We get to a point in life where we decide that something has to give. We know deep down, that we need to concentrate on the things in life that are really important.
We come to the realisation, that the only really important thing we can do in our life is to help and serve others. We feel that this is our reason for being on this earth. We find it is difficult to put it into words, but somehow we feel a burning desire to try to make things better.
We also realise that our life is passing us by, and that we want to stop wasting the precious seconds that up until now, have come and gone unnoticed. We want to do something useful and we want our lives to count. We want to live every second, and be aware of every second.
The first step is to become aware of our cravings for meaningless distractions, and to make the decision that no longer will the cravings control us. We will no longer allow distractions and attachment to those distractions, to use up the precious seconds of our life.
We also decide that no longer will we waste our time hearing about how others wasted their time by reading newspapers, or watching the box, or playing with social media on the internet. We decide to use our time more wisely, to learn about where we have come from, who we are, where we are heading, and how to help others in our world, to make it a better place.
Sunday 30 June 2013
Friday 28 June 2013
7) The Daily Practice Of Happiness
Stopping the misinterpretation of our world involves practice. Being
genuinely, deeply at peace with yourself takes practice. Altering the
auto-pilot of the mind is extremely difficult. Much more difficult than
anything else we attempt in our time on this earth.
We have already spoken of the mental, and therefore often physical, pain which misinterpretation of our world produces. The way we interpret the messages which our senses send to our brain causes us no end of problems.
There is no easy way to break the habit. All habits are difficult to change, but misinterpretation is probably the most difficult to break.
Our practice needs to be daily, every day, if we are to succeed. As a toddler, it took constant, daily practice learning to talk until talking became second nature. The same applies to conquering the habit of misinterpretation.
Learning how to alter our auto-pilot involves determination. We also need instruction from those more experienced. In the same way as you would only go to a trained mechanic for advice if there was something wrong with your car, we enlist the help of experienced teachers. We need easy-to-understand, clear instructions to follow.
So... we understand the nature of the problem, and we understand the solution. Now we need to bring the remedy into our lives. Practice, practice, practice ....
We have already spoken of the mental, and therefore often physical, pain which misinterpretation of our world produces. The way we interpret the messages which our senses send to our brain causes us no end of problems.
There is no easy way to break the habit. All habits are difficult to change, but misinterpretation is probably the most difficult to break.
Our practice needs to be daily, every day, if we are to succeed. As a toddler, it took constant, daily practice learning to talk until talking became second nature. The same applies to conquering the habit of misinterpretation.
Learning how to alter our auto-pilot involves determination. We also need instruction from those more experienced. In the same way as you would only go to a trained mechanic for advice if there was something wrong with your car, we enlist the help of experienced teachers. We need easy-to-understand, clear instructions to follow.
So... we understand the nature of the problem, and we understand the solution. Now we need to bring the remedy into our lives. Practice, practice, practice ....
Sunday 23 June 2013
6) The First Steps Towards Happiness
Usually, we only decide that we need to make changes in our life when we have come to some kind of rock bottom. This could be discovering that we are terminally ill, or someone close to us is diagnosed with illness, or we lose someone very dear.
Something that rocks our world in this way, makes us sit up and notice that our life is passing us by, but that we are not really doing anything with it to help other people. We feel in our very core that this is not right. We feel we should do something to help. We feel it is our place to help. That helping is our destiny, that it is the only way to achieve fulfillment. Doing something that will somehow help others will also help us happy and make us fulfilled. We feel this deeply for the first time. And it hits us hard.
We start on the path by deciding that from now on, we will do these three things daily, every day, constantly:
We stop hurting ourselves and others, firstly, by stopping automatically reacting to things and people. The auto-reactions are so much a part of our lives, but when we stop, we also stop misinterpreting the messages our senses send us. We become happier, and we find internal peace, and therefore so do those around us.
As within, so without. As we sow, so shall we reap.
But we have to make a big effort.
We have spent our lives to date, repeating the mistake, of re-acting rather than responding to people and situations. We have extremely hard set habits. It takes a huge amount of determination to change habits.
We need enough determination to bring success. Without a strong resolve, we will give up, because changing habits is difficult.
