you know what you are saying?’ The servant calmly replied, ‘I am the king today. I can do what I wish to.’ The king was killed and the servant remained king forever.

In this same way, when we give the power of attorney to our mind, it takes entire control over us. The mind is like a radio that you don’t know how to turn off. Since the signal is continuously broadcasting, there is no silent gap for you to feel the energy of intelligence from within you that occurs between thoughts. Because of this, you are unable to experience relaxation and you feel tired and exhausted.

Try this simple exercise that can reveal so deeply the nature of your mind.

• Write down on a piece of paper whatever thoughts come to your head.
• Do it honestly, sincerely without editing.
• Write down any thought that comes.
• Do this for just five minutes.
• Then read what you have written.

You will be shocked!

For one moment you would have written about something that happened in India, the next moment about your daughter in the USA, the next moment about your school teacher, the next moment about a dog that is barking next door…and what not! The paper will look like a madhouse! If you analyze the paper, you will see, your thoughts are actually independent, unconnected and illogical. The mind is just a collection of thoughts which are independent, random and illogical by nature. Understand, thoughts have no solid existence at all.

Thoughts cannot survive the arrow of your watchfulness.

What we call mind itself is an illusion. Mind is a collection of unrelated thoughts projected onto it, much like a movie screen which displays the images from multiple frames of a movie. The screen itself is not the movie, it simply displays the projected images. Thoughts are like bubbles rising in the mind. Like a bubble which breaks when you touch it, thoughts dissolve when they are touched with the finger of awareness. They simply dissolve and the inside and outside become the same. This happens in the mind when we bring awareness to thoughts. All you have to do is witness your thoughts, be aware. Then you will see how your thoughts simply drop. Thoughts cannot survive the arrow of your watchfulness. Intelligence is the quality that actually witnesses the mind.

source: Living Enlightenment