Do you ever feel like your mind is one big speaker, producing sounds, songs, thoughts, and conversations involving you or not - nonstop?
Well, I certainly do.
However, when I was younger, I tried to restrain myself from listening to the nonstop rumbling, grumbling, mumbling, and sometimes sweet melodies emerging from inside my mind. At that time, I had no knowledge or explanation about what was happening, so I attempted to block the speaker with my hands. But as you may imagine, that didn't solve the issue. Even if it reduced the sound, it definitely didn't stop them. In fact, it only drained me of energy - both physically and mentally.
After some time, I came to realize that restraining myself wasn't the solution. Instead, I found a way to make sure I didn't drain myself mentally by blocking the speaker (mind), which is both mentally and physically exhausting. It's more like how drug users use drugs to reduce (or relieve) themselves of their pain without being able to address why they feel pain in the first place but instead do all they can to suppress it.
To surpress or to address
You choose
But just like how drugs won't address the root cause of the pain, blocking the mind won't make the thoughts disappear. It always lingers in our mind and keeps growing stronger. For instance, when you try to block water from flowing, it builds more pressure that will eventually sweep everything in its path away.
Another prime example is how a country would be going through a financial crisis or recession, and the government would want to stop this from happening by pumping or printing more money to its citizens. However, by doing so, they may be ignoring the fact that this gives even more power to the citizens to fuel their previous act of consumerism that led to a recession in the first place. This makes it twice as strong as before, but without any change in the mentality around how to make good use of the money to impact the economy positively.
Some people get scared to the bone when they hear their mind mumble, thinking "I'm a father or a priest, why do I keep having sexual thoughts?" or "I'm a good person, why do I keep thinking bad thoughts?" And this way, they fight to restrain and try to block out the sounds, which eventually take over them after a while, and they become those thoughts. They then blame it on external factors, saying that "the devil made me do it" or "my mind just can't get over that cake and burritos." Trust me; it can happen to anyone, whether you are a priest, a fitness coach or a good person.
Are you a priest, a coach, a good person or a human being?
The first and only battle is the one we fight, or think we have to fight, from within. We created the arena and made the mind an enemy, which may or may not conform to our conceptual reality of ourselves. These days, most people are unlikely to be silent enough to listen to anything, and I feel for myself for not being attentive enough in the past to be able to see all the patterns, small and bigger pictures, or listen to the sweet singles and audible albums played and shown by my mind.
However, in reality, your music and mumble, either good or gray, are your own production. From every beat to hooks to words to word plays and then to the message and overall impact on the world, they are totally your responsibility, whether you listen or not.