One of the most essential points of spiritual practice is realizing that you can not control what the body or mind is presenting to you in each moment. If you were in control, I assure you, you'd only choose happy thoughts and happy feelings.The next time you have a moment, I want you to try as hard as you can to only think happy thoughts. The experiment wont last long. In psychology this is called the ironic process theory; which shows that the harder you try not to think of something, the more you think of it.
The mind is a tool that works on its own. It’s like an electric drill, once you turn it on, its works without your assistance. All you need to know is how to hold it and where to point it. Because most people have not been taught how to hold the mind, they unconsciously turn it against themselves. Like pointing a drill towards one's own body, this causes a lot of pain. Unfortunately, Instead of learning the proper way to hold the mind, we learn to dull it with distractions and compulsions so that it doesn't hurt so bad. Dulling pain however comes with a major cost because when we numb or shut out pain we simultaneously shut out the fullness of life. This leads to a very limited experience of life. It’s like if you're suffering got so bad that you decided you would never leave your room. Sure, you’d avoid a lot of suffering that happens in the world but you would also confine the entire world to a very small space. You would shut out both the sharp pain of suffering and the limitless abundance this world has to offer. So it comes down to a very simple question. Would you like to live life, or avoid it?
