Mind the Mind

Have you ever had the experience that you are planning a trip which you have been expecting for a long time already? You are so excited about it only to find that by the time you actually experience it, it doesn't turn out to be exciting at all. Relative to your elevated expectations, the event leaves you flat.

How will you react when this happens to you?  Will you just ignore your feelings and pretend otherwise.Will you get mad at the people you are with? Given that this well-planned event turned out to be sub-par, it must be their mistake, right? So what's exactly going on here?

 In a word, it is your mind! You have expectations about what you want to experience. You live in the mind-driven world which is not in tune with your reality.  You expect things and events to unfold in a certain way, but these expectations may go against the Way, theTao.If you are resistant to what in fact is happening you  will only create more suffering for yourself.

The solution?  Try instead to be in tune with whatever is happening, whatever it may be,  a good as well as a bad situation, a merry as well as a foul mood. Try  to understand what is happening inside of you. The moment you accept it, you can feel how you get in tune with everything. Your environment literally quiets down with you and magic happens.  Almost instantly, you can sense the joy spring from the depth of your being. It is still the same environment, the same situation, but you feel totally different about it. Now you can feel the lively energy, the joy, the blessings your Self and the environment supplies you with.The present of the Tao can only be appreciated if the mind doesn't stand in the way.

Please try it. Next time you feel something disturbing inside, when some negative emotion is bubbling up, instead of just wishing these feelings to go away, try to accept them and be there with them. Experience the magic transformation of being in tune with everything and  your mind will be blown away.

By Christian and Su Zhen