Face that empty feeling—you throw a stick at a lion only once!

 Loneliness, boredom, depression, restlessness—what combines these states is that they seem never ending. A new partnership may postpone loneliness but give it a few years and it’s bound to return. An exciting activity may hide the boredom and depression, but this activity will end sometime, and the empty feeling will be back. Same with restlessness, it can never be overcome. The more we scheme or work to get what we after, the more the inner fire will be stoked. People often feel their depression most acute after they got what they are after because they feel inside that the goal—that soon will be replaced with another—is empty.

 

We feel how we do. There is little we can do about our feelings. What we can do though is to get to the root cause of these states. Why are they so persistent? What belief system is driving them? What are we overlooking when we run after our desires and escape from our aversions? In Awareness every thought-feeling that bubbles to the surface begins and ends there. There is no carry-over. Thoughts are repetitive like playing fetch with a dog. Throw sticks at a lion instead—you only do that once!