You dont have to gain complete control of your mind, you already have it.

Lets say your driving round a race track,now only you are in the car,your hands on the wheel,your feet on the pedals.

Now you might drive round faultlessly and break the track record. Or you may crash the car into the first corner.

But your in total control either way. If you think negative thoughts,or perhaps put another way thoughts that dont" serve you" well (Stingrays phrase i think ) your still in complete control. Its not something you gain,its something you were born with.

I think the whole mastery of mind thing has been a little mistaught,or maybe misunderstood or misapplied.

I like Esthers teaching because it concentrates on moving or steering the mind towards something that can give you relief.Also you can measure this relief by how you feel.

Your the captain of your ship Tanya,there isnt anyone else inside your mind or head,you and God are on your own in there. It may be just a little turn of the wheel is all thats needed.Not a fight to gain the wheel,its yours already.

Monty

When your inner and outer mind become one, you will not be challenged in this world anymore. You will have a direct connection with your Will. All questions will stop, for you will just know.

I do agree with Monty...you already have control of your mind. But...perhaps you are referring more specifically to thought control. Being able to quiet and still the thoughts..i.e. effortless focus.

Most adepts and teachers tell us that in order to have full control of our environment without, we have to have full control of the environment within (our thoughts). Franz Bardon suggests that the individual should be able hold a single thought still effortlessly for at least 5 minutes without interruption from another thought. This is primarily achieved by meditation and trance practice. Some people are satisfied by being able to just maintain a single thought flow...for 5 minutes (one thought topic...but comprised of many similar thoughts)...but this is not quite the same !

So, Tanya, to answer your question, I would say that if you can set a timer for 7-9 minutes....and hold a single thought until the timer goes off....then you are good to go. This assumes that you would need 2-4 minutes to go into the light trace state that is necessary for this kind of thought control. You can easily build up to this by setting aside 10-15mins a day to practice. Pick a thought that you like and makes you smile when you think about it (it feels good). Don't push yourself to hard...just be consistent. We do it all the time when we are daydreaming...but when it's time to do it on purpose, it seems to always take a bit more effort ! lol ~ss

Leson 1 asks that you gain control of your body and that means that you should practise till you feel comfortable sitting still for 15 to 30 minutes. The more you do this the easier it becomes as practise makes perfect and perfection takes some practise so dont give up but persevere and you will be victorious.