calming a busy mind

Muddy water is best cleared by leaving
it alone.

—Alan Watts

“Imagine a jar filled with water that has mud stuck to the bottom. On a typical day, our mind is the equivalent of this jar being gently shaken. This makes the water brown and no longer transparent. When we try to force our mind to be quiet, it’s as though we are violently shaking the jar, hoping this will make it clear again. The only thing we can do to settle the mud is put the jar down and leave it alone for a while. When we do this, the mud will eventually settle, making the water clear once again. It may take some time, but with a little patience our mind will settle if we can just leave it alone for a while.”

-“Your Life is Meditation” , Mark Van Buren