18) The Pain Caused By Unhappy Thoughts

Unhappy thoughts produce pain.

We are like onions … lots of layers.

Each layer likes/wants to be happy.

When one layer is disturbed, it effects the other layers, either directly or indirectly.

For example, we worry about something. Which produces a headache.

The headache makes us feel miserable, and more worried. 

Which makes the headache worse, which raises our blood pressure.

Which makes the headache worse. And eczema develops. And so it goes on.

A seed of a worrying thought can germinate, grow and flourish so that it destabilises the entire body.

Not only can a seed of a thought produce visible health problems, but also rapid, shallow breath and tremors.

Lots of pain and unhappiness can be caused by one unhappy little thought.

Our whole body can very easily be disturbed and negatively affected. 

So how do we stop?

17) Obstacles To Happiness

The ultimate obstacle on the path is how we view the world. As always, this is a choice. 

Do we suffer, or do we enjoy?

True yoga works to bring everyone, all over the world, happiness.

If our view causes us pain, or other people pain, we need to work to change our view.

For example, do we judge others, and think they are not capable of making their own decisions? Do we force our opinions onto them? Doing this causes pain to others, and ultimately to ourselves too.

Or do we allow everyone to express themselves freely, without judging, without expectation?

If we cause suffering to others, karma dictates we will also suffer.

If we help people to lead fulfilled, rewarding, happy lives, we too will benefit in the same way.

As we sow, so shall we reap.

16) The Obstacles On The Path

Obstacles to our spiritual development and are also obstacles to progress on the path to true happiness. The mind can become distracted due to illness, fogginess, carelessness, laziness and doubt. All of these are obstacles on our path which we need to firstly be aware of, and then overcome, if we are to develop.

Illness can actually be beneficial to our spiritual development, because we become more aware of the suffering of others. Illness makes us humble and more sympathetic. It also makes us focus on the important things in life, rather than dwelling on the small things that really don’t matter.

Mental fogginess and sluggishness can be caused by too much sleep, not enough sleep, and too much food. Meditation done incorrectly can have the same effect.

Meditation done properly however, gives us a bright, clear head that enables us to fulfil our potential. We can do everything to the best of our ability when we practice regular quality meditation.

Careless use of alcohol and drugs will affect us negatively as they distract us outwards, away from the peace within. We need to stay aware of our actions, and how they affect ourselves and others.

When we just can’t be bothered to do those things we know are good for ourselves and others, this is simply laziness.

It is good to critically examine spiritual questions and theories. But when doubt creeps in, this can be another big obstacle.

Worse is to ignore the bigger questions of life completely, just because they are tricky and challenging.

There are many obstacles on out path … we need to keep aware! 

15) The Wonder Of The Mantra

The Mantra is the focal point for meditation.

In yoga it is a word,or group of words, that are given from a holy person to one who is kind. Kindness to oneself and others is crucial in yoga.

Many who practice yoga but who do not have a personal Mantra use the word Soham ... repeat "Soooooooo" on the outbreath and "haaammmmmmmmm" on the inbreath, silently.

The Mantra, or the equivalent, is a very important part of many faiths, and is also used as a tool to still the mind by those of no faith at all. Its use is widespread the world over, by many different cultures.

The Mantra is repeated silently to help focus the mind and stop the usual turbulent thoughts that constantly come and go.

The Mantra is associated with ancient positive, powerful vibrational energy. Repeating it silently throughout the day helps you feel calmer, happier, more content because you are focused more on the peace you feel inside, rather than the turbulence of external things.

You may even find that obstacles in your life just fade away. The power of the Mantra is strong. It helps you flow with the positive energy of the universe ... it is reviving, uplifting, cleansing, calming, grounding. If you use it regularly it will become your best friend.

14) Stay Close To Your Teacher

Our world around us, the people around us, the way everything and everyone interacts with us … it is all the product of the seeds in our own minds. 

When we do find our teacher, we do not have blind faith. We know that there is no one on the planet who is perfect. Everyone is human and therefore even a perfect teacher will have his/her weaknesses. We commit to following a teacher with our eyes wide open.

When we find our teacher, we feel honoured to serve her, and we commit to joining her, working with her on our spiritual journey. This is the perfect way to plant wonderful seeds in our own minds. 

We are on the path towards really helping other people.

The bond we share with our teacher, our relationship with her, will be deeply trusting, meaningful and of the sweetest kind.

With every strong, positive relationship like this, an equal amount of negative energy will also be attracted to it. So we keep aware, we watch, absorb and learn. 

We will need to keep as close as we can to our teacher, and to the people in our lives who are good people, on a similar path to ourselves. 

Positive energy and goodness is infectious …. It rubs off on us.

13) Patience

We need patience when we are on this path.

It can take a long time until we are at the point where we can see the glass of water as simply a transparent circle.

Learning about this from a computer, or a book is no substitute for learning from an experienced teacher who has learnt all this for him or herself.

It may also take a long time to find a good teacher. It is worth taking considerable care over this. He or she will be very gentle, calm, happy and noble.

Your teacher will show you how misinterpretation is the root of all suffering. How most of us live in this deluded state, and that understanding it is the only way to stop negative thoughts forever.

When we stop misinterpreting, we stop being angry. When we stop anger, we then stop hurting others. Not hurting others means that no more bad seeds are planted.

Understanding also means that the bombs in the mind resulting from bad seeds planted long ago, will not explode.

Which is a wonderful recipe for a very happy life.

12) The Five Aspects

There are five aspects we develop and nurture on the path towards living a more spiritual life. These are belief, effort, awareness, meditation and wisdom.

