Change your mind, or change your circumstances?

Fleur de Frost · #1 30-09-2015, 07:35 PM

A huge amount of spiritual teachings seem to rely on perception: once you change your attitude about something, you can successfully alter it from a negative to a positive.

I am in total, 100% support of positivity. I love being happy! Happiness rocks! At the same time, though, I know sadness has been an important factor in guiding me towards that happiness. Can't have one without the other.

So if negative feelings arise from any external situation, is pushing them aside - just to adopt a brighter outlook - truly beneficial? How is it more beneficial than analyzing the existence of those feelings, where they came from, where they're leading you towards, and then making appropriate life changes to counteract them? Wouldn't that be better than remaining in a negative situation just for the sake of positivity?

I feel like I'm not comprehending the original philosophy, and I would be extremely appreciative for any deeper insight.
Thank you so much! :)

Clover · #2 30-09-2015, 08:23 PM

Well,we are human, we do have to feel our emotions, even the bad ones. That would be suppressing a very natural part of who we are. There are certain emotions you can not avoid such as pain and suffering. Those types of emotions you need to deal with before you can transcend them. I can imagine suppressing your emotions can create heavy energy blockages. I guess that is why people mediate and "ground" themselves; to declutter and clear the mind.

Lucyan28 · #3 30-09-2015, 08:28 PM

Rather than suppressing the emotions try to handle them in a healthy way, sometimes we could be happy for being sad, because that sadness is a reflection of a deeper message/lesson, if that makes sense.

Mr Interesting · #4 30-09-2015, 08:36 PM

Mr Tolle says that the nature of compassion is an equal mixture of joy and sadness and I find that a very profound and insightful statement.

It's like at any moment joy can tip quite easily into sadness but it's not mournful at all, it's the great wide depth of it all resonating in all the ways of seeing and it's beautiful.