The challenges in our lives—such as our interactions within the family—serve as mirrors, allowing us to see ourselves more clearly. When you look into a mirror and notice that the person reflected has messy hair, do you try to comb the person in the mirror, or do you comb yourself? In the same way, when external challenges reflect something back to us, it is we who need to adjust ourselves.
Through this process, we can discover how we think about and interpret situations. Our patterns of thinking and interpretation gradually form the challenges and obstacles we encounter. If we can observe ourselves at this level, we can recognize our issues immediately. This is how we address problems at their root.
Illness can also serve as a mirror. When we experience physical discomfort, we can adjust our minds accordingly. If we only try to handle problems on the surface, it is like sweeping away fallen leaves—the leaves will keep falling, and the work will never end.
As we begin to observe more deeply, we discover that issues, obstacles, pain, and discomfort arise from the mind. In other words, we create our experience through our thinking. The world we live in, the problems we face, and the pain we endure are all shaped by the mind.
Therefore, the first step is to observe, not to rush into solving the problem. These experiences become meaningful only when we explore what is happening within us and trace them back to their causes. Challenges are mirrors reflecting our reactions. If we focus on combing the hair in the mirror, nothing about our own hair will change. Without understanding how we think, there will always be endless issues waiting to be solved.
All pain, obstacles, and challenges merely reflect our patterns of thinking; they do not have independent existence. They arise because of the way we think. Our pain, our problems, and even the world we experience are created by our thoughts.
Isn’t it true that once a thought arises, a world is created—often without our awareness? Whatever we think becomes self-fulfilling. Wherever our thoughts lead, our life follows.
If you wake up thinking about hiking, your day will unfold in forests and wilderness. If you decide to go to the United States today, you will find yourself on an airplane, spending the day in transit. If you wake up wanting a meaningful date night, your evening will naturally follow that direction. Thought comes first; experience follows.
These are examples of surface-level thinking. Beneath them lie more subtle and deeper layers of thought, which are the true roots of suffering. When we look carefully at our lives, we can see that everything begins with how we think. A single thought leads to another, and then another, until we feel trapped and say, “I need to solve this problem.”
Yet the key is not to solve the problem, but to observe how the problem was created. When we pay close attention to our thinking, we can trace issues back to their source.
By exploring our challenges in this way, we gradually see that pain and difficulty arise from the mind. If we do not understand how the mind works, the same problems will repeat themselves. But when we clearly see how we think and understand our thoughts, we begin to experience the world with clarity as well.
By Suzhen Liu
If you enjoy Suzhen Liu’s writings, please check out her new book, “Discover Love Within—Release Your Suffering” available on Amazon.
