The Mind Is Your Teacher

We often hear spiritual phrases like "escape from your mind" or "break free from your mind". Often the thinking mind that causes us suffering is portrayed to be something bad or undesirable. While in a way this is true, never treat your mind to be something bad. It is a fantastic teacher, if you know how to understand its teaching.

The mind forces you to out of identification with it by causing you distress. You are forced to simply remain as the awareness of it.

It is as if the mind says: "If you identify with me, you will suffer. Your only way out of this pain is to leave me be".

The suffering of the mind forces you to realise the truth - that you are the ete
al, peaceful awareness silently observing thoughts, emotions and sense perceptions, not interfering with anything.

Only acceptance of the mind's movements can heal it. Resistance makes it worse.

Whenever the mind causes any pain or suffering within you, treat it as if it is saying to you "leave me alone, I am just passing through, I am not real!" or "if you hold on to me you will get hurt, leave me alone!".

When you go out and interact with the mind, hold its hand, get involved - it does not like it and its hits you in retaliation. This is your lesson - leave the mind alone, and it can do you no harm.

Embrace and accept any mental-emotional suffering that arises, and feel the inner peace that brings. This acceptance will embrace and transform your pain to peace.

The mind is only given power by your belief in the thoughts and emotions it produces. Remove your belief in the mind, remove any sense of self from it. It will then become your slave, not your master.

Stop valuing every thought you have. Instead of following and reacting to every thought, just watch it, let it be, let it move.

Whatever you lose your inner peace for or whatever hurts you is not real and is not who you are. Remember this.

Deeply surrender to the present moment and all it holds, including your thoughts and emotions. Don't get involved with any mess inside you. Useful action can still emerge from this place, but it has a higher energy of acceptance to it. This energy is much more potent as a beneficial force compared to action from internal resistance.

Remain as the awareness, the silent, nonjudgmental observer of your inner and outer world.

If your mind never caused you pain, you would have no reason to realise what you really are.

Adam Oakley
www.innerpeacenow.com