Every day, thousands of thoughts, responses, reactions, feelings, and emotions pass through us. We can’t stop them; they happen all by themselves, continuously, but we can do something. We can do something that is extremely powerful; we can see them and let them go. We can watch alertly, see them arrive, and let them go. We are talking about a skill. A skill that is God-given to every man or woman. Some people are lucky to develop this skill, and others don’t know it exists and live right there.
Let’s look at this in another way: we can continue to suffer and thrill over our reactions or decide we have had enough. We can turn away from what does not work and turn to what does work. Tired of troubles? It’s possible to stay out of trouble in the 1st place. Self-observation is a powerful tool for inner freedom. Watching keeps you safe in a crazy world. Just because you have gone wrong for 60 or so years does not mean you can’t turn to what is right today. You can absolutely.
Learn to let it go. Your personal life will become bright and cheery. Start your self-development today.
This watching keeps you safe from wrong involvements in relationships, both personal and business. The skill of sensing something is not right about a new acquaintance is what keeps you safe. Many haven’t developed this and blunder into wrong relationships, suffering from wasted energies and dwindling bank accounts. Wise up today and do the necessary work on your inner life. You will look back one cheery day and realize you made the right healthy choice.
So true. This watching has enable me to avoid so many disasters, some of them major. In younger years before I knew of higher truth, my life was chaotic, confused, painful & so much more and there were some major calamities. Since finding & practicing Vernon Howard’s teaching, all that changed; the longer I practice the better things got. My life has continued this way for decades & I’ve had a wonderful life. I’m now enjoying a wonderful, carefree retirement. Without this teaching I would not likely to have lived to retirement age, & even if I had, I would have had no means to retire. That seems certain. Thank you Vernon.
In years of practice I have seen that the thought stream never left. What is different though, is that it’s as if in the background or off to the side of my attention, & though I continue to watch as if in the corner of my eye, this no longer captures my central attention as it used to. Yes, I see that it’s there while remaining alert, but the main part of my attention is on real things like practical matters or spiritual contemplation, etc. In earlier years I made every effort to to keep my full attention on this mechanical stream but eventually came to view this as counterproductive. Of course self-observation & self-remembering remain both legitimate & essential but that’s entirely different from the mechanical thought stream.
Yes John, clearly an inner shift has taken place, and even if nobody else knows it, you absolutely experience it daily. You realize that all the work of self-observation is paying off, and you would and could never go back to that sad existence you use to live with. A new inspiration is born and you are so glad you persisted. You decide inwardly to stop hiding from the truth, and that exposing what is not true is shocking at first, but that you are getting healthier with your continued self work. If you do goof, you can look back and see why you goofed. You can’t lose with the Light close by. So you decide to stay close because it is the sane thing to do.