Quiet your Heart Mind
by Erin Tagan
People speak of a differentiation between mind and heart, as if the organ in the chest is responsible for fabricating emotion, even though we know, in all reality, emotions stem from the brain. This differentiation is attributed to a distinct line between rational, logical thoughts and feelings we seem to have no control over. What if the gap between mind and “heart” could be bridged to the point where our logical thinking is capable of controlling emotion? If we acknowledge the “heart” and mind as one entity as opposed to two, peace of mind is exponentially more rewarding, as it can also be considered “peace of heart.” By exploring our negative emotions and applying rational thoughts toward proving those emotions to be untrue, happiness would be much easier to achieve. Essentially, we would be talking ourselves out of emotional pain into a place where heart and mind co-exist symbiotically, our emotions giving us reason to think logically, and our logical thinking actively improving our emotions.
Byron Katie, author of “Loving What Is,” demonstrates an exercise she calls “The Work” for training our hearts to follow our minds, as opposed to the other way around. She maintains that our minds make up stories with our thoughts, and by letting go of these thoughts or disproving them, we shatter the illusion that we’ve created about reality and are set free by understanding things the way they really are, rather than our perceptions that are causing us to suffer. It is our thoughts about certain situations, not the situation itself, that upset us.
The means by which she encourages people to let go of their misconceptions is through a line of questioning. You begin this process by writing down thoughts of a person or situation that upsets you, and then question those thoughts. The line of questioning is as follows: Is it true? Can you absolutely know that it’s true? How do you react when you think that thought? Who would you be without the thought?
After thoroughly exploring your answers to these four questions, you turn each of the thoughts around. Katie instructs readers to “rewrite your statement. First, write it as if it were written about you.” If you originally declared someone else is unkind, turn it around to state that you are unkind. This enables you to discern whether the statement is “truer when applied to you,” as opposed to the other person, presenting you with a more objective view of your own actions and the opportunity to evaluate them.
Katie continues, “Another type is a 180-degree turnaround to the extreme opposite.” In other words, if you had written a thought down about what should be, rewrite it as “shouldn’t” be, in order to acknowledge the reality of the situation. It shouldn’t be simply because it’s not.
Answering these questions facilitates the realization that you would be happier without the negative thoughts (or at least after turning them around into a productive challenge for yourself). Ultimately, there are really no reasons to continue believing the story your thoughts have compiled. “[The questions] will burn up anything that isn’t true for you.” Burning the story (the untrue) exposes not only your ability to come to terms with the reality of a given situation, but furthermore, to come to love it.
In accordance with the understanding that our minds control our thoughts, and our thoughts provoke our emotions, we posses the aptitude to control our realities. Since our emotions are a product of our thoughts, logically, letting go of our negative thoughts yields the recession of our negative emotions as well. Feelings of inadequacies and self-consciousness are all illusory constructions our minds design. Katie explains, “You are the storyteller, the projector of all stories, and the world is a projected image of your thoughts… The work gives us a way to change the projector— our mind’s—rather than the projected.”
Because our minds are originally responsible for creating these false realities, we alone have the capacity to deconstruct them. Once we let go of the false perceptions and see reality as it actually is, we won’t be subject to the emotional tension caused by wishing things were different. Envisioning reality as it is will replace our tendency to think in terms of what should be. In which case, the projected reality surrenders itself to the fact that nothing should be that is not.
Katie discovers that in most cases when she asks people what they would be without their thoughts, they answer that they would be at peace. If we direct our attention towards loving reality for what it is rather than struggling to change it, we simplify the journey towards peace and harmony of mind and heart.
Katie opens her book with a quote from Seng-ts’an (the Third Founding Teacher of Zen): “Step aside from all thinking and there is nowhere you can’t go.” Without the preconceived notions of what should be, there are neither expectations nor limitations constricting our existence. There is only existence.Originally from San Clemente, CA, Erin Tagan moved to San Diego five years ago to attend SDSU. She received her bachelor’s degree in English and is now working as an intern for Vision Magazine. Please contact her at eetagan@gmail.com.
