Beyond the Mind

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I recently noticed the “Think Different Challenge” which I thought was a great idea to inspire some very good writers out there to say a few words about how they mentally approach situations in their lives that they currently have negative thoughts or feelings towards.  If you have been reading my blog you know that just about every entry has to do with how we handle our inner experience.  I have found that the most important step in my inner development has been to change my attitude from one of not wanting to deal with my pain to accepting, allowing, welcoming and even saying YES to my pain.  This is my primary work with my clients as well, the content of their problems is actually of secondary importance to their attitude and energetic posture towards their suffering.

I say it in this order because it seems to work that way - first if we can just ACCEPT that we are in pain, that’s a good start.  Let’s use an example.   One of the hardest things in life is dealing with a romantic separation.  A lot of us try to pretend we are not suffering or do many things to try to not FEEL our heartache.  We keep ourselves busy and go to great lengths to somehow not have to think about or feel the loss.  If we can just ACCEPT that we are in pain, we then have our first opportunity to actually allow it to heal some.  We can sit still with it a bit, sip on it.  We can now accept the pain and allow it to be there, just the way it is.  Now the healing can begin.  The healing can’t begin if we are denying or repressing or trying to avoid our pain.  Once, we really GET this, we may even start to welcome it in and say yes to it.

A very common pitfall in doing this is believing the story that comes with the pain.  This is where our thinking is less than useful.  Often times the pain we are feeling is being generated by a story in our minds that simply isn’t true, or at least something that we cannot be SURE is true.   In whatever way we can, it is helpful to drop the story, to suspend belief in it so we can have the space to FEEL.   A wonderful teacher of mine from the days I was in the Ridhwan school used to put it this way “Feel it but Don’t Believe it”.  That is excellent advice.  So my angle on thinking differently about our suffering is to think less, feel more and don’t believe the hype your mind is feeding you, especially if it is causing more pain.

The Dalai Lama says this beautifully, he addresses how we spend too much energy in the US developing our minds instead of our hearts -

No matter what is going on
Never give up
Develop the heart
Too much energy in your country
Is spent developing the mind
Instead of the heart
Be compassionate
Not just to your friends
But to everyone
Be compassionate
Work for peace
In your heart and in the world
Work for peace
And I say again
Never give up
No matter what is going on around you
Never give up

So, instead of thinking differently, perhaps we can find a way to simply think LESS and love MORE.

Peace to You…

Tags: Spiritual Enlightenment, Spiritual Counseling, Spiritual Health, Spiritual Health Coaching, Spiritual Journey, Spiritual Growth, Spiritual Healing, Meditation, Life Coaching, Spirituality, Spiritual, Spiritual Awakening //