You remember what it felt like playing games on your Atari, Nintendo, PS3, or the Wii when you are holding onto a joystick literally a stick of joy, and holding onto it tightly while fully engaged in your interaction with fictional characters playing out roles of fantasy. The excitement, the intense power of focus, the fleeting emotions of daring, and sometimes the crossing the fine line of loss and a win, all streamlined through a little stick or console with buttons and your hands linking your humanity and your wild mind to a piece of technology.

The wild mind is so erratic, so “uncontrollable”, so shapeless leading to flighty thoughts and then aimless wills. The wild mind is like a wild animal such as a bull or a horse, but amazingly once tamed, once controlled, the animal performs such significant feats that are of service to the community. Now expand this idea to our wild minds. Tamed, controlled, focussed and calmed by OURSELVES, not by others, you can see what great accomplishments we perform. From art, medicine, agriculture, technology, transportation, exploration and imagination, we can provide such great service to humanity as a whole.

Why do we get agitated when others do not do the tasks that we wish for them to do? My answer is a different question. Why do you think you can control others to do anything? Why  can I not change the outcome of my future? My answer is a different question. Why do you think that you cannot control and change the outcome of your future?

It is very interesting that we think we can control so many things in our lives, but in fact most of these things we can absolutely not control, yet what we believe inherently we have no control over, are the only things that we can really control. We are so ingrained that things such as fate, destiny are not in  our control, but in fact we make our own fate and destiny. We have absolute control, through free will and choice. We can stop unhealthy habits, we can change the way we think, speak and do. We can choose to help a needy hungry person, we can choose to provide medical service to the sick, we can choose to speak kindly to others, and in doing so control our thoughts, words and actions and therefore our destiny towards our fellow man. You can choose to lose weight, stop smoking, get an education, begin meditating, and in doing so control your personal interaction with yourself.

 Yet what we cannot really do is force anyone to bend to our will. Those that do, chose to see your point of view ( an art well known to politicians !) by making it appear that their view point is in your best interests and is in fact yours ( rarely so !) when in fact it is in their own self serving interest. Try telling a child to do anything without a threat, and have it done, impossible unless you let them come to terms with their own reality of choice.  Ideas, ideals, beliefs, philosophies can all be shared but controlling others is a different matter all together. On the other hand it is the perception of control that we entertain as we continue to DO things, such as household or office chores in an effort to maintain a control level of our lives. A foolish endeavor.

But is it so important to have this control? Why not let everything be as it is and do what needs to be done without exerting this unnecessary force. This control sense comes from the “I”, the “Me” the “Ego” with its survival instinct, but if a focussed letting go occurs, a serenity of peace overtakes us, letting you and the universe to link up and you can then control that what you can effect, namely your reality.

It is time for you to let go of the joystick of control, and let your mind open to the freedom of no  control. How tightly are you holding on?