Mind Is The Source Of Happiness & Pain

Venerable Thubten Chodron guides a meditation on how the mind affects our experience. This meditation is designed to help us see how our mind plays a powerful role in how we perceive situations, which can contribute greatly to our happiness or suffering. It is not a therapeutic tool, and may not be suitable for processing instances of trauma. Beginners may wish to pick a situation that they can handle. Learn more from her book "Guided Buddhist Meditations" published by Shambhala Publications.

Transcript

We're going to meditate about how our own mind is the source of our happiness and our pain,

Creator of our own experience.

So begin by remembering a disturbing situation in your life,

Something that actually happened to you,

Maybe some conflict you were in with somebody.

And as you remember that,

Focus on what you were thinking and feeling during it.

Don't focus on what the other person was saying and doing,

But focus on what you were thinking and feeling.

And how did the way you describe the situation to yourself influence how you experienced it?

And depending on the way you describe the situation to yourself,

Then you experienced it that way.

And then you began to say and do things.

So how did your attitude affect what you said and did?

And how did what you say and do then again affect the situation and affect the other people involved in it?

Now go back again to the way you were thinking.

And ask yourself,

Was that realistic?

Was I really seeing the situation in an objective way?

Or was I seeing it through the filter of me and I and my and mine?

Because usually while we're in conflict with somebody,

We think we're perceiving an objective situation,

We think we're perceiving it accurately,

But since we're a major character in it,

We're usually filtering it through our own perspective,

Our own needs,

Our own agendas.

So go back and reflect on that.

See if that was happening when you were involved in the situation.

How else could you have looked at the situation?

What would the situation look like if you looked at it through the other person's perspective,

Their needs,

Their concerns?

What are other possible interpretations or ways of describing those events?

And how would that have changed how you experience the situation?

So as a conclusion,

Determine to be aware of how you interpret events and to be very mindful of when you're projecting negativities or when your view is narrow.

And make a determination to try and look at events in a very broad and compassionate and open-minded way.

Reviews

I am working through my challenges with compassion. This meditation really helped me reframe and be accountable for my place in a major dispute. Thank you for this teaching.

Great reflection on emotional conflict. Just the reminder I needed

Very helpful! This really opened up my perspective on a situation! 😊🙏

Wow another incredible meditation. What a insightful message and way to look at things differently.
I am in so much appreciation and gratitude right now. It’s hard to even explain in words.

Thank you, this is a very powerful meditation.🙏

This is a meditation strengthens our capability to be more compasionate confronting conditions when we thought was the worst moment. Thank you.

A reflection on conflict, thoughtfully guided.

Very helpful in those situations. Thanks

Love this teacher, always helps to look in a non attack way at my part. Very useful! Thank you. 🙏

Pauses are a little long, which is a refreshing change - many meditations seem to ask you to reflect and then move on quickly.

Thank you. The first question you asked brought me to tears and made me contemplate the difference between healing and or just suppressing trauma. More work to do!

Wow! This was powerful for me. Thank you so much for your wisdom. Will bookmark.

Thank you for your wisdom and sharing that with the world. 💝

A very good exercise in looking at a sirutation with a different perspective in hopes of diffusing the negative emotions that surround it. I'm still feeling a sense of injustice but my heart is more open to forgiveness. Thank you. x

Just what I needed help with to figure out. Thank you.

A bitter pill to swallow but worth remembering and striving towards. Thank you.

This meditation opened my mind and heart to others.

Good practical reminder of the role of perspective in experiencing any situation and how viewing with compassion and more broadly could change the experience. Helpful.

Great introspection