28 Jul 9 great reminders to help you feel more calm, contentment and happiness
via Marc Chernoff
“The primary cause of unhappiness is never the situation, but your thoughts about it.” Eckhart Tolle
Life can be hectic; sometimes chaos surrounds us in every imaginable direction.
But just because the world around us is in disarray, doesn’t mean the world within us has to be too.
That’s right, I’m saying there’s a way to stay sane in insane times. I’m saying you can get rid of all the insanity inside you created by others, the past, and uncontrollable events…
Just by being a simple witness of your thoughts.
It’s about sitting silently, and witnessing the thoughts passing through you. Just witnessing at first, not interfering and not even judging, because by judging too rapidly you have lost the pure witness. The moment you rush to say, “this is good” or “this is bad,” you have already jumped head first into the chaos.
It takes a little time to create a gap between the witnessing of thoughts and your reaction to them. Once the gap is there, though, you are in for a great surprise – that you are not the thoughts themselves, nor the chaos influencing them. You are the witness, a watcher, who’s capable of changing your mind and rising above the turmoil.
And this process of thought-watching is the very alchemy of true mindfulness. Because as you become more and more deeply rooted in witnessing, the chaotic thoughts start disappearing. You are thinking, but the mind is empty of senseless chatter.
That’s a moment of enlightenment – a moment that you become, perhaps for the first time, an unconditioned, sane, truly free human being.
And you can now begin the process of introducing new ideas that support your inner freedom, and continue to put your soul at ease. Here are nine such ideas…
1. You are a work in progress; which means you get there a little at a time, not all at once.
When you feel like you’re sweating and running in circles, understand that we all feel like this sometimes, especially when life’s demands are high and the work is challenging. This doesn’t mean you should give up. Make adjustments as necessary, but keep putting one foot in front of the other. You are not really running in circles; you are running upwards, gradually. The path is just a spiral set of steps… You have already climbed higher than you realize.
2. You are always right where you need to be to take your next step.
There’s absolutely nothing about your present circumstances that prevents you from making progress. All you ever have to decide is what to do next (just the next tiniest step). It really is this simple. You don’t have to have it all figured out to take this step and move forward. Just do the best you can until you know better. Once you know better, do better.
3. Mistakes and failures are the stepping-stones of growth and success.
Even when it doesn’t work out, it’s still necessary practice. And everything takes practice. So embrace the mistakes you haven’t even made yet. To be successful in the long run, you must fail sometimes. Don’t let the fear of making the wrong decision prevent you from making any decision at all. In the end, those who don’t care that failure is inevitable are the ones that reach their dreams…
…keep reading the full & original article HERE