Extremely unpredictable outcomes; When we are run by our minds
The way it processes events - prioritizes, cooks up stories, combines
totally unrelated things, promises fancy futures, resurrects the dead
past, ignores the truly amazing moments, etc is - truly outstanding. You
maybe extremely capable Mr Mind, but thank you for your services. We're
all better off without you. A few neurons and 128 MB memory are enough
to experience life better...Reading Eckhart Tolle. Amazing. He makes self realization look like a piece of cake.
The mind is a strange thing and we don't seem to be in control of ourselves so many times. Last week I had a strange and difficult conversation with a certain A. I was asking A to talk to B and sort out some issue. A was stubborn and refused to do so. I was unable to understand what's the big deal.. why not just talk and sort out the issue. Somewhere along the conversation I lost my cool and shouted at A. It was totally uncalled for. I was surprised that I had lost my cool.
Nidhi had a baby the next day. Somehow my brain weighed this negative situation more important than that. I was not able to jump in joy...We were all so excited and anxious about Nidhi's baby.
So, why did the mind choose to stick to one situation than the other? It could have turned its attention to the happier of the 2 situations... I had no clue. It behaved so unpredictably. Also my cousin was getting engaged that day. It was only after I entered the hall and got lost among the people that I forgot this situation. I was definitely better equipped than before...I could see that. I freaked out less and was more in control. I was participating in other things as well.
So, it's surprising which events your mind gives importance to and decides to dwell on...There could be a lot of happiness happening around you but your mind chooses to dwell on so much negativity. That choice, sometimes, is not even yours. Maybe by being very aware, we could control the outcome most of the times.
I think I care a lot about people. So if I end up hurting someone or if there is a misunderstanding I get freaked out. I wouldn't be that freaked if I lost a million dollars. But, maybe for someone who loves money, losing a million dollars would be like losing their mind.
When we look at what kind of things the mind dwells on.. we can probably trace a pattern. People concerned with hurt and relations dwell there most of the times. This dwelling and this "time" allotted for such thinking, strengthens such thoughts more and make us more sticky to such things.
If we did not give much CPU time to such things, maybe it would be easy to handle these stuff. If some kinds of thoughts give us suffering, we should de-energize them or make them weak by giving them less CPU time. Earlier I used to do trivial stuff like making the Ciel Pur soap boxes whenever I was tense. I would do some trivial physical labour to drive away that sinking feeling. I think instead of viewing it as escapism we can consciously think that we're not giving CPU time for negative thoughts and emotions. We weaken them. Like a bad habit we need to weaken bad thoughts also.
I am reading a lot of books and articles on the mind. It is fascinating. From Is mind in the brain or everywhere in the body.. to subconscious. it's fascinating so far. The chitta, samskaras, skandhas, vasanas - how all of these affect one's constitution, emotions, behaviour patterns, etc. So, it does appear that we're not fully in control of ourselves and our personality. The karmic residues and previous births do have a say in who we are. So, let's accept and work around - starting with what we have, what we perceive as issues, realizing triggers, habits, etc.
The mind is a strange thing and we don't seem to be in control of ourselves so many times. Last week I had a strange and difficult conversation with a certain A. I was asking A to talk to B and sort out some issue. A was stubborn and refused to do so. I was unable to understand what's the big deal.. why not just talk and sort out the issue. Somewhere along the conversation I lost my cool and shouted at A. It was totally uncalled for. I was surprised that I had lost my cool.
Nidhi had a baby the next day. Somehow my brain weighed this negative situation more important than that. I was not able to jump in joy...We were all so excited and anxious about Nidhi's baby.
So, why did the mind choose to stick to one situation than the other? It could have turned its attention to the happier of the 2 situations... I had no clue. It behaved so unpredictably. Also my cousin was getting engaged that day. It was only after I entered the hall and got lost among the people that I forgot this situation. I was definitely better equipped than before...I could see that. I freaked out less and was more in control. I was participating in other things as well.
So, it's surprising which events your mind gives importance to and decides to dwell on...There could be a lot of happiness happening around you but your mind chooses to dwell on so much negativity. That choice, sometimes, is not even yours. Maybe by being very aware, we could control the outcome most of the times.
I think I care a lot about people. So if I end up hurting someone or if there is a misunderstanding I get freaked out. I wouldn't be that freaked if I lost a million dollars. But, maybe for someone who loves money, losing a million dollars would be like losing their mind.
When we look at what kind of things the mind dwells on.. we can probably trace a pattern. People concerned with hurt and relations dwell there most of the times. This dwelling and this "time" allotted for such thinking, strengthens such thoughts more and make us more sticky to such things.
If we did not give much CPU time to such things, maybe it would be easy to handle these stuff. If some kinds of thoughts give us suffering, we should de-energize them or make them weak by giving them less CPU time. Earlier I used to do trivial stuff like making the Ciel Pur soap boxes whenever I was tense. I would do some trivial physical labour to drive away that sinking feeling. I think instead of viewing it as escapism we can consciously think that we're not giving CPU time for negative thoughts and emotions. We weaken them. Like a bad habit we need to weaken bad thoughts also.
I am reading a lot of books and articles on the mind. It is fascinating. From Is mind in the brain or everywhere in the body.. to subconscious. it's fascinating so far. The chitta, samskaras, skandhas, vasanas - how all of these affect one's constitution, emotions, behaviour patterns, etc. So, it does appear that we're not fully in control of ourselves and our personality. The karmic residues and previous births do have a say in who we are. So, let's accept and work around - starting with what we have, what we perceive as issues, realizing triggers, habits, etc.
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