A Made Up Mind

Make up your mind you’re going to stay with the breath. And then watch it all the way in, all the way out—and then again, all the way in, all the way out. Try to stay right here. Once you’ve made up your mind, try to keep it made up. In other words, try to maintain that intention because it’s a good one. We have so many intentions coming through our mind in the course of the day. Some of them we say Yes to. Some of them we think about it and say No. You want to say Yes to the skillful intentions, and No to the ones that you know are unskillful.

That requires some strength, which is why we meditate, to get some strength for the mind. We strengthen it by coming back, coming back, coming back, staying right here as much as we can. This is why the mind is different from the body. With the body, you strengthen it by moving around. But the mind gets strengthened by staying still, because it requires good qualities of the mind—mindfulness, alertness, ardency—to be able to stay right here and be alert, to know what you’re doing. That way, the good qualities of the mind will grow.

We say that we “make up our minds.” The word “make up something” can also mean that you take something that’s not really there, and, in some ways, this applies here as well. Because the intention to stay here is something you can freely choose. If you don’t make it, it doesn’t happen. It’s not there. Once you make that intention, then you’ve brought it into being. When you realize you’ve brought something good into being, well keep it up.

Where does it come from? It comes from your mind. As the Buddha said, all the wealth in the world comes out of the mind. The wealth that’s really valuable comes from in the mind. It comes, basically, from your making it up. Where there’s no conviction, you can think about things until you develop conviction. Where there’s no virtue, you can think about things and develop virtue. In other words, you think about the value of these things, these good qualities of the mind, and then you can bring them into being and see that they really are worthwhile.

This kind of independent goodness is something you want to develop as much as you can. Because if you’re good to other people only when they’re good to you, that doesn’t improve anything in the world at all, and it means your own goodness is something you can’t rely on. You have to have an independent source inside.

That means you have to learn how to “make it up.” Make up your mind you’re going to stay here. Make up your mind you’re going to observe the precepts. Make up your mind you’re going to be generous. In that way, you create wealth from within. And the more you create, the higher the value. It’s not like the economy of the world where the more money you print, the less value the money has. Here, the more you create, the stronger it becomes and the more it has an influence on your life.

So this time of year, when we’re making resolutions, once you’ve made up your mind to do something good, try to keep it made up. Keep on making it up. Use your discernment to see when you’re flagging and what you can do to give yourself more energy. Be true to your original discernment, which is that you want long-term happiness. Be willing to give up anything that gets in the way. Then try to keep your mind calm in the midst of all this, the calm that comes from getting the mind to settle down where it can gain some strength inside.

It’s like running a marathon. You have to have a source of strength inside that you can continually rejuvenate, replenish, that keeps you going. And you’ve got that potential within. The Buddha is teaching us how to make the most of that potential, so make the most of his teachings. Make up your mind you’re going to do as much good as you can in this world. And then that goodness will come back and sustain you as well.