We will find the strong resolve, if we have total conviction that stopping the auto-pilot is the only way to bring lasting, true peace and happiness into our lives.
To develop the conviction, we need to research it a little. Understand exactly what we need to do and why we need to do it.
We can be under no illusion that to achieve the peace and happiness which is available to everyone, will take constant practice and hard work.
Something that rocks our world in this way, makes us sit up and notice that our life is passing us by, but that we are not really doing anything with it to help other people. We feel in our very core that this is not right. We feel we should do something to help. We feel it is our place to help. That helping is our destiny, that it is the only way to achieve fulfillment. Doing something that will somehow help others will also help us happy and make us fulfilled. We feel this deeply for the first time. And it hits us hard.
We start on the path by deciding that from now on, we will do these three things daily, every day, constantly:
- From now on, we will actually go out of our way to avoid hurting ourselves or others.
- From now on we will meditate daily, to keep our minds balanced and at peace.
- From now on we will actively learn about our world, where we come from, where are we going, where we fit in.
We stop hurting ourselves and others, firstly, by stopping automatically reacting to things and people. The auto-reactions are so much a part of our lives, but when we stop, we also stop misinterpreting the messages our senses send us. We become happier, and we find internal peace, and therefore so do those around us.
As within, so without. As we sow, so shall we reap.
But we have to make a big effort.
We have spent our lives to date, repeating the mistake, of re-acting rather than responding to people and situations. We have extremely hard set habits. It takes a huge amount of determination to change habits.
We need enough determination to bring success. Without a strong resolve, we will give up, because changing habits is difficult.
We will find the strong resolve, if we have total conviction that stopping the auto-pilot is the only way to bring lasting, true peace and happiness into our lives.
To develop the conviction, we need to research it a little. Understand exactly what we need to do and why we need to do it.
We can be under no illusion that to achieve the peace and happiness which is available to everyone, will take constant practice and hard work.
Wednesday 19 June 2013
5) The Life, The Mind, Our Confusion & Our Pain
The main problem most of us have, is an overactive imagination, which is very clever at deceiving us.
If we see that our shoes are muddy, then that is a correct interpretation of the message our eyes send to our brain. We know our shoes are muddy because we can see the shoes and the mud.
However, if our mind then starts to think about the reaction of our boss when we arrive at work with muddy shoes, we are entering into the world of fiction.
Our mind will churn and can convince us that our boss will be livid when he sees the mud. "He's going to make a loud comment which the entire office will hear, which will be so embarrassing. It may affect my chances of a pay rise. I must go home and change my shoes, but if I do that I'll be really late for work, which will look bad, and my boss will be even more cross. I'd better not go in today. Best if I just go back home and ring in sick."
Can you see how the mind weaves complicated fictional stories which make us worried, anxious, fearful, upset? We daily base small and big decisions on the fiction our minds create, which can produce turmoil in our minds and in our life. We can make things so much more difficult for ourselves by believing the fiction provided by our minds.
The fictional storyline runs in the background of our lives every day, constantly.
"I hope Freds exam went well today. What will we do if he doesn't pass? I'll have to help support him ....."
"What shall I cook for dinner tonight? If I cook chicken again the kids will revolt. But there is nothing else in the house. I guess I could stop of at the shop on the way home. But I'm so tired. I just want to rest. Those kids are too demanding ..."
The imagination lacks any concrete basis. A memory may be the base of the imagined scenario, however even the memory is a subjective interpretation of something experienced.
So our minds constantly churn, and we are constantly affected by the churning. Our emotions are like puppets, constantly having their strings pulled by the mind... and we become upset.
Calming the mind stops the churning.
If we see that our shoes are muddy, then that is a correct interpretation of the message our eyes send to our brain. We know our shoes are muddy because we can see the shoes and the mud.
However, if our mind then starts to think about the reaction of our boss when we arrive at work with muddy shoes, we are entering into the world of fiction.
Our mind will churn and can convince us that our boss will be livid when he sees the mud. "He's going to make a loud comment which the entire office will hear, which will be so embarrassing. It may affect my chances of a pay rise. I must go home and change my shoes, but if I do that I'll be really late for work, which will look bad, and my boss will be even more cross. I'd better not go in today. Best if I just go back home and ring in sick."
