Most people who would like to feel more resilient and use meditation as tool to achieve this goal struggle because they do not understand the basics. They either never start or give up soon after. The core technique, MRT overcomes this by making sure that participants get the basics right.
Let’s face it, you can’t come in from a hectic day’s work and just sit still and calm the mind. In other words, you can’t come in from the “Rat Race” and turn it all off. The reason why MRT maybe of benefit to you is that the program takes you through a structured process. You begin by building the foundation step-by-step so that your mind becomes increasingly resilient.
Students who use the methods of MRT have gone from not being able to sit still for 3 minutes, due to all the mental chatter and stress that they are feeling, to being able to clear their minds for one and half hours. This type of mental training allows people to be mentally resilient in their everyday lives.
The 5 stages of Mental Resilience Training:
Relaxation
The first stage of MRT is relaxation. There is no way you can embark on the journey of meditation without first experiencing relaxation. When you are truly relaxed, you enjoy a lowered stress level and a deep physical stillness.
Meditative Calmness
The second stage of MRT is a feeling of calmness. Calmness reduces the “noise” or continual chatter of the stories that go around and around in your head. It takes a few seconds to become aware of all the mental chatter – just close your eyes and observe your breath going in and out and the awareness of your breath will allow the mental chatter to diminish, resulting in a new sense within you – one of calm.
Emotional Tranquility
The third stage of meditation – emotional tranquillity – is achieved when, despite the presence of mental chatter, you can maintain some measure of sustained concentration. If you experience tranquillity during meditation, you will be able to reenergize the mind.
Insight
The fourth stage of MRT is insight – developing an understanding of the nature of what’s inside you; an understanding of the feelings, the fears, the aspirations that drive you.
Wisdom
This “wisdom” is one of the higher phases of meditation and MRT. It brings with it a deep and profound understanding of oneself.
Poor Substitutes
Unfortunately, we sometimes choose poor substitutes for MRT. When our body requires stillness, we zone out in front of the TV. When we want calm, we down a couple of drinks to “calm the nerves”. When we are feeling emotionally agitated, we go on a shopping spree or overeat to calm our emotions. More and more people listen to or watch talk shows to observe other people gain insights into themselves. And lastly, we choose knowledge over wisdom, which can feel the same initially, but lacks the connection with our deeper selves.
Metaphors for the Mind
One of the best ways to describe how MRT works is through the use of metaphors. The two metaphors below indicate how these techniques will work.
The Power of Clarity
Imagine a glass of crystal clear water, which you can see straight through. There are no obstructions, nothing clouding your view from one side of the glass to the other. Now imagine putting no more than a teaspoon of dirt into the water and giving it a stir. What do you see?
After just a bit of stirring the water becomes muddy and you can no longer see through it. The water is so murky; you couldn’t see a candle or torch on the other side of the glass.
Now, imagine you’ve put the glass of muddy water down and let the mixture settle.
As it stills, the two elements begin to separate and the water becomes less murky. The longer you leave it, the clearer the water becomes. Left for a couple of hours, your glass would have crystal clear water at the top and sediment on the bottom.
This is very similar to the way the mind works. Stir it up and it’s hard to see much; let it settle and there is clarity.
The mud in the water represents the different challenges that are thrown at you daily.
Imagine an extremely challenging day. Before you went to work you had an argument with your partner. You have numerous deadlines looming, meetings to prepare for, a phone that has been running hot since you arrived in the office, and an in-box full of urgent emails that you have not even looked at. At this point, your mind is probably like the glass of dirty water – thoughts flying around making everything cloudy. And if this “dirty water” is indicative of your mind, then your mind is not in a truly desirable state for important decision-making or effective action.
What does MRT do? It simply provides the same relief from the muddiness or confusion in your mind as the act of letting the glass of dirty water stand to allowed the dirt to settle. The challenges do not go away – the dirt is still in the glass – but it has settled and you can see clearly.
MRT is the process of remaining still mentally and physically so that the mind becomes calm and the mental chatter settles. When the time comes to make a decision, you will be able to perceive all the issues with clarity and determine the solution very easily.
The Power of Resilience
Imagine holding a box of chocolates in your outstretched arm. It probably seems effortless until you imagine having to keep your arm outstretched with the box for five minutes. The longer you have to hold your arm out, the more things change. Your arm probably starts to ache and the box begins to feel heavy.
If you hold onto the box for another five or ten minutes, your arm will begin to burn with pain and the box will feel heavier and heavier. You will probably want to put it down. Imagine putting it down. Is it a relief?
Your next step is to rest your arm and then, imagine picking the box up again, but only once you have rested.
This second time, the box probably does not feel heavy at all. Even though the weight of the box never actually changes – your perception of it is different now than when you held onto it for a longer time. It was the act of holding onto the box that required all the effort.
Consider this. The box of chocolates is your thoughts. If you are thinking something for a brief time, it will not necessarily weigh you down or give you pain. But keep a thought (particularly a negative one) going over and over in your mind, and the result will be different. A level of “obsessive” thinking occurs when you keep mulling over ideas. Ideas like how to have that difficult conversation with your wife/ husband/ partner/ child/ parent/ friend, how to improve productivity before the next board meeting, how somebody cheated you, or how to fire somebody in your team can build their own momentum. The thoughts are persistent. You think them in the shower, at work, while you are driving, or trying to go to sleep. It becomes exhausting. The more you hold these thoughts in your mind, the more tired you get.
MRT gives you the same relief from these pervasive thoughts, as did the act of resting your arm when it began to ache. MRT gives you the discipline to put your thoughts aside, down, or on hold. When your mind is rested, you will be better equipped to resolve the negative issues that need your attention. You will make decisions with a true understanding of the issues, not a false view gained when you are mentally exhausted and merely reacting to “noise” in an attempt to make an issue go away.
A mind that is strong enough to let go of thoughts is less likely to allow its owner to suffer from depression, anxiety, or other negative states.
