Storms can blow up in your mind, but don’t worry, the weather always changes

Arhhh!  That soulish nature in us can certainly be a pain.  You know how you can get a thought under your skin so that it turns from being an innocent reflection to a destructive force that begins to color all your actions and level of confidence?  I do.  I’ve been there.  So I am here today to remind us to beware of destructive mind storms.  A mind storm starts from a negative state of mind, and when we nourish it will begin to manifest itself into reality.  Once it settles into our consciousness it can blow up one hell of a mind storm.  When that storm comes, don’t give it too much attention. Focus on what is at hand to do and don’t follow the negative spiral.  Like I have said before “change one thing to a positive and everything else will follow“.  The storm will blow away, just like the weather changes, it will change if you don’t give it fuel to keep burning.

The article below explains how mind hinderances lead to mind states lead to mind storms.  Put into Sandy’s simple terms, I think the key here is to focus on the good – love, peace and patience – and leave the yucky thoughts alone, they will pass.  Believe me, I understand that this is easier said than done, but we can do this!

Mind Hinderances
We know these and often talk of them as neediness, anger, low self-esteem, low energy, fear, and demoralization. As normal occasionally encountered experiences, they can make life problematic, but these hindrances can intensify into something more lasting. If they do so they may change from being “Mind Hindrances” to “Mind States.”

Mind States
A “Mind State” is a hindrance that is not transient. It comes to stay. A Mind State becomes a habitual outlook and response pattern. All life experiences are filtered through the Mind State. The Mind State of lust looks at everything through the lens of neediness and desire. Something is missing and life is not satisfactory. The angry Mind State is always on the verge of irritation and frustration and fills the air with tension. Habitual lethargy robs life of the energy required for day to day tasks and leaves none left over for new adventures. The Mind State of Doubt creates an insecure world while the fearful mind spreads anxiety into all areas of life.

Mind States are difficult to live with because they make life more fretful or tedious than needed. They become the lenses though which we view our life. A Mind State is hard to recognize and harder still to give up. It seems to be the reality.

Mind Storms
The real danger of Mind States, however, is that they can suddenly swirl up into “Mind Storms.” A Mind Storm is a Mind State out of control. Mind Storms blow in due to some real or imagined occurrence and can wreak havoc while present. Comments are made and actions are taken that are later regretted. With a Mind Storm in control clear vision is lost and judgement is clouded. Just as the storms of weather come and go, so do the storms of the “Mind.” They blow in and they blow out again and then the damage must be surveyed.

Mind Storms always give warning signs. These “storms” initially show up in that little voice of conscience that talks to us. You might recognize the voice of conscience as that positive voice that says, “Gee, you look good.” And, “That was a terrific job.” Or, in its negative tones, when it says, “That was really stupid. How could you be so dumb?” In a Mind Storm the voice is usually negative, critical, or irrational in its comments.  This little voice of self-talk can talk us into some bad spots. The challenge of Mind Storms is to learn to watch them come and go but not to react by feeding them more energy through negative thinking and impulsive deeds. We need to observe the little voice while not necessarily responding too seriously to it.

→ Remember the blog post I wrote on engaging the “noticer” when learning where to put the pain of our past?  You may want to read that in relation to observing Mind Storms.

Knowing all about Mind Hindrances, Mind States, and Mind Storms and being aware of the importance of attitude on daily life is no guarantee of protection. Given the right conditions a Mind Storm thunders in and takes over before you know it. Once present it is difficult to recognize.

Mind States come and go. Sometimes a Mind State turns into a Storm. The challenge of mindfulness is to catch the storm early and stop it. If you can’t stop it then just let it blow itself out. Don’t get caught up in it. Don’t act it out.

When a Mind Storm blows in you may think it is about one thing when it usually is about many things. You might think that it is there because of bad decisions or bad luck, when it could  be a chance to learn patience, or giving love.  Don’t miss the opportunity to learn from the situation because you overreact or make a hasty decision based on what you are feeling in that moment.

