Shut Up, Mind! The Cycle of Bad Feelings and How to Come Out of It

Have you ever screamed at yourself in your head? Have you ever yelled at your mind to just shut up? I know I have.

Sometimes it feels like there is a really annoying person living in our heads, who just won’t stop talking.

So what can we do with this voice? First of all, we can ask the following question: Who is that voice?

There is one person that does the thinking–us. And there the unbearable person in our minds. That seems like two selves. But we can’t have two selves now, can we? One of those has to be fake.

We might want to call the annoying voice the illusory self. The very first step is to recognize it.

You are not the illusory self.

The name already suggests that this self, this voice, is not real. It is a delusion, so to speak. When we recognize that, it can give us an enormous sense of peace.

It’s a great realization–to know that we don’t have to listen to it, because it’s lying. We can be at peace despite of its ramblings.

Peace is every step.

When it comes to everyday life and making this peaceful realization permanent, we have to put in a little more effort. Walking in peace is a lifestyle.

With thoughts, feelings also arise. And those feelings are not so easy to shake off or ignore. If we notice the thought that causes them, we can stop the process before it even begins, but sometimes, we are not successful, and that’s okay.

What makes feelings worse is that we keep feeding them with more thoughts. The feeling validates the thoughts and vice versa. The feeling makes us believe that the thoughts must be real.

If we knew for sure that the voice was lying, we would be at peace.

That is the hardest part and needs practice. Because the illusory self can be damn persuasive. We need to practice not believing it. Recognizing its cycle and stepping out of it.

A lot of people say that they know they shouldn’t be angry or anxious or jealous, because it makes no sense, but they still are. And that means that they still believe the thought that causes them to feel that way. If they didn’t, the feeling would subside.

When I’m anxious, the feelings slowly goes away when I understand that the thought in my head is not reality. But if I don’t, the feeling stays. Because what we believe will remain our reality.

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