You must train your mind like a muscle. If you want to train your body, you must practice exercise regularly. Likewise, if you want to train your mind, you must practice meditation on a day to day basis. You will not be able to carry a heavy load with weak muscles. Training is a gradual process. You must persistently and constantly train your mind on a day to day basis if you wish to overcome difficulties and become stronger. Every time you recognize a thought, your mindfulness has become that much stronger. Slowly you will gain in inner strength. In the beginning, it is not easy to overcome very powerful emotions. If the emotions are too overwhelming and you are unable to overcome them with mindfulness, you must apply a different method. You should then think of a deity, like Tara, immediately without allowing yourself to indulge in the bad feeling. In the beginning, you do recognize the emotions but they still won’t go away. That is because your mindfulness is not strong enough. Therefore, you must train the mind in all circumstances, not only when you encounter problems. You should train the mind first by recognizing the less intense thoughts. And if you train consistently with diligence, then eventually you will be able to overcome even more powerful thoughts. And later, no thought or emotion can trouble you anymore. Everything becomes the same. Then even though the body is in samsara, the mind is liberated . You have to make an effort to liberate your mind rather than your body.
H.E Garchen Rinpoche
尊贵的噶千仁波切
(Part of Gar Quote 55. Picture from Garchen Institute)