Enough Already?
Understanding how we experience life
In the last week we have had two high profile incidents in which politicians have indulged their most rampant thoughts and emotions rather than engage in informative discourse based on mutual respect and curiosity.
Regardless of which side of the aisle you reside...
and frankly, I am still befuddled that many live and die by a political party rather than uphold their values unconditionally, seek truth unrelentingly and evaluate facts doggedly...
it is incumbent upon ALL leaders -
whether they be within a
country,
political party,
business group,
religious organization,
union,
sports team,
neighborhood,
friendship circle
or
family
to truly understand the nature of thought and HOW life is experienced by ALL...no exceptions.
Unbeknownst to most, life is not projected onto a screen for us to view as we would a movie.
Rather, life is filtered through our minds via thought.
Our thoughts are then brought to life via our senses and our consciousness.
The funny thing is, our system is so good and so clever, that it quite often fools us into thinking that whatever we think, is what IS.
In other words, we quite often get fooled into thinking that whatever is happening OUT there is responsible for how we feel IN here.
We mistakenly attribute our feelings to the circumstances of our lives.
For example we may think, "I feel sad because it is raining."
We forget...or we don't realize...that in order for us to feel and respond to what is happening OUT there (outside world/circumstances), we first have to have a thought about it IN here (inside world/our minds).
As with the example above:
The fact that it is raining is a circumstance.
Circumstances (outside world) are always neutral; rain, in and of itself, cannot cause an emotional feeling.
Our feelings come from our thoughts about a circumstance.
The missing link in the example above is the thought about the circumstance (rain).
A more complete picture of the example above would reflect all of its components: circumstance, thought and feeling.
For example:
"The picnic was postponed (circumstance) due to the rain (circumstance), and now I've lost my chance to meet Charlie from overseas because he leaves tonight (thought). I feel sad (feeling)."
It is not the rain causing the feeling of sadness, but rather the thought of missing the opportunity to meet Charlie (and all of the related thoughts therein) that causes the feeling.
Thoughts and feelings perfectly and precisely reflect how we see the world...in that moment...given our state of mind.
That is why we can feel absolute love for our job/house/friends/spouse/pet/town/clothes/body/lifestyle/talents/country/world/humanity one minute and the next minute feel absolute dread for the exact same things (circumstances).
Our thoughts move in and out of us.
At times we let them go.
Other times we latch onto them with a vise-like grip.
By understanding how our mind works we are more easily able to move with our thoughts without taking them to heart each and every time.
We begin to understand that thoughts pressing us toward fear or hate without pause or regard are neither trustworthy nor reliable.
Without such an understanding, however, we fall to the mercy of our thoughts and indeed our actions and the actions of others.
Without such an understanding we continue to swing on the pendulum of emotions experiencing a life filled with drama and unnecessary suffering.
Without such an understanding, we blame our feelings on our circumstances and then feel justified to...
attack a reporter who, in our mind, seems to have metaphorically attacked us with their words...
or
threaten to shoot a colleague on the House floor for a perceived threat of a 'beat down.'
In all of this justification, deflection, projection and blame, we inadvertently create mahem.
Have we had enough?
Too much damage and suffering is caused by our continued misunderstanding of how our mind truly works.
And so, I say it again:
We experience our lives from the inside-out via thought in the moment.
It is not our boss that causes us to feel upset...
It is not our kids that cause us to feel frustrated...
it is not our colleagues that cause us to feel useless...
it is not our parents that cause us to feel annoyed...
it is not our friends that causes us to feel awkward...
It is our personal thoughts in the moment that give meaning and feeling to our those things.
Period.
Once we understand this...we can be free of our self-imposed suffering and the suffering we impose on others.