mind spiraling

Today, a friend left a message for me on my cell phone and she mentioned something I had said once about feeling like the gap between "having it together" and being "fully off my rocker" emotionally/psychologically was miniscule, and in fact, I could access that insane place while feeling fully centered and at peace-as though it was a switch and i could flip the switch back and forth between 'insane' and 'sane' at will.

I must've said this as part of a larger conversation four or five months ago.

The thing I recognize now that I didn't have awareness of then is that that place where I felt insane was me getting lost in the endless looping of my mind/thought patterns and allowing that to run me, literally; basing my actions largely on what I thought, giving ultimate power to my mind (distinct from my intelligence).

I am in no way BEYOND living free from the wrenching of my mind, but I now realize that I am not my thoughts and they are not the ultimate reality - for me the "ultimate reality" or truth is what I refer to as GOD. By being present and having a mantra that I repeat in the moments where I am not focusing on something, I am able to free myself from what I describe as the negative spiraling of my mind.