Get'in Your Mind Right

In the 1967 film Cool Hand Luke, the Captain of Road Prison 36 (played by Strother Martin in a memorable performance) explains to Luke (Paul Newman) upon his arrival at the prison that, “You run one time, you got yourself a set of chains. You run twice you got yourself two sets. You ain't gonna need no third set, 'cause you gonna get your mind right.”  The implication is clear; either conform to prison life on the chain gang--or else.  

Off the silver screen, “gettin’ your mind right” is a somewhat different matter.  As we mature our ego tends to strengthen and our mind can become muddied like the waters of a southern bayou.  From this perspective it is often difficult to see clearly and we lose our way.  In so doing we sometimes forget our connection to the Universal Mind, or “Infinite Intelligence” (as it was referred to by Napoleon Hill).  You know the feelings: confusion, disorientation, and general uncertainty.  Can anything good be accomplished when the mind is in such a state?

During times of “muddled mind,” it can be helpful to recall what it was like to be a child.  In my home, we refer this to being like the "Goo" (our 8-year old daughter).  In Zen Buddhism this state of mind is referred to as Shoshin or “Beginners  Mind.” Shunryu Suzuki succinctly explained this approach in one of his talks which was compiled in  Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind .  He said, “In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities; in the expert's mind there are few.”

Along similar lines, in the Christian tradition we have the parable of Jesus and the little children. The Apostle Mark describes a scene in which “People were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.’ And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them.” (Mark 10: 13-16)

In the words of Dragline (George Kennedy) describing Luke’s death to his prison mates at the end of Cool Hand Luke, “He was smiling. That's right. You know, that, that Luke smile of his. He had it on his face right to the very end. That old Luke smile. Oh, Luke. He was some boy.”  

So how are you going to get YOUR mind right?
 

This Requires Total Concentration

#Focus
  
"This requires total concentration” (Bruce Lee paraphrase)

Martial artists can focus their mental attention and bodily energy to apply physical forces that astonish most other mortals because the latter cannot see beyond the distractions of their own busy, active minds.

Today, the advent of electronic media and the internet have enabled many distractions that seem appealing at first, yet enslave us in the end.

Text message.  Email.  Phone call.  Tweet.  Pandora.  ipod.  Video game.  Facebook.  Pinterest. Netflix.  Hulu.

Now, where was I? Oh, yes.  Focus.

Fox News.  CNBC.  Politico.  CNN.  Talk radio.  The New York Times.  The Wall Street Journal. Bloomberg.  Reuters.  

What was I doing?  Oh yes, writing a blogpost.

Napoleon Hill in his 17 Principles of Success described a quality he called “Controlled Attention” as the ability “to focus the powers of [the] mind upon the attainment of a definite objective and to keep it so directed at will.”  If one is often distracted, bouncing from activity to activity like a pinball on steroids, how can one achieve or accomplish anything worthwhile?  “Multi-tasking” is an oxymoron!

So, what can we do when we are either assaulted or tempted by the barrage of today’s electronic distractions? I do have a few simple recommendations:

1) Cancel your cable/satellite TV service.  Throw out all radios, ipods, gaming consoles.

2) Read only one literate newspaper each day.

3) When with people, place your cell/smart phone in “airplane” mode, and be fully present for the people you are with.

4) If you must check and respond to email, do so only 3 times each day (morning, around lunchtime, and late-afternoon).

5) Rise early and meditate each day.

I recognize that what I am suggesting here is a radical departure from the way many individuals act these days.  Who among you has the courage to reclaim your focus?