“If one's mind has peace, the whole world will appear peaceful.” 
~Ramana Maharshi

He shouldn’t have done that…That shouldn’t have happened to me…I can’t seem to get what I want out of life…I’m a failure, an imposter, inadequate, scared of what might happen. 

Each of these thought patterns brings about an emotional reaction that contributes to the cycle of discontent. And this cycle defines our experience of the world.

Couldn’t you write a manual on how to be unhappy? I know I could:

• Expect things to be a certain way;
• Identify yourself as insufficient or incapable;
• Believe your judgments of yourself and others;
• Believe what fear tells you;
• Believe that you’re right and others are wrong;
• Spin around in the same old stories about things.

In other words, live in the rigidity of your thoughts. Let yourself be confined by the past. Don’t consider any fresh perspectives or new possibilities.

But what if peace is beckoning you? How do you get out of the rut of habitual thinking?

Consider bringing openness and flexibility to your mind. Breathe new life into the rigid places in your thought patterns. Be curious rather than closed; open to a way that is fresh and new rather than stuck in same old, same old.

On my first meditation retreat years ago, I got a firsthand look at my mind, and it was shocking. I saw that it was filled nonstop with judgments, strong points of view, old stories, and opinions about this and that. What was going on in my mind was my lived reality. No wonder I wasn’t peaceful!

What I learned is that I needed a new relationship with these thoughts. Did I have to believe all that thinking? Did I need the thoughts to guide me in my life? No. There was so much negative clutter that I was happy to let it go and open to another way.

Turn your attention to your mind—with curiosity—so you can learn what’s going on in there. Give yourself some time to recognize familiar thought patterns and how you feel when you’re thinking them. Do they serve your peace and happiness?

Then experiment with flexibility. What if you didn’t take the judgments and opinions so seriously? What if you didn’t run stories about what should and shouldn’t have happened? What if you saw things as they are rather than through conditioned mind-created constructs?

Let your mind be open wide like the sky, and you might discover you don’t need all this thinking. Abandon your familiar views that divide and separate—and maybe you’ll find a deeper connection with all of life.

A mind open beyond all limits is transparent, radiant, and completely alive.

Flexible mind…infinite mind…boundlessly peaceful mind…

Love to you...