Monday, August 5, 2013

The Tyranny of the Mind

My Tai Chi teacher tells me the mind's job is to evaluate.  It can't seem to stop weighing and measuring just about everything.  This is where "judgement" comes in.  Good/bad, black/white, friend/enemy.
Discernment is another kettle of fish.  This is where we evaluate what works for us and what doesn't.  No judgement, just practical analysis.
In my ongoing search for what happiness means to me, I realized that I had to put my mind to work on discerning without evaluating.
My mind would say: "Housework=Bad".
But it felt good to get the place clean.  It added to my sense of well-being.
"Well, then", says my ever-changing mind: "Housework=GOOD".
No.  It depends.  If it feels good at the time it's good.
I decided to use that measure to discern what actions contribute to my feelings of well-being.
I realize I'm still using what I do as a way of analyzing how I feel, but it's early days in my search to find the path of unreasonable happiness. I'm still looking for the meaning of the word; but it's a place to start, and I'm glad I've begun.

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