It’s rare that any of us human beings ever stop our “constant thinking”. This is the problem of ALL our human ailments, dysfunction, and suffering. There are some humans that truly experience enlightenment, as the Buddha defined it, and they experience “the end of suffering”.

When my own personal anxiety was out of control, or when I’ve been miserable, I was “suffering”. I was suffering because my constant thinking and ego-based self was extremely busy making up stories and fantasies that played in my mind like a lousy movie.

I am still using a small dose of Paxil (10mg daily) and I have been quite stress free lately – as in the last 6 months, and I know why. Because I have been listening and reading material that is breaking apart and destroying my old mind patterns, fantasies, and stories. For those who end up using medication to balance their life, they should start reading as much as possible. There is so much to learn about how your mind works and why you ended up being overly stressed, depressed, or anxious. There is only ONE reason we suffer as humans – our minds and egos.

We live in a human society that is completely wrapped up in the “mind”. We as humans need to learn how our minds and our egos work, if we ever hope to find peace and see the end of suffering on a global level (and a personal level).

Your Mind Can’t Be Trusted

Your mind is simply a tool that you can use to function as a human being. It can help make decisions, add and subtract, read and write, take a bath, take clothes on and off, speak to one another, etc. – but it can’t be trusted for much more than the every day functions.

Your mind is a great collector of junk. It collects junk in the form of memories of the past (good or bad perceptions – it does not matter). If you have a bad memory then you replay what happened (usually what you THINK happened) over and over and over. This keeps you suffering.

If you have a “good” memory, you end up longing for a moment when you can feel that way again, regardless that the good memory was just a perception you had at the time, and likely had nothing to do with your situation or location at the time. This can leave people living in the past, or looking to a future time when they can MAYBE feel good again.

Your mind hates the NOW. It wants to live in the future and in the past. It fears living in the present moment, and will use ever trick it has to keep you from relaxing this very second. This is the only reason some people meditate – so they can get in touch with the present moment and rejoice in it. It gives their human mind a small (very small) break from it’s constant fantasies, and inaccurate stories.

If you truly want to start turning around your life experience on this earth, you need to stop listening to your mind’s old news reels and your ego’s stories. Your mind cannot be trusted. One of the most important aspects while meditating is the practice of letting ALL thoughts of the mind float by and not stop and take hold of your current moment. Our minds want to grab a thought, a story, an idea, and hold on to it. So-called GOOD or so-called bad – it does not matter to the mind. It wants to hold on to an old story or move on to a new story. Try to picture your thoughts as clouds in a blue sky moving quickly by. Don’t let any of them nestle in for the day or even for the minute. Let them float by as a natural process that does not have much bearing on anything at all. Don’t take your thinking very seriously.

Your Ego and Your Mind

Your mind has a close friend that it runs off and gets in trouble with every day. Even the so-called gurus of the new-age movement let their minds and egos run away with them on a daily basis. If any human being claims they live in a state of pure enlightenment all the time and every day – they’re obviously not. It is not possible for a human in the flesh to truly be in an enlightened state at ALL times. There are some rare people that are USUALLY in an enlightened state. Jesus the Christ and the Buddha were good examples of these kinds of enlightened human beings.

Most all human beings have an active mind that is hanging out with it’s buddy the ego. The mind has all it’s constant activity adding and subtracting what it perceives to be good and what it perceives to bad, and the ego looks for ways to set itself apart from every other human, and every other living being on the planet. The ego spends it’s time finding enemies, and it REALLY likes to judge.

Yes. The ego sees itself as the almighty powerful judge wearing long black robes and holding the gavel in judgment of every person, every experience, and every “happening” it comes across. The ego is a fantasy character created by the human mind.

Whenever you feel you need to defend yourself, judge someone, prove yourself, set someone straight, have more than the next person, etc., etc, that is your ego at work with it’s buddy “the mind”.

The End of Suffering Comes With Awareness

At first, you may “think” that there is no way you can stop thinking the way you do, and there is no way you can live an enlightened existence as your flesh incarnation during your visit on earth as a human being. I am happy to report that you CAN be conscious and enlightened. It’s VERY simple. Be AWARE.

Try this simple exercise. Ask yourself this question right now,

“I wonder what my mind is going to think about next?”

Then simply be aware of what you are thinking and wait for it. Be aware of every thought that comes through your mind. Don’t judge these thoughts as good or bad – just see them. When you see the thoughts coming through your mind let them simply float by like a cloud in a windy sky. At first this will feel strange because your mind, and it’s friend the ego, will want to stop those moving clouds, bring them down, and sit on them for awhile. The mind and the ego love suffering. They love the drama.

As you keep asking yourself, “What is my mind going to think of next”, you may find that you feel a great sense of peace. You may find that you feel a brief moment of peace – this is your mind stopping some of it’s noise for a brief moment. When you learn to shut down your mind and ego these pauses of peace will get longer. Eventually you have an underlying peace dominating your life, even when there is some stressful happenings going on in your day.

When you start to become aware of your mind and ego prancing around like the children they are, you will notice how stubborn they are. They’re usually feeling guilty about something, resisting something, avoiding something, looking for something. This doesn’t mean you need to punish your ego and mind. They just need your guidance. Let them run around the playground once and awhile and don’t punish them for running a muck with the other children (other egos and minds), because when you blame yourself or think badly of yourself it’s just more mind and ego. The real you loves you and loves everything and everyone – the real you is pure consciousness.

I will have to move along for today, but what I’m getting at is simple. When you become aware of your thoughts (your mind) and your ego, you will start to feel much better. If you can ever learn to completely get rid of your ego then your mind will only be used as a tool. You don’t have to accomplish that to be a very happy and relaxed human being. Just a little bit of awareness will take you there. However, once you have tasted this kind of peace, you will want to learn more. You will slowly being unraveling your anxiety.

More on this later….

Have a relaxing day, and don’t worry. Life IS good, and there nothing to worry about.