It is all in the Mind

I am not what happened to me.

I am what I am choosing to become.

Carl Jung

A boy was lying in bed with his toy pistols, acting out some fantasy plays of cowboy and Indians. Of course, he was the Clint Eastwood with a magnum gun who always came out on top of everything. As he was playing a fear suddenly popped up, "What if my friends found out what I am doing here? Am I not a little old for this stuff?" But it was fun to imagine to be the powerful hero so he kept on playing until he grew out of it and moved on to other fantasies.

I was reminded of this story when I read the blog of a woman in her 50s who had a health check-up and was proud that she had lost 5 pounds. Her mind told her that it would be nice to lose another 15 pounds but her doctor discouraged her and remarked that farmers let old horses gain a little weight because they know it is good for them. Of course she was mortally offended. While the humor of the doctor was certainly off, there seemed some wisdom in what he said. I had a look at her photo and could only agree with him that she just looked perfect!

The mind races and buddies up with our emotions; frustrations, aspirations, fears, jealousy, brain-washing; all the negative stuff gets channeled in a direction that makes sense to the ego. The mind hates what is and clings to what could and should be instead. We run after gold on the horizon only to find much later that we ran after lead instead while trampling on the diamonds that were always right in front of our feet. But the good news is, all of this can be understood; all of this can be seen and experienced. And while it may take a while to bring the emotions along, this too happens in time. The little boy has finally grown enough that it dawns on him how potent he really is. There is no reason to carry around any imaginary guns any longer. It is all in the mind!