is something we all deal with. A word, an action or some gesture sometimes, for no apparent reason, raises the devil within us. A stray thought, an imagined slight, banter, a thoughtlessly used word, an inflection of voice, an insensitive comment.....can all raise the devil within. There isn't any real reason why this should happen, other than the fact that someone has thrown a stone into the placid lake of your heart and mind. Giving in to this devil has only one result - disaster.
It's not a good feeling to go through - this raising of the devil inside - and the results can be so devastating, I felt I needed to try and make some sense out of it. So what happens. You are coasting along quite happily and cheerfully, chatting and relaxing, and someone banters or thoughtlessly says something which totally jangles you up. You start feeling upset/angry/hurt/wild.... Now here's the first catch - these are all emotions but what is really causing you to suffer is your judgment of what in the first place made these emotions surface. You've judged the word/gesture/action, that is, you've formed your own opinion based on something from the past - you've decided that this is hurtful/not called for/insensitive/thoughtless, and this judgment is now making you suffer. Further, since we all want to quickly get rid of these wretched emotions - and these have a way of sticking on - we start panicking and become anxious of what is going to happen (all this has been triggered off from incidents of the past).The result --- we go off into ourselves.....and so we effectively box ourselves in and the devil is doing its worst within us....
Why does this happen? We all want to be in a state of happiness. First, it would help a lot if we just took the word happy out of our vocabulary. Change it to consciously describe how you are feeling. (While at best of times it could be Contentment, Enjoyment, Laughter, Feeling of well-being, Cheerful, Peace of mind, Hopeful, Playful, Blessed, Secure)...right now, the not-happy-state you are in can best be described as being one of anger, upset, hurt.
And then once you have described it, you work on getting rid of it, simply because it has no place in your life - Here are two ways:
1. Practice mindfulness - Allow your thoughts and emotions to stream through and tell yourself that these thoughts and emotions don't define you. They will define you only if you give them the power to do so.
2. Whenever your mind becomes scattered, use your breath as the means to take hold of your mind again. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh
Breathe in and breathe out. It's not easy, but with practice it becomes easier.
The devil, seriously, has no place in our life....