3rd Post How Can Mindfulness Reduce Suffering & Make Life Better

No matter what the specific cause of our personal agony or fear, there is one dimension that we all have in common: the mind. Without the mind there is no suffering at all. Surgeons can cut into my body but since I am asleep their assault has no effect on me. With the help of anesthesia my mind is blissfully out of the loop. The most dreadful things in the world can occur to me but if I'm asleep or unaware I am blissfully untroubled.

Why?

Because my mind is out of the picture.

Bring it back the mind however and then watch out! Misery returns in the blink of a thought. Worries about the future, regrets over the past, and confusion about the present crowd my head with a conflicted chorus of thoughts, ideas, wishes, and impulses. 

When I sit with my clients I often find myself sketching out this diagram:

 

 

 Of course, getting the mind out of the picture is not very practical (unless we want to remain tethered to anesthesia). The best we can do is to manage the mind so that it serves our purposes without making matters worse.