Thoughts create emotions and emotions create thoughts. One feeds off and contributes to the other. You are feeling down and emotionally drained. There is a dark cloud over you and the emotional charge has taken over. You feel like crying. The more you think, the greater the emotion. In turn, this feeds your thinking processes. You don’t like feeling this way and make an attempt to do something about it. You attempt to replace your negative thoughts with positive thoughts. This will not work.
You have too much of an emotional build up; therefore, no matter how hard you try to think positively, it will not happen and you will be even more unhappy. It wasn’t enough that you felt unhappy in the first place, you now feel unhappy because you are unhappy. If you are feeling down, don’t make an effort to think positively. Instead, wait for the emotional build-up to dissolve. Accept that, at this time, you are moody, feeling down, unhappy and emotional.
Feeling this way is okay. Everybody has a day or two when things are just not right. If you have being feeling down for years, then make a conscious intention to bring as much attention to your inner body as often as you can throughout the day. Go for a walk, feel your inner body and reduce your breathing. Do Many Small Breath Holds throughout the day when you are sitting. Take attention out of your mind and aim to increase your Control Pause over time. When you accept that this is how it is, pressure has lifted from you. Of course, it will take some time for the emotional charge to dissolve, but the more you stay in the now and follow your breath or feel your inner body, the quicker this will pass.
Happiness cannot be bought
Without a peaceful mind, your life is nothing. If it is agitated with thousands of thoughts and incessant worry, then it does not matter what cars, partner, money, house, job or title you have. You fear for your financial future. You worry about it. Will I get by? Will I survive? You decide to do something, so you spend thirty years of your life in stress to reach financial security. Finally, you have arrived. Yet, your mind continues. You continue to worry. You worry about your health. You worry about the neighbours and what they think. You worry about your children. You worry about the unknown.
You worry when you are unsecure. You worry when you are secure.
Security does not bring about a peaceful mind. Only a peaceful mind brings about a peaceful mind. Your mind is priority. Only with a peaceful and quiet mind will you enjoy life. If you work in a highly paid but stressful job, you might achieve certain material wealth, but is this at the expense of a quiet mind? You have achieved success but at what price?
Material wealth and titles are helpful, but all have limitations. Wealthy people are in and out of rehab, suffer from depression and fear of the future that at some point all of their achievements will disappear. An attractive person who depends on their looks will be some day unattractive. What happens to the wealthy person when the stock market crashes? Everything is subject to change. There is nothing that we can achieve in object form that will satisfy us permanently. I’m not saying that you should not attempt to improve your lot. I am saying that you should know thyself by observing what is taking place in your mind and how it affects both you and others around you. Find yourself. Material wealth is out of reach of most people living in the Eastern world. And yet, these people are lighter and happier that their Western counterparts. What is their secret?
The secret is the importance that the Eastern world places on the cultivation of a still mind. A quiet mind translates into lightness and happiness. A noisy mind translates into heaviness and unhappiness. Achieve the nice car and house. Work in a top job. Yes, these are nice and make our lifestyle a little easier. However, they are secondary. What is primary is the extent to which you live outside of thought. You are entirely responsible for this and have a great deal of control over it.
Your true self is the only aspect that is constant. It is does not change and remains the same regardless of what happens in the external environment. Tap into the real you by dropping the thought and living your life free from the filters of conditioning. Take off your sunglasses and see the light.
Feel the inner body. Reduce your breathing!
Are you generating peace or misery within yourself?
We need to have peace within ourselves before we can be at peace with others. How can you have peace with others when you are not at peace with yourself? Know thyself, not just at an intellectual level but at an experiential level. Observe yourself. Are you generating peace or misery within yourself? When you generate negativity in your mind, you are bound to suffer. When your mind is peaceful and pure, you enjoy the kingdom of heaven within yourself.
Recognise how your mind affects the body and how emotions of the body affect the mind. If you are angry with an enemy, you are the first victim. If you are jealous of someone else, you are the first victim. If you hate someone else, you are the first victim. If you seek revenge from someone else, you are the first victim. These are the fundamental laws of life. If your mind is still, pure and free from tension, anger, animosity and jealousy, then life rewards you.
A prisoner convicted for many years can spend a lot of time thinking about getting revenge on the police officer who arrested him, the witness who testified against him, the judge who convicted him. But during that time, he is making his life a misery. The more you think about revenge or hating your enemy, the more your body gets tense and the more your stomach gets tied in a knot. You cannot have negative thoughts about someone else without these same thoughts having a negative effect on yourself.
You will be very surprised to see how situations sort themselves out when you are present with time. You will know what to do and can act without looking through thought. Problems do not sort themselves out by constant thinking and struggling. I am not saying that you should do nothing and allow someone to walk all over you. If you need to challenge somebody, wait until the time is right. Don’t challenge them when you are full of anger, because whatever you say in anger you will regret afterwards. Challenge them if necessary when you are still and present.
When the time is right, meet with the other person. Drop all prior thoughts of them and speak the facts. Explain the situation. By dropping all thought, you will remain calm and still. This is very powerful. Finally, when you are present with time and connected with the greater intelligence of life, negative situations do not occur to the same extent. Life gets softer.
“I am the only person in the world I should like to know thoroughly.”
— Oscar Wilde