What is negativity?
Supposing you suffer from a business failure due to some reason, how would you react? You would feel sad that you met with failure; that is ok. But you will not stop at that. You will allow all sorts of things to enter into your head.
Oh, this is my bad period!
Everything I touch is sure to be a failure!
I am good for nothing!
Why am I always so unlucky? And and so on!
This is negativity. This is the root of worry. 99% of our worries are never true. It is just negativity, that's all
99% of our worries are never true. It is just negativity, that's all.
Gradually, this negative chatter solidifies in your being and becomes a negative influence in everything that you do. And you are so unconscious of this solidified thing in you; that is the danger. To make you acutely aware of this in your system itself is a big task because it has become your very nature. You don't see it as something different from you. You feel that is the way.
The clinical name for this negative attitude is depression. Some people are less depressed, some people are more depressed. The more you allow this chatter to consume you, the more depressed you become. The people who are less depressed feel it only occasionally and that too at a lower degree whereas the people who are more depressed feel it most of the time in a severe fashion. But the current is flowing for both.
So depression or negativity is nothing but a collection of negative thoughts, which you speak
Worrying is only a highly reinforced habit.
to yourself. And once you allow such thoughts to enter into your mind, the same thoughts will keep playing back every time you suffer a small failure. It will keep reinforcing this attitude. After all, worrying is only a highly reinforced habit.
But it is a mere habit and so you can kick it like any other habit! But you don't think it is only a habit; you think it is a solid reality. That is the problem. That is why you are not able to kick it.
Remember: the mind is an excellent recording system. It stores your negative thought patterns, your complexes and your worries. Whatever you teach the mind, it learns and repeats faithfully. This is how you create a solid mental make-up of negativity. So be very careful what you tell your mind. We always take so much care in how we speak to others, but we never care about how we speak to ourselves.
Just like poor eating habits cause cholesterol to accumulate in your arteries, constant worrying causes worries to solidify in your being. In the same way as cholesterol creates blockages in your arteries, worry creates energy blockages in your energy.
Over a period of time, worrying The mind is an excellent recording system. It stores your negative thought patterns, your complexes and your worries. becomes part of your nature; it becomes an unconscious act. Even if you reason your worries out, the low mood still remains. Why? Because all your worries, all your anger, you have suppressed over the years, and they are still there as an invisible layer in your being. Worry is the wave that rises from time to time, but depression is the water itself.
How do we go beyond depression or negativity?
Just be aware and alert. Whenever you become aware of a negative thought surfacing, just visually scatter the negative words and see them disperse. If you keep doing this, you will not allow the negative patterns to settle, and with time your mental make-up, your mental programming will change; it will not be negative any more.
If you go beyond inner chatter even for a few moments, you will become more aware, more alive. You will understand that worry is unreal, unnecessary.
If you go beyond inner chatter even for a few moments, you will become more aware, more alive.
Q: Swamiji, are thoughts a part of the mind, or are they an expression of the mind?
Your mind and your thoughts are one and the same. There is no difference between mind and thoughts. Mind is thought and thought is mind. The mind is nothing more than the collection of your thoughts, the continuous flow of ideas. And thoughts are no more than the words that you speak to yourself continuously.
When you worry, allow yourself to enter deeply into it, with acceptance and clarity. Don't be afraid to enter into it. Remember: acceptance is not impotence. Acceptance is a great meditation technique. Acceptance releases a great energy that gives you great clarity and liberation.
When you accept your worries, when you enter deeply into them, you will come to a tremendous understanding that all your worries are just your own creations. You will be able to see how your mind plays and causes tension in you.
When I tell you worry is unnecessary, you can understand it only intellectually. When it becomes your own experience, you will go beyond worries. Then depression
Acceptance releases a great energy that gives you great clarity and liberation. cannot touch you. You will go beyond misery*.*
A small story:
When I was staying in Calcutta, taking classes on the Isha Vasya Upanishad, a man came to see me.
He said, 'Swamiji, I have a problem. I don't sleep well at night because I live in an area where there are many street dogs. Every night they start barking, and keep barking till sunrise. I am already a very light sleeper, and I am unable to get any rest because of this noise.'
I told him, 'Go home and try this tonight. When you hear the barking, just drop the anger, the negative feelings that rise up in you. Just listen to the barking sound without resisting. Tell yourself that the dogs are barking, that's all. Don't allow yourself to react to it. The problem is not the barking, but your resistance to it.'
The man went back and tried what I said. After a few days he came back to me and reported, 'Swamiji, I tried dropping my resistance as you said. Instead of thinking, how dare those stupid dogs spoil my sleep, I just relaxed thinking,
The dogs are barking. They are spoiling my sleep…
The dogs are barking…
Some animals are creating some sounds… By the time I came to that sentence, I think I fell asleep. Anyway, I've been having excellent sleep all these days. Thank you Swamiji!'
This can happen with you also. Any situation can be dealt with, if you know how to drop your negativity, if you know how to drop your negative reaction to it.
But the mind is so eager to repeat familiar patterns of inner chatter. It always looks to typecast things. It all the time compares past, present and future and gives birth to worry.