Optimal vs habitual

It is possible to get to a state of minimum or optimal energy usage of one's brain and mind for emotional activities.

Emotional activities create and sustain saṁskāras - emotional residues, or heaviness or grossness in our mind and consciousness.

They in turn make it difficult to act (think, speak, do) lightly and freely. In one way, it's like walking carrying two heavy suitcases. In another way, it's like walking along a path and constantly stepping off into a side track to investigate something related to that encountered on the path. Imagine doing this every few steps!

Primarily, physical or brain strain - excessive energy use, worry, etc. - comes from always, or even mostly, thinking, talking, and doing with others.

Especially comparing, analysing, judging - yourself with/against others, others with/against others.

Or relationships with others - making, breaking, changing, maintaining, quantifying, categorising, and so on.

Please note that others are necessary, and so are relationships with them.

I see all emotional activities as resulting from paying too much attention outward, and know from experience that that can be reduced using some simple techniques or tools.

There is, for example, an outward way and an inward way of dealing with others.

One simple technique from the set is to hand over all the things causing worry and strain to someone, or something, inside you, which can, wants to, and does, support you.

Then you simply sit back (mentally), relax, and enjoy your life like a child or a baby!

Remember, though, that a baby learns, continuously, effort-less-ly, naturally.

But reaching this stage takes time and some degree of commitment to this handover.

Total commitment is called blind faith. It develops from an initial trust, experimentation and observation, seeing first if life can work at all with that handover, and then, whether it continues to work. If it does, trust becomes belief. Then, even in crises, if the handover stays, naturally, belief can become faith.

This doesn't mean zero brain or mind use. Just effective use, as needed than as habituated.

One still learns from the inspiration and observation of how situations work out with the insider in charge.

Planning and whatever else I learned about intellectual work must still occur.

Like implementing a plan, monitoring its progress, post-mortem analysis, and so on.

This tool is a continuous process, though mentally its usage range (or natural sequence) is never, seldom, occasional, frequent, constant.

There will still be times when I yank back emotional "control" due to habit or lack of trust or desire for the rush of energy from anger or other negative emotions. Or any other reason.

This is normal, and expected, as one moves from never to constant.

I simply hand over agency inward again, once I get back to a stable mental state.

Techniques from the Heartfulness/Sahaj Marg system are cyclical, and interconnected.

Thus, daily meditation helps in going deeper or subtler, and so cleaning away deeper or subtler saṁskāras.

Daily cleaning helps in meditating daily better - faster, longer, subtler - by removing surface emotions and emotional thoughts. And, daily meditation brings up more and more things to the surface.

Daily prayer helps in connecting inward, turning from outward. To, or with, that which is already within myself.

Then, I can detach myself better from outward situations for better understanding. 

I can also meditate and clean wherever I am. And whenever I want or need to, as well.

Remembrance, the first technique, should arise naturally from the daily core practice elements.

Those three are critical.

Just do it - daily.

Then add AEIOU, etc. after each element.

And simply relax, just be.

Whatever thoughts and ideas you need will come up.

The Heartfulness techniques for practitioners are not new or original. They are based on the oral tradition of Raja Yoga, and even more ancient sources, possibly the Ṝg saṁhitā, and definitely the Upaniṣads as well as the Bhagavad Gīta.

But transmission by the Guide? The scalability and real support for millions? That is something else altogether! But it must be experienced, not just talked or thought about.