Let’s say your life is in a mess. Financials have gone for a toss, relations messed up and health has concerns. There is nothing to look forward to. There are two ways that you can overcome this situation – one with the mind and one without.

Before you look at the mind solution, you first need to know that the so called mind is a conditioned organ. It is conditioned to think in a certain way. All its beliefs, ideas have been fed into it through your society.  Decipher how it all began. Try to think about something you don’t know. You won’t be able to. Think about ‘space’ as an example. Your mind will conjure up thoughts with help from the inputs it has received through the sense organs – the school text books, the space programs heard on TV, space auditorium show and so forth. Now imagine the word is ‘epacs’. Your mind will go blank.  It has never been conditioned on this word hence it cannot produce any associated thoughts. Conditioning is what all of us try to do on reading self-help books on positivity, affirmations and so forth. We try to push positive thoughts into the mind and dim the negative thoughts.

So the key reason for any feeling is that the associated thoughts have been conditioned in a certain way. The key reason of any negative feeling such as sadness or jealousy or else is the ‘success’ which your brain has been fed. You have been conditioned that achieving xyz is success or acquiring a car is success or travelling abroad is success or earning xyz amount is success. Your brain has been fed unhealthy competition right from school. Knowing that it is just a play of your mind, you can try to defeat it in its own game. Identify things that overcome the negativity. You have probably ended up doing 3-4 fruitful activities during the tough times which you otherwise could not have done – spend time with parents, learn something new, tried something you always wanted to which others couldn’t (irrespective of whether you failed or passed), you got deeper understanding of life, etc..

So you can try to overcome the mind with the mind. Use the previous conditioning and the definition of success to come out with points that match the success criteria and overcome the negatives that may have happened.

But the conditioning based mind solution is only a temporary solution. This is why most of the self-help books also have only a temporary effect. Sometime the times can be real tough and you find it difficult to let go or come up with the mind trick that fits in well to overcome the failure that is being experienced – say a loss of something or someone or multiple material losses together. You will come face to face with the construct of the impermanence of all things. These are the times wherein you encounter the life’s calling to grow spiritually. This is when it is time to distance yourself from the mind and know its working better. It is nothing but a game being played in the mind based on each one’s individual biochemical makeup. The brain sees things, gets conditioned based on the inputs from friends, family, media, teachers, etc. And it starts comparing its achievement based on this conditioning as explained earlier. Even right now think what you want to do or think next. The options that come along with be from the same set of limited options that your mind was accustomed to. It’s a set pattern of neurological connections. This is one understanding that can help you move away from the mind. This intellectual knowledge (through various readings and observation) coupled with your practice of silence for deeper realization can reap results faster and help you quickly move away from the mind. The three pronged approach to spiritual breakthrough will detail on this further. Now you can consciously influence your mind. You can let thoughts pass and use it when you like. You will stop avoiding negative thoughts as you know that it only bolsters those thoughts. You will let the pattern play its way. You will not be affected by the mind. You will have seen through it.

Each one of us is unique and to experience good and bad about life is as much a given as the change of weather to happen.  As a child I used to play this game wherein you blow a soap bubble through the bubble blow stick and multiple bubbles are set afloat in all directions  – some far, some near, some left, some right, some down. Some big, some small, some robust, some burst. They might change their way along the path as wind sets in. But they are all unique expression of the original bubble. Similarly, we are all expressions of the life energy. A bubble of life with inherent genes and conditioning that powers us to our potential limits. Each of us is unique. There is no right or wrong. Looking where the other bubble reaches is an absolutely waste of time. Just keep working to your potential when your bubble is in an adverse territory. You really had no control on the bubble reaching there. The original force (the higher power) made you reach here. It is absolutely right to say it’s God’s will and there never was a right time to connect with your spirit. This comparison with the soap bubble is really apt and you will find confidence in it as you contemplate further through life choices you have made earlier. When you go beyond the mind you will realize that there really was no choice. You were just floating like a bubble when blown with the force of genes and conditioning. Let Life Flow. Even the impact that an event can have upon you when you are completely associated with the mind is not in your control because each event triggers its own biochemical reactions within your body leading to your final feelings and emotions. This can only be known once the distancing happens from the mind. Life is not about using your will power to go against the direction your bubble is destined towards. Be wise and use your will power to power your life’s expression in your pursuits and accept the inevitable with open arms and humility.

Mind cannot be understood by the mind. There is a journey into silence that is being played out in your life at all times and which inevitably gains visibility during the painful times. It is making you go further into this journey by making you delve deep within. The real power comes from within – when you realize you are the awareness accountable to watch life’s expression play out in your physical realm. Watch all that happens to you with poise and serenity.