Firstly we hear about spirituality, then we learn about it. As we begin to understand how and why the spiritual life is beautiful, we are drawn towards it. Belief is not blind faith. Belief is a certainty that we want to experience a spiritual side to our lives, because we know it is the right path to follow.

We know how fulfilling spirituality and being good to others feels, how happy it makes us, and therefore the effort is gladly given. The effort is not a trial because we are very happy to be on the path. The effort feels like a very small price to pay for the endless benefits produced for ourselves and everyone around us.

We are glad to be on the path and happy to be helping others.

Awareness is staying in the present, not being distracted by thoughts of yesterday or thoughts of tomorrow.

Awareness is also being aware of what we are thinking and saying, at all times, watching ourselves and making sure we don’t go back to the old habits of auto-pilot, when we reacted instead of giving a measured, beneficial and pleasant response.

Practising meditation increases our awareness. Meditation is complete absorption in NOW, a deep awareness of NOW. From this experience comes wisdom.

11) The Bombs In Our Mind

During our life so far, we have seen, thought and felt so many things, so many emotions, good and bad. We have both hurt, and taken care of people, which has produced bad, and good seeds in our minds.

All these seeds are waiting to sprout at the right time.

Good seeds sprout when we see things the right way, without any misinterpretation. The bad seeds sprout when we misinterpret things, and react the wrong way.

The bad seeds were caused because we were not seeing things as they really were. Instead we were looking through the dirty lenses of our mind, whereby the truth was hidden behind our stored negative emotions.

In order to prevent the bad seeds from sprouting, we always need to go back to a neutral place in our mind.

If we can recognise when we are starting to react negatively, starting to allow a bad seed to sprout, we will then have taken a giant step forward.

Watching our own reactions, and knowing that we are reacting, will mean that eventually, when we see the same conditioned reaction about to happen, we can stop, go back to neutral, and respond differently, in a balanced, measured, beneficial and pleasant way.

If we can change the way we see things, stop the misinterpretations from happening, then only good seeds are planted, and only good seeds sprout. The bad ones are stopped in their tracks, which means those bombs that were lying in the mind waiting to explode, simply never go off.

The right response is always beneficial, measured and pleasant.

Then we can stay in a happy, calm, undisturbed place.

10) A Step On The Path To Joy

Practicing serious, regular meditation is the most effective tool to help us take the first step on the path to freedom from the churning and turmoil of our monkey minds. 

The path of realisation and release, requires dedication and a determination to see it through. To begin with, practicing regularly at the same time each day may be difficult, and life seems to get in the way. 

However, if we just do what we can, without becoming critical of ourselves, yet persist in our practice, we soon find that meditation becomes easier, and we start to look forward to times when we have set for sitting in meditation. Gradually it becomes one of our most important daily routines and we organise our schedule around our meditation times.

Do not force it. Go with the flow. It is what it is, and changes happen when you are ready. If you force yourself to sit, you will struggle. When you really want to practice, you will reap massive benefits.

There are hundreds of different kinds of meditation, and a many of these simply provide a temporary escape. We meditate and feel good for a short while. However, within a short time we find we are once again launched back into mental turmoil. 

To really reap the benefits, we need to be consistent and follow a well-trodden path. The Himalayan Yoga Tradition is a wonderful place to start. Make a deal with yourself that you will make every effort to sit at a certain time every day, even if only for two minutes, but make those two minutes count. 

It helps to take advice from an experienced teacher, who will guide you through. Essentially we need to do two things: 

1. To understand, be aware of, and ignore the delusions and fictions of our monkey mind
2. To meditate daily

These two simple things can be the difference between a temporary reprieve and a deep, enduring peace that stays with you forever, seeing you through the ups and downs of life, providing a firm foundation that cannot be shaken. 

To begin with, as you commit to practicing these two disciplines, you will start to feel calmer, then you notice the beauty of life all around, then you feel real pleasure and joy from your new awareness, and finally a deep peace washes over you, permeating every cell of your body to its very core.

9) Life & Attachments

We live our lives distracted by the small stuff.

We worry about our skin, our age, a tooth ache, our job, a tv progamme, the person in the seat next to us on the bus.

That is, until something major happens, like we are diagnosed with a terminal illness, or someone we love dies. Then we are shocked. We sit up and immediately start focusing on the big stuff, the really important things in life.

The truth is, we are all dying, every single minute. Nothing stays the same and nothing is concrete. Nothing is permanent, but everything changes constantly.

To spend time on the small distractions that compete for our attention every day is literally wasting our life. The distractions waste our precious seconds, which turn into minutes, which turn into hours, days, months ... which turn into years. Years of wasted time = years of wasted life.

So we should be aware of the distractions, learn how to avoid being sucked in, how to avoid becoming attached to them and absorbed by them. If we learn how to do this, we can really live, really enjoy our life, every second of it.

Really enjoying life, being deeply happy and contented does not come from the stuff you buy in the shops, because none of that stuff lasts. Instead, it comes from inside. It comes from finding a deeper meaning to life.

Because all external things change constantly, to be attached to them, means being in constant pain as you watch the things you are attached to changing. Attachments to things that will never stay the same, means a life of regret and disappointment, sadness, anger, resentment, because you can't stop the inevitable march of time and the effects it has on our bodies, everything and everyone around us. To be happy we have to accept the impermanence of our world.

The most disastrous attachment of all, is when we think that our world, everything and everyone, exists completely independently of everything and everyone else. To realise that actually there is a deep connection between everyone and everything, is a wake-up call. When we realise this, we have to accept that our lives are created by how we treat our world, everyone and everything in it.

The eternal truth, as without, so within. As you sow, so shall you reap.