Currently I'm reading the book Inner Engineering written by Sadhguru and would like to share one wonderful short story mentioned in the book . 

There was a young man living on the banks of river Ganges. He was obsessed with becoming the most powerful man on Earth and garnering all the superpowers . 

Inorder to achieve his goal he visited a number of Gurus but to no avail . Finally he approached an ashram in the Himalayas . The Guru there divined the purpose of the young man's  visit and said to him -

" Why do you want these super natural powers ? 

There is no point in going after them , you go away . " 

But the young man won't leave until he got the answer.  

Eventually the Guru said - " Tomorrow morning at 4'oclock take a bath in the nearby river and come to me . 

I will give you the mantra . " 

The next morning the young man took bath in the very cold water . He was almost blue but somehow managed to reach the ashram . The Guru was waiting for him . 

The Guru said " I have a very sacred mantra for you . You need to recite it three times a day for next 40 days . The mantra is - 

"Asatoma Sadgamaya "

"From ignorance, lead me to truth "

Just remember whenever you recite this mantra don't think of monkeys" . 

The young man was so happy . He asked the Guru " Is that it? Why will I think of monkeys.  I will do as you say and return in 40 days ." 

He rushed down the hill thinking to himself how easily the Guru gave up his mantra without even demanding a fee.  Excited , he reached the banks of Ganges ,took a dip in the river and sat on the bank ready to recite the mantra . Just as he uttered " Asatoma " he thought of monkeys . 

Again he took a dip in the river and tried to recite the mantra in different yogic postures but whenever he recited the mantra ,  he thought of monkeys . His mind was fully occupied by monkeys . He just could not recite without thinking of monkeys . It was as if his whole universe was filled with monkeys . Fed up after a week he approached the Guru and pleaded -  

" I don't want any super powers but please please just rid me of these monkeys in my head". 

Moral of the story -  If you tell yourself not to think of a certain thought , that is the first thing our mind thinks . Doesn't it ? This is the Nature of our Mind . 

How many of us have gone through similar experiences when we don't want to think about something and it still pops up . Does anyone know the reason why this happens ? 

Another interesting fact is "If anyone asks you , whether you control your mind ? " Almost all of us will reply 'Yes'

But then why can't we think of pleasant things all the time . Why do we have negative thoughts ? If I control my mind and I don't want any negative thoughts Why do I still have them ? 

The only answer which comes to mind is we don't have control on our minds . And the first step to solution is to acknowledge that my mind and my body are not ME