Don’t close the doors of your thinking

Don’t close the doors of your thinking

Whenever low self-esteem and depression raise their ugly heads in us, it is a good idea to boost ourselves by telling ourselves, ‘I am born to be successful, I am a great achiever, for I have great potential.’ This would produce temporary results, but in the long run, such positive thinking alone would not suffice. You need something more.

It is similar to the advice, to chant ‘Rama, Rama’, every time a bad thought arises in our minds. Positive thinking is also based on the same philosophy. When we are tormented by temptations, repeatedly chanting the names of gods would certainly help to drive away these temptations. But, the temptations may arise again, later. Should one chant Ramanama again to control such thoughts?

Say for example, the whole house is stinking, due to a dead rat. We do not have the time or patience to go hunting for the dead rat and throw it out. So, we light incense sticks to camouflage the bad smell. For a while, the fragrance may drown out the foul smell. But, once the incense burns out, the same rotten smell would again pervade the atmosphere.

Positive thinking is similar to this. But there is a better and more lasting alternative to positive thinking known as Authentic Thinking.

Let us assume that you are in deep trouble. Instead of wallowing in self-pity. one can adopt positive thinking, and affirm to oneself, ‘No, I am really happy!’ and try to thrust this thinking into one’s mind. This would create conflict in the mind. It would not help resolve the trouble. Instead, try to view your thinking from a distance … similar to a bird’s eye view. Get some perspective.

Without labelling your thoughts as ‘good’ or ‘bad’, without showing any aversion to your thoughts, take an impartial stand and notice your thoughts. This is called as seeing things through a bird’s eyes.

Whether the thoughts are sad, tempting or happy; without identifying them with yourself, when you view them from a distance, a clear understanding will crystallise within you.

Once this mental state is attained, sadness and happiness will appear as two sides of the same coin. Happiness is an experience. Similarly, sadness is also another experience. For people who do not have peace of mind and clarity, even happiness will appear as an experience of sadness!

Just as happiness is one kind of taste, sorrow is also another taste. This philosophy may be difficult to accept. When i was a little boy, i used to watch my mother eating bitter gourd with relish. I was then quite confused as to how she could really enjoy eating something so bitter. But once the heart takes to it, even bitterness can be enjoyable. I later understood that just as sweetness could be enjoyable, bitterness also can be enjoyable. Every taste has its own flavour.

Children feel that sweetness is the only good taste. They conclude tastes such as bitterness and sourness cannot be good and so they tend to avoid them. This is also a similar situation. We assume that only happiness is desirable and all other feelings are not; we close the doors of our thinking to most of our feelings.