Can you see how the mind weaves complicated fictional stories which make us worried, anxious, fearful, upset? We daily base small and big decisions on the fiction our minds create, which can produce turmoil in our minds and in our life. We can make things so much more difficult for ourselves by believing the fiction provided by our minds.
The fictional storyline runs in the background of our lives every day, constantly.
"I hope Freds exam went well today. What will we do if he doesn't pass? I'll have to help support him ....."
"What shall I cook for dinner tonight? If I cook chicken again the kids will revolt. But there is nothing else in the house. I guess I could stop of at the shop on the way home. But I'm so tired. I just want to rest. Those kids are too demanding ..."
The imagination lacks any concrete basis. A memory may be the base of the imagined scenario, however even the memory is a subjective interpretation of something experienced.
So our minds constantly churn, and we are constantly affected by the churning. Our emotions are like puppets, constantly having their strings pulled by the mind... and we become upset.
Calming the mind stops the churning.
Sunday 16 June 2013
4) The Truth And Happiness
There are two types of misconception.
The first and most obvious, is where we mistake one thing for something else. For example, we mistake the coiled rope in the corner of the garden shed for a snake, and we run out of the shed in a panic, fearing for our life. When we return and see that the "snake" is in fact a rope, we realise our mistake.
The second misconception, is where we mistakenly believe that we own things. This is more tricky to see, because we are brought up in society where everyone is using to money to buy "stuff", which we then think belongs to us.
The truth is that we own nothing.
We came into the world with nothing, and we leave the world with nothing. No matter how much money we have, and how much "stuff" we buy, nothing at all belongs to us. Even our body is on loan. We cannot take it with us when we die. The misconception that we can "own" things, causes humanity huge pain every day.
Imagine how liberating it would be to not feel the burden of "ownership". To not feel resentment if someone takes something of yours, to give freely, to feel no jealousy for someones else's success.
It is our duty to the world, to humanity, to our loved ones and to ourselves, to work hard, earn money to live, but to not be attached to the money, or the stuff we buy with the money. It is the attachment to it all that causes us problems.
Earn with a hundred hands, and give with a thousand. Take a little, give more. This is an essential part of being happy because without helping others, we feel empty and unfulfilled.
The first and most obvious, is where we mistake one thing for something else. For example, we mistake the coiled rope in the corner of the garden shed for a snake, and we run out of the shed in a panic, fearing for our life. When we return and see that the "snake" is in fact a rope, we realise our mistake.
The second misconception, is where we mistakenly believe that we own things. This is more tricky to see, because we are brought up in society where everyone is using to money to buy "stuff", which we then think belongs to us.
The truth is that we own nothing.
We came into the world with nothing, and we leave the world with nothing. No matter how much money we have, and how much "stuff" we buy, nothing at all belongs to us. Even our body is on loan. We cannot take it with us when we die. The misconception that we can "own" things, causes humanity huge pain every day.
Imagine how liberating it would be to not feel the burden of "ownership". To not feel resentment if someone takes something of yours, to give freely, to feel no jealousy for someones else's success.
It is our duty to the world, to humanity, to our loved ones and to ourselves, to work hard, earn money to live, but to not be attached to the money, or the stuff we buy with the money. It is the attachment to it all that causes us problems.
Earn with a hundred hands, and give with a thousand. Take a little, give more. This is an essential part of being happy because without helping others, we feel empty and unfulfilled.
Tuesday 11 June 2013
3) Daily Misinterpretations
Every day our minds churn and work constantly, processing information.
We would not want to stop this. But what we do want to stop is the habit of misinterpreting our world. This habit is very common, and one that most of us have. And it is a habit that makes us miserable.
Every day our mind is doing one of the following:
When our mind dwells on negative thoughts and thought patterns, which may have been created by mistaken perception (misinterpretation), imagination or memories, we do not see through clear glass, but through dirty, marked glass that distorts our vision of the real world around us.
These thoughts then make us unhappy.
We do not want to stop all thoughts, just the misinterpretations that frequently make us unhappy. We want to have clear minds. If we can notice the marks on the glass which distort our view, we can then clean it, remove the distortions, so that we have clear, true vision of our world and everything in it. This will then make us happy.
