How to balance mind and soul during tough times

We have all heard the famous adage, “Tough times don’t last, but tough people do.” This couldn’t be truer. However, to face tough times and last through them, we must first understand the cause of these tough times. Situations in life are neutral, and they become easy, difficult, happy, trying, or tough based on how we perceive them. The cause of a tough time is essentially our mind. It is the mind that perceives a circumstance as being tough. Our mind is a bundle of toxic thoughts—thoughts that create fear, worry, stress, anxiety, regret, shame, and guilt. The mind, along with the ego, becomes the ‘ME’ that creates anger, hatred, revenge, jealousy, pride, greed, and selfishness. Together, these fourteen forms of misery are the monsters that cause all the problems in our lives. They make us view situations and circumstances as tough because they place a veil of negativity over us and cloud our judgment. The only other situation where we can factually perceive a problem is in a bodily or physical condition, where the body suffers pain, but even that perception of pain, and thereby the suffering experienced due to it, is elevated by the mind.

So, how does one balance the mind and the soul during tough times? We must first realise that a tough time is caused by our mind—a mind that one cannot find. Therefore, we must learn to leave the mind behind. The mind generates up to 50 thoughts a minute, which can lead to a staggering 50,000 thoughts in a day. These thoughts drill into us and wear us down, making a situation seem invincibly tough. Balancing the mind and the soul may not be the solution at all. Instead, the solution to overcoming a tough situation would be to still the mind, to silence it. By stilling the mind, we mean gradually and steadily reducing the Mental Thought Rate (MTR) from the average of 50 thoughts per minute to one thought at a time.

This is known as moving from a state of mind towards a state called Consciousness. This state is also referred to as Mindfulness and Awareness. Essentially, this state is Soulfulness, where we empower our soul to take over our mind. Where does Consciousness come from? Consciousness is deep within our being. It emerges from the soul. The soul is a Spark Of Unique Life; it is the essence of our existence. The soul is the life force that gives us breath, from birth to death. And it is in Soul Consciousness that the intellect shines, enabling us to discriminate between right and wrong. Thus, the power of discrimination in the intellect helps us discover solutions to our problems, adversities, and tough times. What is a problem? The word “problem” comes from the Greek-Latin word “proballein,” meaning something that is thrown in front of us. That’s okay! Every problem has a solution. Therefore, the right solution to a problem or tough time is most definitely found in Soul Consciousness.

So, the next time you face a tough situation in life, remember this! Do not try to solve a problem or challenge by balancing the mind and the soul because the mind is nothing but a bundle of Miserable, Ignorant, Negative, and Desireful thoughts. The state of mind will never be helpful. Instead, move to a state of Consciousness, where the mind is absent. When this state of Consciousness is reached, the problem or challenge will have been handed over to the soul. The soul is a Spark Of Unique Life that emerges from SIP, the Supreme Immortal Power, the Super Consciousness, or the All-Intelligence Energy form that we call God. Thus, the soul possesses intelligence beyond human comprehension and definition. This Soul Intelligence appears and manifests in the form of the intellect, which can be tapped into in a state of Consciousness—a tool with the power of discrimination that’s given only to human beings. It’s only a human being who can bring themselves to a state of Consciousness, activate their intellect, and use their power of discrimination to find solutions, making problems, challenges, and tough times a thing of the past. Therefore, let Soul Consciousness take over the mind, rather than attempting to balance the two, to overcome tough times.