I am a big fan of Mr Paulo Coelho(writer of Alchemist). Few days back I finished his book, "The Valkyries". In this book he is talking about second mind, controlling your second mind calling your angels and weird things like that. I really liked the way he has presented the concept of second mind.
So what is the second mind?
Second mind is something that is always at work. Whether you want it not it keeps working.
For example when you are doing something and along with it you are listening to music. That music at times keeps going like a background sound in your mind even if you are not at all concentrating on it and it becomes irritating also at times when you want to get rid of it and you are not able to.
Also second mind is something that opposes you for whatever you do. For eg when you go for some party and after having your 3rd desert your actual mind starts telling you "enough now" but your second mind says " its okay dude I am sure you will exercise tomorrow morning." and then you go for the 4th one. Next morning when your alarm rings your 1st mind says "get up! you must exercise" and your 2nd mind says "ahhh not today. Its too late. I dont think you will be able to complete your exercise and you have to reach office early today."
We always have two sides when we are thinking something. 1st mind says "I want to be rich. I want to start my own business or Stock market is going up lets invest in the market." At the same time 2nd mind says what if it goes down what if I get addicted what if my idea fails and what if I go broke" and ultimately we end up dropping the idea. Second mind is the critic inside you who always tries to pull your leg.
Thus it is crucial to control our second mind. Paulo says "all of us create a kind of magic space around us. Usually its a circle wid radius 15 feet and we pay attention to what goes on within it doesn't matter whether its people tables telephone or windows. We try to control the situations that we ourselves create. In order to live in the present you have to control your second mind and look at the horizon."
Looking at the horizon is quite fun. I tried it while taking a walk. Its so true that we create a space around us and we choose to stay in our comfort zone. I don't know if it really helps to be in present moment but its good fun.I realized that there are very few occasions when we try to explore the horizon. We do it when we are out on a picnic while watching scenery and we enjoy that moment of exploring the horizon. I think what paulo wants to convey that if we widen vision of our eyes if we increase the diameter of the magic circle that we create around us; it will automatically broaden the vision of our mind.
In simple words think big. Don't hesitate while taking audacious decisions. All the best :)
