It all begins in the quiet moment when you realize you are not your thoughts, this moment can be very liberating. Most of the time we are unaware of our thoughts and too often those thoughts are very limiting and sometimes even destructive to our health, goals and hopes. If we are not paying attention to what we are thinking then we are not using our mind, it is using us. This user is the ego and an unchecked ego parades about trashing our peace of mind and our relationships with others. The point here is that watching our thoughts is very important for creating the life we want.
Here is a practice you will find helpful and it will set you free from being run by a crazy ego-mind:
First step is to recognize that you are not your mind. This instrument of thought is like a possessing entity. You have been taken over by your thought-making machine and you actual have come to fully believe what you think.
Now that you realize you are not what you think then what is next. This awareness of the power of your mind to be so utterly convincing is an awakening, which can set you free. With this awareness the next step is to begin to observe the thoughts and inner dialogue flowing through you. There is no judging, just watching.
• Watching your thoughts as you wake up in the morning
• Watching as you brush your teeth
• Watching as you eat breakfast
• Watching as you interact with others
• Watching as you drive your car or sit on a bus or train
• Watching as you sit at your desk
• Watching as you attend a meeting
• Watching as you get anxious
• Watching as you find yourself become impatient
• Watching as you slip into fear
• Watching as you interact with a person in authority
• Watching as you approach someone you love with an open heart
• Watching as you go into self-judging
• Watching as your day shifts to other activities
• Watching as you sit down for dinner after a busy day
• Watching as you wind down in the evening
• Watching as you review the day and have thoughts of gratitude
• Watching your thoughts as you fall off to sleep
As you become a practiced watcher free of the inner critic, your awareness and compassion for self expand. This self-knowing and loving kindness is so liberating from the usual judging and harshly critical mind. This is the beginning for true freedom and the place in you where love, joy and peace reside.
Peace Letter #62
Dear President Obama,
Kindly lead the way to the public option because it is what is right for the people and will hold the corporate profit seeking in check. Corporations will not self-regulate any more than my dog would if his bag of cookies fell onto the floor. It is against their nature.
While you are at making huge positive strides for the good of us citizens would you also please begin to remove our military action from Afghanistan as soon as possible? War is about doing awful things for control and that no longer fits with the higher values of humanity. We must end this cycle of violence now.
Joseph Bernard, Ph.D.
Join me and send President Obama emails of support and encourage the end of war and the other dysfunctional ways of government at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact