Overcome Negative Thoughts

Use the Buddhist way of overcoming negative thoughts...

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Quote of the day...

“Faith does not need to push the river because faith is able to trust that there is a river. The river is flowing. We are in it.”

Richard Rohr

In Today's Email:

  • Overcome Negativity: The Buddhist approach...

  • Weekly Astrology...

  • Mantra Of The Week: Tulsi Mantra...

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TODAY'S LEARNINGOvercome Negativity

The story that your mind tells you about your life's circumstances accounts for a large portion of your unhappiness rather than the actual events themselves. That is a very significant revelation.

This is referred to as the second arrow in Buddhism.

The first arrow refers to the actual negative experience and event. The suffering we feel in this place is a result of uncontrollable (or avoidable) outside factors. We all get older, fall ill eventually, lose loved ones, have arguments, lose our jobs, go through grief, etc.

The second arrow refers to how we respond to the situation—our thoughts. We cause the second arrow's suffering when we respond negatively, placing blame, shaming, aversion, getting angry, and becoming upset. This second arrow is what causes us to repeatedly relive an experience that has only ever occurred once.

It's crucial to realize that you have a choice regarding the second arrow's discomfort. I want to be clear that I'm not referring to distressing incidents. You might need professional assistance to overcome the lack of a sense of choice in that circumstance.

Therefore, even though we have no control over the situation, we do have control over how we react to it. We can decide to focus our energy on increasing our awareness rather than getting caught up in a frenzy of needless negative thoughts that are bad for both our mental and physical health. The ability of the mind to make us unhappy starts to fade as our capacity for awareness grows.

How to break the momentum of negative thoughts?

  • Realize that certain thoughts are bad for you – they have no useful function and make you miserable.

  • Sit quietly and begin to examine your thoughts.

  • Draw energy/lifeblood (consciousness) away from the thoughts and focus it on something else, such as your body (paying attention to how it feels on the inside), your breath, or the surrounding environment.

  • You can connect with your inner aliveness when you focus on your breath or your inner body instead of worrying or thinking needlessly. Thoughts will start to fade right away. Thoughts cannot survive if you take attention and consciousness (their lifeblood) away from them.

  • Learn to control your thoughts, not by stifling them but by being very aware and focusing your attention in another direction.

  • Take a breath and experience your life. Keep in mind that you are not the story in your head. You are the intelligence that permeates and unites your body; you are consciousness itself.

  • The more frequently you do this, the greater the power of awareness you possess. The mind begins to lose its ability to make you unhappy and starts to support you to become more resilient.

WEEKLY ASTROLOGY

Currently, there aren't many astrological movements, allowing us to adjust to last week's effects, including the solar eclipse on the new Moon, the start of Taurus season, and the beginning of Mercury retrograde. The Sun will align with the North Node in the coming days, bringing with it a sense of direction, understanding, evolution, and awareness.

Invite time and space to think back on your journey with the Taurus themes you've experienced over the past 15 months as the Sun aligns with the north node. Use the journal prompts below to reflect on your growth:

How do you feel in terms of security and safety? What does this look like in your physical world?

What bond do you have with the planet?

What is your perspective of abundance and the availability of resources? How can you make this relationship stronger?

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POSITIVE NEWS OF THE DAY

A critically endangered Western chimpanzee has been born at the Chester Zoo.

There are only 18 000 individuals left in the world due to habitat loss, so this birth offers hope that things can be turned around for this species.

Experts in Uganda, Nigeria and Gabon are working to help protect wild chimpanzee populations and their forest homes.

CRYSTAL OF THE DAY

LEARN SANSKRITAvidya (uh -vidh -yah)

Avidya means ignorance, misconceptions, misunderstandings, and incorrect knowledge. It is the inverse of Vidya. It is extensively used in Hindu texts, including the Upanishads, as well as other Indian religions such as Buddhism and Jainism, especially in the context of metaphysical reality.

Avidya represents a fundamental lack of understanding and misperception of the phenomenal world in all Dharmic systems. However, the Indian religions disagree on the details, with Hinduism considering Atman (soul, self) denial and misconceptions as a form of Avidya, and Buddhism contemplating An-atman (non-soul, non-self) denial and misinterpretation as a form of Avidya.

MANTRA OF THE WEEKTulsi Mantra

"Om Tulsidevye Cha Vidmahe Vishnupriyaye Cha Dheemahi Tanno Vrinda Prachodayat."

Meaning - Om, Let me meditate on the Goddess of Ocimum, Oh, Goddess who is dear to Vishnu, give me higher intellect, And let Brindha illuminate my mind.

Tulsi is considered the most sacred plant among Hindus. Most Hindu houses have a Tulsi plant, which is worshipped every day after a bath.

The Tulsi Gayatri mantra is a very potent mantra. The Tulsi gayatri mantra provides mental serenity. Most importantly this mantra also promotes domestic harmony and contentment. To reap all of the advantages of mantra, recite the Tulsi Gayatri mantra. Tulsi Mantra honours Tulsi or Basil, a plant sacred to Vishnu and his incarnations Krishna and Vittal. The Gayatri Mantra for Goddess Tulasi is as follows. This mantra is extremely useful to individuals who deal with inconveniences on a regular basis.

BOOK OF THE DAY

Anxiety is cunning. It can manifest as a stomachache or a Netflix binge at three in the morning because it lives in our thoughts and behaviors. But according to Dr. Judson Brewer, mindfulness, or the practice of paying close attention to the present moment without analyzing or judging it, can help you recognize and manage anxiety.

Brewer explains in Unwinding Anxiety how anxiety develops into a habit and how it leads to other habits that only worsen the situation. Brewer explains why mindfulness works where more conventional strategies like willpower, substitution, and avoidance fail by drawing on his experience as a psychiatrist, neuroscientist, and mindfulness researcher.

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