Meditation and the peace we find there is the key.
We would not want to stop this. But what we do want to stop is the habit of misinterpreting our world. This habit is very common, and one that most of us have. And it is a habit that makes us miserable.
Every day our mind is doing one of the following:
- correct perception
- mistaken perception
- sleep
- imagination
- memories
When our mind dwells on negative thoughts and thought patterns, which may have been created by mistaken perception (misinterpretation), imagination or memories, we do not see through clear glass, but through dirty, marked glass that distorts our vision of the real world around us.
These thoughts then make us unhappy.
We do not want to stop all thoughts, just the misinterpretations that frequently make us unhappy. We want to have clear minds. If we can notice the marks on the glass which distort our view, we can then clean it, remove the distortions, so that we have clear, true vision of our world and everything in it. This will then make us happy.
Meditation and the peace we find there is the key.
Wednesday 5 June 2013
2) Right Interpretation ... Live Life In Happiness
When we actually stop misinterpreting what our senses tell us, the
messages we THINK they are giving us, and see behind the churning of our minds,
then we stop being caught up in the turmoil of turbulent unsettling thoughts.
We see the truth of this, and recognise
how we are being deceived by our minds, but the clarity of understanding
initially lasts for only a short while. The habit of misinterpreting our
environment is so deep set, it takes a significant effort of will to be able to
stop the habit.
So, for example, when your friend Fred
ignores you completely when he walks right past you on the street, how would
you react? Do you feel hurt and upset? Or are you genuinely concerned for Fred,
because he obviously has something on his mind that is really worrying him?
If our mind goes down the first route, we could make all sorts
of accusations about Fred, to his face or behind his back, causing numerous
negative ramifications, hurting Fred, yourself and others.
If our mind goes down the second route, we call Fred to make sure
he’s ok. Fred feels loved, cared for, supported, and you feel happy knowing you’re
a good friend.
Can you see what a massive impact our interpretation has on our
world and our life?
The creation of positive or negative energy in our life is completely
dependent on the interpretation of the messages our mind receives when Fred
ignores us on the street.
Seeing the truth of this reality behind the turbulence of our mind
is the key to happiness. With awareness and understanding, we can stop this mistake
from happening. The only way to stop it, is to keep returning to Point Zero.
Point Zero is a clear mind free from turbulence, a place we find in meditation.
Practicing meditation regularly, the clarity experienced
eventually seeps into everyday life, bringing an end to misinterpretation and
an end to mental suffering.
Tuesday 4 June 2013
1) Stop The Mind Churning!
Maybe the greatest and most important part of the Yoga Sutras is the statement that in order to feel whole and happy, we must stop our mind from churning. We need to differentiate between that which is real, and that which is not real.
We are constantly interpreting messages picked up via our senses, and then our mind churns and churns on these interpretations.
In fact, the interpretation is just that, an interpretation, an opinion, how our mind has chosen to interprete and then react to the messages it receives from our senses.
The reality is sometimes, often in fact, very different from our interpretation. We need to stop misinterpreting to feel whole. As long as our mind churns with no control, we are caught up in misery, because what we think we see is not what we get, it is not the real situation but a misinterpretation.
The best way to stop the mind from churning is to meditate. If you have never meditated before, then now is a great time to learn. If you already know how to meditate but don't sit regularly, decide that from today you will meditate every day. It may only be for a few minutes, which is better than not at all.
We are constantly interpreting messages picked up via our senses, and then our mind churns and churns on these interpretations.
In fact, the interpretation is just that, an interpretation, an opinion, how our mind has chosen to interprete and then react to the messages it receives from our senses.
The reality is sometimes, often in fact, very different from our interpretation. We need to stop misinterpreting to feel whole. As long as our mind churns with no control, we are caught up in misery, because what we think we see is not what we get, it is not the real situation but a misinterpretation.
The best way to stop the mind from churning is to meditate. If you have never meditated before, then now is a great time to learn. If you already know how to meditate but don't sit regularly, decide that from today you will meditate every day. It may only be for a few minutes, which is better than not at all.
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