What we make of our lives

Our lives are series of experiences. A single day in one's life is a small replica of one's whole life. To change your life, you have to change every moment. Observe your body, mind, feelings, values, and how you respond to the various situations. First define your work. The field of your work is today. Are you reacting or responding to situations? If you are reacting, then the situation is controlling you, but if you are responding to it, then, your commitment is guiding you. When someone scolds you and you react, then the situation is controlling you but if you pause and observe your behaviour or question whether you should remain quiet or ignore him or answer him back.... then you are bringing your 'presence,' your conscious 'presence' to the situation. True responsibility is the ability to respond. I see my reactions are robotic. What do I do? The very fact that you are conscious shows that you are not a machine but a conscious being. Draw your energy from this consciousness. At present, you are not anchored in the 'presence' of your consciousness. Your 'I' is in the 'mechanicalness.' Your 'I' should be anchored in your consciousness. Bring this 'presence' in your daily activities of life. Bring the 'presence' of consciousness in your daily activities. The spiritual work-exercise is to bring consciousness in small activities of life. Be conscious of your reactions and be aware if your feelings have purity or the garbage of negativity. Be conscious of your voice. Is your body relaxed or tense? Are your thoughts compulsive? Can you be inwardly empty, free from the unnecessary thoughts? Find out whether your self-talk guides or distracts you. Why is my mind always talking? Our minds are constantly dominating our lives. We are entrapped by our minds and they become our enemies. Mind has a self-talk mechanism. Having compulsive thoughts is a psychological disorder. As we have not raised the level of our consciousness, our mind keeps on chattering. Do this exercise; just as a tiger waits and watches out for its prey, wait and watch out for thoughts that arise. At this moment shut your eyes, and observe the first, second and the third thought in that order. Do it right now. You will observe that no thoughts arise. When you are alert, thoughts do not arise. In the space of alertness, your 'presence' is more conscious. When our 'presence' has less consciousness, there are more thoughts. Hence when the mind is constantly talking, it indicates that your level of consciousness has not increased. More thoughts are a symptom of being less conscious. Consciously use your self-talk when required and when not required learn to be inwardly empty. How do I eliminate negative thoughts in my mind? Every thought creates a subtle substance. Negative thought creates a hurt body; positive thought creates a bliss body. The bliss body will uplift you while the hurt body will make you a victim of circumstances. Whenever a negative thought arises, see yourself as a witness and the thought as witnessed by you. You are the subject and the thought is an object. You are an observer and the thought is the observed. Slowly distance yourself from the thought. Observe how dominating your mind is and how compulsive thoughts are being processed. Finally, let there be absence of words. Learn to develop the taste of being without any self-talk.