Some days (and for me it always seems to be the day after the uposatha) everything just feels wrong. All day today I have been racked with anxiety alternating with frustration and anger. At what: just about everything. The dire state of our world, the economy, family…you name it and I’m suffering from it today. What to do? Stick with it as best I can I suppose and try to do as little harm as possible until the poison runs out.
Cattāri Brahmavihārā 
From Ayya Khema:
“…we can only know whatever we fix our attention on. If we take that realization into our daily affairs, life becomes much easier. We do not have to put our attention on things that are troublesome, making life difficult for ourselves. When we experience negativity, we do not need to keep that in our consciousness. We are free to move our attention to that which is absolutely true, namely impermanence, nonsatisfactoriness, and non-self. Or we can relate to the pure emotions of loving-kindness, compassion, joy with others, and equanimity. It is entirely up to us where our attention is focused. As an outcome of meditation we learn that we can choose what to think, which is a new and valuable approach to our states of mind.”
I used to practice pretty intensively in a “dry-insight” tradition. The instructions were always to watch each arising phenomena, including unwholesome mental states, until they passed. I always felt like that ran counter to what I read in countless suttas, and even in the Eightfold Path. Since I began the practice of recognizing unwholesome thoughts/emotions, accepting that they are there (i.e., not reacting with aversion) but recognizing that the mind needs to be retrained, and replacing them with wholesome thoughts/emotions, life has greatly improved. It’s not always easy, and there are rough days where I seem to just wake up on the wrong side of the bed, but there has been steady improvement in the ratio of wholesome to unwholesome mind states. Just my $0.02.
Here’s someone else’s thoughts on the matter:
“And what, bhikkhus, is right effort?
Here, bhikkhus, a bhikkhu generates desire for the nonarising of unarisen evil unwholesome states; he makes an effort, arouses energy, applies his mind, and strives.
He generates desire for the abandoning of arisen evil unwholesome states; he makes an effort, arouses energy, applies his mind, and strives.
He generates desire for the arising of unarisen wholesome states; he makes an effort, arouses energy, applies his mind, and strives.
He generates desire for the maintenance of arisen wholesome states, for their non-decay, increase, expansion, and fulfilment by development; he makes an effort, arouses energy, applies his mind, and strives.
This is called right effort.” (SN 45.8)
By: Savaka on 11/29/2012
at 11:49 pm
Savaka,
Thank you. That is exactly what I needed to hear today! Sukhi hotu!
By: Upāsaka on 11/30/2012
at 1:12 am