Beyond pat explanations for our unhealthy behaviors
Suppose an airplane crashes, leading to huge casualties and damages. When questioned about the cause of the crash, suppose the airline company reports, “The plane [...]
How to better manage our emotions
Our emotions are an essential part of who we are; without them, we would be reduced to a flavorless, robotic existence. Though they add value [...]
How curiosity can increase our self-awareness
We all are naturally curious: the many breaking news are just one among hundreds of things that cater to our curiosity. That universally present faculty [...]
How can we be grateful when we don’t feel grateful?
When we strive to cultivate gratitude, we often find it elusive. At one moment, we feel grateful; sometime later, we feel the opposite: fearful, fretful, [...]
You are not a negative thinker, even if your mind is
“You are such a negative thinker.” We may receive this discouraging feedback if we tend to look at problems in a given situation. Such labels [...]
Don’t let the craving for clarity distract us from working with whatever clarity we have
Suppose we are driving through a storm. If water, sleet and dust obscure our front window, we will keep navigating the car with whatever clarity [...]
Even if we can’t control our emotions, we can control the attention we give to our emotions
Suppose some hawker comes near our property and starts peddling their wares. If we pay attention to them, they will start promoting more loudly, excitedly, [...]
Our thoughts have no power on us till we give them our thought
The word ‘thought’ can refer to an idea popping up in our consciousness, as in “I got a thought.” Or it can refer to steady [...]
Act it till you achieve it
When we practice bhakti-yoga, we sometimes feel bored, apathetic, unconnected. We may wonder, “Am I being a hypocrite by practicing devotion when I don’t feel [...]
Not every thought is worth our thought
The word “thought” can mean two different things: an idea that has appeared in our consciousness (“I got a thought”) or our calm conscious deliberation [...]
Doing what we don’t feel like doing is not necessarily being superficial
Some people say, “Why should I practice bhakti when I don’t feel like doing it? I don’t want to be superficial. I won’t do it [...]
Understand the thought-wave under the thought
On the spiritual path, we strive to lead a pure life and to cultivate pure thoughts. But nasty thoughts sometimes come in our mind. We [...]
Thinking is natural, but thinking about thinking is special
All living beings think – thinking is a natural characteristic of consciousness. Though natural, thinking doesn’t naturally go in desirable directions. Misdirected thoughts can make [...]
Be reflective, not reflexive
Our physical reflexes often protect us from danger – if we unconsciously place our hand on something hot, it recoils from that object even before [...]
Look at the mind before you look with the mind
When a normally cordial friend snaps at us for no reason, we understand sympathetically, “That’s due to a bad mood.” When we identify the bad [...]
Our feelings are not always our feelings
The Bhagavad-gita (14.22) points to a fascinating thought-exercise that involves taking on the role of an observer towards our feelings. Let’s understand the whys and [...]