The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Believe or How Not to Trust What our Noggins Tell Us

The mind is a wondrous and crafty thing. It takes us a millisecond to go from thought to emotional suffering. One split second to process a glance, a word, a gesture into anger, resentment or pain. We have been doing this so long that it is easier to respond that way to a perceived situation than it is to respond in a balanced, healthy way. We are actually more comfortable with our minds causing unending suffering then doing what we should do in order to be more at peace. It is possible to learn or “re-teach” ourselves how to truthfully perceive the moment, how to look at life with eyes that see truth and not lies. I have found no stronger method to do this than silence. Quiet. Meditation. Prayer. Listening. Sometimes one has to literally force themselves to break away from the alluring, juicy habit of assessing a situation and lying to ourselves about it, making that moment not anywhere near what that minuscule instant truly was. The key is to remember that a second becomes “was” and not “is” immediately. As soon as it passes, our minds go to work on it. Our minds tell us all sorts of stories about the moment that just passed and the sad part is most of the stories are not true. We have to learn to train our minds. “Mind training” is not a secret to many religions. We can start by letting go and being alright with ourselves in silence. That is where our True Nature is. In that moment false stories and lies don’t exist. Only truth. Only our Buddha Nature. Only God. We learn to heal and not believe the false pain that the egoic mind dishes out. After a while we come to know that what our minds are telling us is just a perception. It is far easier to deal with the reality that a perception is just thin air…nothing. We learn not to make the moment something it is not. That is a lovely way to be.