They say there are two states - a state of suffering and a beautiful state.
Suffering is unpleasant,
Beautiful is pleasant.
Suffering is something we run away from,
beautiful is something we desire!
You get the drill!
It is natural that when we are in a state of suffering, we tend to blame something or someone – it could be a person, a situation, our fate. We do so because being in a suffering state is unpleasant.
Our thoughts go like, ‘I'm definitely not responsible for this state… it has to be my boss, or my colleague, or the current project I'm working on, my mom, my husband, that issue that has cropped up today’... something has to take the responsibility.
And so, the mind goes on to chatter about whatever is the receiver of the blame.
I was in such a state this morning. There were about 4 recipients of the blame. If I have allotted the blame, shouldn't I instantly move to a beautiful state, why still say in suffering? I couldn't fathom why I wasn’t snapping into the beautiful state, which is the state I desired.
A memory flashed into my mind. I suddenly remembered what I had learnt when I was 21. Back then I practiced it fully given it was a very crucial milestone in my life journey - my first job and all that. Here is what I had learnt and practiced.
Awareness: Suffering state comes from obsessing about yourself. We need to see that the focus is self.
Wisdom: What’s the real focus? The GOAL!
Attention: Shift the focus from myself to my goal...So much so that all you can see is the goal and nothing else
o Shed the people and situation that you are allotting blame to... That is possible when your focus shifts to something bigger – the GOAL.
o It’s the goal that matters, the rest is periphery. Periphery is not important.
Action: Now, enlist what you need to do to achieve that goal. All your mind needs to be occupied with is the karma…karam means action… the karma you need to be doing to achieve the goal. The focus of the mind now shifts to action to achieve the goal.
Visualize: Ask yourself – what would it be like when you achieve the goal? What is the feeling you would feel on having accomplished the goal?
o Feel the feeling, dream about it, trip about it!
Faith: There is something above that knows more than you do. That is why they say ‘what you seek is seeking you’. Have faith! That it’s all taken care of. The goal was born within you to get fulfilled. So just do your karma, the result is not your job, the universe is working on it.
Are you in a beautiful state by now?
Check: Keep a check on the mind! Is it slipping back into suffering? Are you obsessing about yourself? Are you now slipping into periphery - people / situation / blame? Would you rather obsess (actually I’d use the word focus) about your goal?
o Change the focus again, bring it to your goal.
Here is all we need to think about. By dint of this exercise, we will begin living in a beautiful state. You'll see the needle move slowly, overtime.
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