Date Sent: July 05, 2013
Most of the people that are trapped in the loop of negativity generally cannot come out of that. In fact negative thoughts will feed on to itself creating bitter state of mind that doesn't let that individual enjoy any other nice experiences of life. Negativity has strange ability to destroy happiness of life.
Think about this:
If a snake bites an individual he never gets angry with the snake (even if it is a poisonous snake and has potential to kill that person.) Everyone fears the snake but no one is angry at the snake. People never have bitter feelings towards a snake. Why is that so? This is because individuals accept that it is Dharma (nature) of a snake to bite and may be kill too.
But, our relationship with other individuals is always different though. Everyone gets hurt deeply with few words if they are unacceptable. Those words destroy several days of our life. The memory of those words stays in mind forever creating bad patches in the memory lane.
Why it happens so? Because we can accept that a snake can kill, but we cannot accept a person can hurt with words. We have a different set of expectations from snake and other.
It is your 'set-of-expectations' that creates different feelings within you. Events or words are never the cause of feelings within you (how-so-ever you think it is otherwise). It is difficult to digest this but that is how life and relationships work.
Events and words create waves in the lake of your mind. Your life boat keeps tossing on those waves creating waves of disturbances, one after the other. Why it creates only disturbances? Because that is nature of mind (every mind). Nice words create good feelings but they don’t last long. It’s the bad words and actions that stay with every individual for long period of time.
Your set-of-expectations creates and defines State-of-your-mind. This state-of-mind creates perception of happiness or sadness within you. Both are Un-Real. There is something called eternal consciousness (state-of-bliss) which only is True nature of you (your soul or atman). Those who seek bliss can attain it. Everyone else must keep floating on the waves of the mind getting tossed here and there with the waves-of-disturbance created by events and words. This is how most of the people continue to live life without being aware of the nature of mind. Life is full of disturbance, negativity and sadness because of mind. People feel mind is their friend. The fact is Mind is your first enemy. Annihilate (destroy) the mind if ever you wish to achieve bliss.
It is all about how we see the world and people. Happiness is a "STATE OF MIND". It is NOT something outside, it is WITHIN you. The more you seek (things and events) the more unhappy you are - Sounds strange but it is true. Those who have billions of dollars have very similar state-of-mind that a homeless person has. The only difference is their set of “worries and fears” is different; state of unhappiness and loss-of-peace is constant for both.
Always remember: Happiness is a "STATE OF MIND". Slaves-of-mind can never attain that state of happiness. Overcome the 'monkey-of-mind-sitting-on-your-back' if ever you want eternal happiness and peace. Slaves-of-Mind-money may get few bubbles of happiness here and there but can never attain eternal happiness. They continue to float helplessly in the ocean of sadness and miseries. They must continue to float and tossed through the cycle of life and death.
Annihilated mind is a quiet state of mind. A quiet Mind is like a stable boat floating in an infinite ocean of bliss without any waves. It has gone quiet. It is alert, super conscious and blissful. It is not dragging you down with endless pains and conflicts. A mind made quiet this way has ability of entering the Samadhi (blissful state of consciousness).
Visit: Lord Vishnu, Cobra and Our state! (in pictures)
Here is a useful post by OM Swami on "How to Overcome Negativity".
------------------ By OM Swami
Just like a series of water drop make up a waterfall, series of thoughts make up your mental state.
Emotions are the symptoms, they are not the cause. Please reread it: emotions are the symptoms, they are not the cause. When you are feeling bad, negative, it is not just one big unit, it is a chain of multiple thoughts, a queue of feelings. It is so interlinked that it appears indivisible; it feels like one cohesive unit, like multiple drops of water in a waterfall. Your emotions, therefore, are made up of a series of thoughts and feelings. Like the train changing its track can change the whole course, if you can learn the art of quieting your mind or diverting your thoughts, you can rise above any emotion.
Talk to yourself, hold a self-dialog. Yes, this is it. It is an effective technique. The first step is to immediately be aware and accept that you are feeling negative. You do that by talking to yourself. Tell yourself that you are feeling negative and hurt presently. Remind yourself that you are a human being. It is perfectly normal for you to experience negative emotions, to feel down, to feel hurt, and to feel pensive. It means you are human. Never be afraid to be human. Humanity is the path to divinity. Hold a communion with yourself. You actually have to hold the aforesaid self-dialog. When people are negative, they often hold long conversations in their head and that leads to greater negativity. We just have to change the nature of such dialog. Remind yourself that it is natural for you to feel stressed. Do not feel bad for feeling bad! Do not think you are a bad person just because you are feeling negative. Remove the other person from the equation, just focus on yourself. Do not try to stave off negativity, you will end up feeling even more negative and down.
As soon as you become aware that you are negative and you accept it, the resistance will disappear. Resistance and conflict go hand-in-hand, you eliminate one and the other one self-destructs.
Destroy the source of your negative emotions, not yourself. And no, the source is not the other person so you don't need a bigger hammer.
Read more: http://www.omswami.com/2013/06/how-to-overcome-negativity.html |