Who is a friend? A friend is a person who is there for us. A friend never lets us down. Our friend always tells us the truth and looks out for us.

There are so many proverbs about friends. A friend in need is a friend indeed. A friend’s eye is a good mirror. False friends are worse than open enemies. Friends are thieves of time. Friendship is love with understanding.

Is our mind our real friend?

Have we learnt to control our mind? Our mind is the source of all our sorrows. Our mind is always playing havoc with us. It creates feelings of jealousy, insecurity, inadequacy, resentment and so on. It can distort our perspective and make us fearful. So now we have to change the nature of our mind. It is not our enemy, and it can become our very best friend. When we apply restraints on ourselves, our mind becomes cussed and contrary. The correct way to proceed is to become like a child as said in the Bible. Be thoughtless, without desire and free of everything. Having a free mind, we develop an innocent awareness. Our next task is how do we overcome the limitations of our mind.

A lovely practice is Antar Mouna

Antar Mouna means inner silence. We close our eyes and become aware of the sound of our breath. Then we switch our attention to listening to the sounds outside. We let our sense of hearing operate like a radar beam listening to the loudest sounds and then the softest sounds. We do not identify who or what is making the sound. We sensitize ourselves to listening neutrally and we cease to be engaged with what is happening in our mind. We can practice several times in the day, and we will find that our perception of actions, interactions and thoughts changes. We can attend to issues pragmatically. And our mind becomes our real friend, guiding us fearlessly and harmoniously.

Aim Hrim Klim

Photo by Hannah Busing on Unsplash