Do you have a barking dog mind that wont shut up? Are you trying to distract it with treats, and other bribes? Do you ignore is barks and try to drown them out with other sounds? Do you numb out with television, alcohol, food, games, internets or other drugs? Are you tired of the non stop yapping? Are you ready to learn how to quiet your inner barking dog? Then read on. At present we can observe that we have a very noisy mind, it barks day and night, even in our sleep. We’ve tried a million things to quiet it and it never stops and in most cases it gets even louder. If we can be honest with ourselves and see that the present methods of taming the inner canine have failed then we have reached the first step accepting what is so. Up to this point your methods have failed, or they are temporary and fleeting at best. Can you drop your old ways and open to something new? That is the second step. The third step is to introduce new ways of thinking about your mind barking. So we have these steps to take. Accepting old methods are not working. Make room for some new ideas Introduce a new way to look at your present state of being. When we accept things and stop fighting our own minds the brain has a chance to rest and settle. When it settles we can reach a point of clarity and stillness that allows for a certain freshness, a hollowed ground so to speak, a place to plant new seeds? When we let go of ideas and preferences we can make room for newness to enter into our experience. When our minds are full there is simply no room for new ideas. Can you suspend your beliefs and have an open mind? If so continue on. Congratulations you have moved on and you are ready to test out some new ideas and concepts. That’s right we are going to test things out for ourselves. A wise teacher once said, “You don’t have to take my word for it. Simply try it for yourself.” And this is very true, we should always try a teaching for ourselves and see if it fits. New ideas. You are not your thoughts. You are not who you think you are. You can be free from you barking dog mind. Know that most of what we see and experience in others is also barking dog mind. Presently we think that we are the thoughts that stream through our minds. They come and go and sometimes never leave us alone. These thoughts are just like radio signals, we can choose to tune in, or tune out, or tune off. Can you try out this new way of thinking? The new way to think is, “I’m not my thoughts, or the voices arising from this mind and I can let them pass” Try this out for a week and report back to share your insights.