South Asian Outlook: An Independent e-Monthly

Spirituality

A-Z Google Directory	Cosmic Connections	Hinduism Today
India Divine	Innerself Magazine	Religious Tolerance
We Believe in Something	Previous Columns 2002	Yoga and Hinduism

“Spiritual hunger is common to all; but tastes differ.
There are different forms of God to suit all tastes.”
Swami Yogaswarupananda, of the Divine Life Society,
a Vedanta-based foundation in Rishikesh,

Our Thoughts Our Experiences

Sandhya Pathania

Our experience of life is directly linked to the way we think. Thought is the power that creates human experience - the ultimate force that creates, shapes, and transforms our lives. When we are impatient, we are thinking impatient thoughts. When we are stressed, we are thinking stressed thoughts. “When these exams will get over?” Or “when the bus will come?”

These thoughts have the capacity to rob us of our mental health in any given moment. And because we believe that outside circumstances create our feelings, most of us try to restore our mental health from the outside in by altering those circumstances- by dropping the exam, not talking to a nagging friend, living in isolation or quitting a job.

As we gain an understanding of our psychological experience, however, we can recognize that the actual source of our experience is always our thinking.

We all have the capacity to call a time-out and recognize our thinking- to see that thought is not an absolute reality but merely our experience of reality in the moment. This process of self-awareness is perhaps the most powerful tool we have to restore our mental health.

Consistently living in the knowledge of how our minds function is what we call healthy psychological functioning. Each time we see ourselves as the thinker of our own thoughts, the creator of our moment-to-moment experience-we all experience a shift in our level of understanding. When we realize that our emotions were simply our own thoughts and are not caused by other people or outside events, we could no longer indulge in the habit of self-pity. Our level of understanding will increase-we see life differently and thus respond differently. Generally speaking, as our level of understanding rises, we will have the experience of deeper feelings such as gratitude, calmness, peace, hope and joy.

The negative effects of thought arise when we lose sight of thought recognition-when we forget that we are thinking, and that our thinking is creating our experience. The key is to remember that thought is not something that happens to us; it is something we are doing on a moment-to-moment basis, whether we realize it or not. It is easy to forget that we are thinking. When we do forget, we blame our circumstances for our unhappiness and frustration, and our mind spins, often wildly out of control. While most of us would not write ourselves a nasty letter, read it, and then feel offended, this is precisely what we do with regard to our thinking. We might take seriously a string of thoughts about how life is not fair, and then wonder why life never seems fair.

The solution to these and other types of frustration is to begin to establish the connection between our thinking and the way we feel. When we remember that we are the thinker and that it is our thoughts about life that determine how we feel, it allows us to step back, slow down the speed of life, and regain perspective. We can then observe rather than live into our thinking, which gives us new options for relating to our circumstances and the pace of our lives.

As we begin to understand how our mind and the different modes of thinking operate in our lives, our level of understanding about relationships begins to increase. At lower levels of understanding, we feel lonely, isolated, and reactive. Others can seem threatening and can appear to be the source of potential hurt. As we feel more secure and are able to recognize our thinking, we begin to see a greater degree of innocence in other’s behavior. We start to feel warm and compassionate toward them. These feelings make them, as well as ourselves, feel safer and more secure. Thus others begin to relax in our presence. They lighten up.

The way to raise our level of understanding is to simply and calmly notice our thinking. Are we using our thinking against ourselves? Are we having thought attacks? Or are we in a reflective state of mind?

Clear your mind of as many thoughts as you can, and be there- in this moment. Take a few deep breaths and relax. Bring to mind a concern that you have about something that you did not approve of that happened to one of your children. May be he got into trouble, or may be she did not do well on a test. Notice that your concern is brought to life via your own thinking. Now bring yourself back to this moment and recognize that whatever your concern was, it is now true only in the realm of thought. It is no longer real, it is only a thought.

Now do the same things with a future oriented concern, such as, will your son get a good job? Again, notice that your concern, in this present moment is only a thought. As you bring your attention back to this moment, you will become aware that your concern is only a thought. The only real moment is right now. This understanding frees you from the bondage of the past and the fear of the future. It helps you slow down to the speed of life by keeping your attention on the only moment that you have any control over – this moment.

Previous Column:

Fear of Death