Mind Is The Source Of Happiness & Pain

We're going to meditate about how our own mind is the source of our happiness and our pain,

Creator of our own experience.

So begin by remembering a disturbing situation in your life,

Something that actually happened to you,

Maybe some conflict you were in with somebody.

And as you remember that,

Focus on what you were thinking and feeling during it.

Don't focus on what the other person was saying and doing,

But focus on what you were thinking and feeling.

And how did the way you describe the situation to yourself influence how you experienced it?

And depending on the way you describe the situation to yourself,

Then you experienced it that way.

And then you began to say and do things.

So how did your attitude affect what you said and did?

And how did what you say and do then again affect the situation and affect the other people involved in it?

Now go back again to the way you were thinking.

And ask yourself,

Was that realistic?

Was I really seeing the situation in an objective way?

Or was I seeing it through the filter of me and I and my and mine?

Because usually while we're in conflict with somebody,

We think we're perceiving an objective situation,

We think we're perceiving it accurately,

But since we're a major character in it,

We're usually filtering it through our own perspective,

Our own needs,

Our own agendas.

So go back and reflect on that.

See if that was happening when you were involved in the situation.

How else could you have looked at the situation?

What would the situation look like if you looked at it through the other person's perspective,

Their needs,

Their concerns?

What are other possible interpretations or ways of describing those events?

And how would that have changed how you experience the situation?

So as a conclusion,

Determine to be aware of how you interpret events and to be very mindful of when you're projecting negativities or when your view is narrow.

And make a determination to try and look at events in a very broad and compassionate and open-minded way.