What is the power to control the mind? Japan has a rich and famous culture and philosophy. The teachings of Japanese philosophy can affect all aspects of our lives and lead to betterment. One of the lessons that Japanese philosophy teaches us is mind management. You can adjust your mind to make life more challenging while keeping your mind afloat.
Today at Wironal we have decided to introduce you to 4 Japanese philosophical concepts suitable for changing mental states.
1. Mushin no shin or mental silence
Mental silence is more like a wish than a real event. This is extremely heartwarming and people who have experienced it do not feel better. In Japanese philosophy, this concept refers to the silence of your inner voice. We naturally always talk to ourselves, and even when we are resting, our inner voice is talking. Mental silence is freedom in the true sense of the word. Meditation is one way to achieve mental silence, but not everyone is interested in doing it.
Have you ever experienced aimless walking? Without any conscious decision, you only follow the path that your feet decide to take. The whole mind is empty and our subconscious guides it; Just like what happens when you walk aimlessly. Mushin no shin is not limited to meditation and can be achieved in a variety of activities. Dancing, running, karate, painting or doing sudoku are some of the activities during which you experience Mushin no shin.
The key to achieving Mushin no shin is stability in any activity. At the beginning of an activity, we may need a lot of effort and effort to learn how to do it, but when we learn and make it a routine, we can hope to experience Mushin no shin. Do any activity you are interested in on a regular basis and based on a routine during the week so that you can experience mental silence.
You must have experienced days when you do not notice the passage of time. When we acquire the skills to do something, the mind is easily silenced and everything is done automatically. When you can turn off the inner voice of your mind, your focus on doing work increases and you may even speed up doing work.
You may have experienced this before, so you can try it again. Do not lose motivation, practice and spend enough time to reach Mushin no shin again.
2. Fudoshin or immobile mind
When we imagine a samurai in our minds, we probably see a glorious, orderly and calm warrior. He is a person who has a strong will to achieve his goal. Fudushin is exactly that; Irresistible wills to achieve the goal, regardless of internal and external distractions. Most of the time, Fudoshin works against us and even hurts us. For example, despite a toothache, we can eat a piece of cake because we want to eat it.
Getting used to fudoshin and training ourselves to be in this state helps us to break bad habits easily. If we are planning to quit smoking or would like to become a vegetarian, Fudoshin helps us. With this mentality, we can easily say no to anything and move forward in our own way.
A simple way to practice this mindset and gain enough confidence to do hard work is to delay pleasure. If you are addicted to your mobile phone, decide not to look at it at all for a certain period of time. Do this regularly so that your mind goes through this issue and quits its habit. Then work from the bottom of the list eliminating issues that are not worth the fight.
The biggest mistake when using Fodoshin is to quickly increase the number of targets. Instead of going to the gym every day from tomorrow, just exercise once a week for no reason. This is both easier and more eager to do so. Fudoshin is used in all aspects of life and only to achieve it you have to promise yourself and stick to it.
3. Zanshin or steadfast mind
A woman is a state that does not allow your mind to calm down when a task is going well and keeps it awake and alert until the end of the task. When “Fudushin” is done without “Zenshin”, it is as if you have won a match until the last moment, but the rival team steals the cup at the last moment.
We have all experienced the situation where we have started a task successfully and done it like a winner, but at the last moment, instead of winning, we have reached despair and failure. It does not matter if we have completed 99% of the route, if we lose the end, it is as if we have done nothing. The forgotten point in this path is to appreciate and take care of ourselves.
Fellowship means staying focused until the end of the day, so when you are doing something, it should not be about other things like what happens at home or your friend’s career. Or when you are spending time with your friends, do not think about tomorrow at all. If you let your mind wander you are prepared to lose the end result.
4. Shoshin or Boundless Mind
Our brains have incredible power to learn and grow, but we only get to this point if we give new information to our minds.
Dry views and various prejudices hinder the growth of this ability. People usually give up after reaching a goal and think that everything is over by reaching the same goal. They are not trying to improve on the same goal and this is where they lose Shushin.
Never admit you are wrong. How do you want to grow? Shushin allows you to make mistakes, grow and improve conditions. Shushin means listening, trying to understand others and being ready to apologize. Shushin’s biggest challenge is believing in something without prejudice and paving the way for learning.
To practice, you can think about the last argument you had and try to put yourself in the other person’s shoes. Think about what arguments he argued about and how credible each one was. This will help you to look at things from a new angle. Also, reading the articles of people who disagree with you will allow you to learn about the way others think without changing your mind.
The last word
Our minds have many powers that we are unaware of. Japanese philosophy gives us special, deep and meaningful concepts and strategies so that we can recognize these powers and pave the way for their emergence. Mastering the mind and training it, in addition to infinite peace, allows us to experience a life of higher quality than usual and increase productivity.