Mind Storms are hard to recognize when they are present. They seem to be the reality. In reality they are the illusion. So, watch the horizon of your mind. Look for the warning signs of a change in the weather. If storms do appear, just let them pass.

Remember the weather always changes.
Inspired by Mind Storms at Lessons4living.com

Where do we place the blame for our pain from the past?

Good question huh?  When we are feeling the pain from our past we so want to blame it on something other than ourselves and nurture the fantasy of our wrong-doer to plot out and imagine revenge.  We want our pain to go away so we try to look for a place to put it that will make us feel better.  However, many times we just act right out!  We embrace that ugly feeling, project it on others, and let it run amuk!  Sound like something you have experienced? I certainly have.
This year I learned about the “Noticer” – a supra-awareness that if we practice it through concentration, will become  our internal guide to the reality of our feelings.  The noticer is engaged when I, through my own thinking, imagine myself outside of myself, observing and “noticing” what I am feeling.  I continue to learn about and experiment with this process and its benefits, I wanted to share a few ideas with you so you can try it out for yourself – let me introduce you to the Noticer –
The Noticer
When we experience our emotions, we immediately identify with them and believe they are true.  But when the “Noticer” (that godlike voice within us) is engaged and we allow ourselves to get outside what our feelings are and what we are thinking to NOTICE them and put them into perspective, three things happen:
1-  the Noticer helps us to see that the feelings are not the truth
2-  I can identify with those feelings to help me see that they are not true
3-  I see that the feelings come from the past and put them into historical perspective
When I use the noticer to discover the source of my feelings it allows me to understand and realize that there is no solution for these past feelings I am grappling with, only compassionate awareness.  When I have compassionate awareness I can place my feelings into their historical perspective, realizing that’s it!  The sadness, the loneliness, the withdrawal, self loathing, the anger, or any other painful emotion is replaying an emotion from the past. When I engage the noticer it helps me to have a space of freedom from the struggle and the pain of what I am feeling.  When I am suffering through painful emotions from the past, I am really putting myself into a  situation where I plead for a solution; but there is no solution for the past, only compassionate awareness.
When you are sitting by the pool, driving to work, walking through the park or laying on your bed and you are whining and crying, moaning and groaning over what you are feeling, you are pleading for a solution – you want to know why! I totally understand. We want to lay blame on our pain and find out why we are hurting so it will stop, right?  We want a solution for it, and we want it now.  BUT we must realize that the painful emotion(s) we are feeling is pain from the past, and we are dealing with the helplessness of it.  There is nothing that we can do with the pain from the past but to feel it, we must learn to take the sense of blame out of it.  We can only feel it now, identify that it is pain from the past, and realize that the only solution is to put it in it’s historical context with compassionate awareness – the only awareness that makes sense from the past when we were helpless.
When I am angry I mistake it for a present reality when in fact it is only a memory, a pain from the past that I am having to deal with now. (Have you ever heard of getting your buttons pushed?) I must learn to practice the noticer and realize that there is nothing I can do with my feelings and emotions except to place them in their historical perspective and embrace them with compassionate awareness.
Here is an illustration that might help explain what I am saying: Remember when you were in college and you were taking a test or studying and looking for answers to the questions?  You were waiting for that answer to come to your mind. You would get outside your circumstance of where you were and go to the equation or problem that needed an answer and review in your mind the information around the subject.  You most likely would use your concentration and be quiet so you could hear the answer in your mind.  Maybe you would ask a question and be very still and quiet so you could hear the answer.  Sometimes you would get a feeling about it, “a hunch”, and then  follow the feeling to see where it would take you and what you would understand from it.  This is similar to (according to my present understanding) having supra awareness outside of our own self (engaging the noticer). It is being aware of that voice within us – the collectiveness of our spirit, soul, body and mind that is the god in us – and listening to the voice that is bringing us into all truth and wholeness.  Engaging the noticer helps us to see the realty of our feelings, identify with them, then place them in their correct historical perspective.
Love and hugs for a great week!
Sandy