Are You Poisoning Your Mind?
Feb 26th, 2009 by padma
Image by slack12
How many of you find yourself worrying about things that are beyond your control? I know I am guilty of this all the time, even though I realize the futility of the effort.
What about feelings like jealousy, angst, or even malice? Have you ever found yourself caught up in a torrent of emotion that seems to take control of your mind without you even realizing it?
I only say this because I experience it too, and what I’ve come to realize during my meditation is that for some reason, people love to give themselves up to their emotions. Now, this works with both positive and negative emotions, but what I want to talk about here are the negative ones.
It happens so quickly and before we know it we are overcome with a poisonous mindset. It almost seems as if we are addicted to emotion…almost as if we thrive on it. As we feed our minds with these poisonous thoughts, we start to crave them more and more. We start to create an appetite that is insatiable and cannot be conquered. Over time, our lives become a permanent state of jealousy, angst, hate, rage, depression, or bigotry. We start to isolate ourselves from others, and as we do this we feel more and more disconnected from the world. Yet, we don’t experience it in this context…we think the world is disconnecting from us.
We create enemies out of friends and fighters out of lovers. We start to withdraw further into our mental delusions and eventually we forget where we are or who we are.
These poisons that we fill our mind with are one of the quickest ways to cutting ourselves off from our spirit. If you find yourself experiencing these feelings, try to remember to sit back and observe as your mind sparks with senseless fury. It will conjure these feelings from thin air, yet expect you to believe they are real. These emotions are nothing more than a thought process that we invest in. If you stop investing in the thought process, you stop feeding the beast that keeps you from your path.
The true path of the Dharma is one of peace and compassion, not of jealousy and rage. Your ego is a wonderful trickster and is always finding new ways to lure you off of your path. Stay focused on living your dharma and do not be distracted by useless emotional patterns. Let go of your hate, your rage, and your jealousy. Realize that these negative emotions will only lead you onto a path of despair – a state of hell.
Accept things that you cannot change and work to improve those that you can. Remember, we are all dying and regardless of how you try to cover it up, one day you too will fade away. Use this time to hone your meditation and your contemplative spirit. Withdraw from the world of Samsara and retreat into your inner being. Only there will you find your true self.
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