SteRo wrote: ↑Sat Oct 17, 2020 12:22 pm
No_Mind wrote: ↑Fri Oct 16, 2020 6:26 pm
Is that not bordering on self hypnosis?
Auto-suggestion? Yes, it's a method used in psychotherapy and Mahayana. But it is usually based on a line of reasoning which makes the desired thought appear to be real or true.
From the perspective of vipassana doctrine however it is coursing in formations (thoughts) which are impermanent and therefore miserable and which are not self.
Besides psychotherapy and Mahayana it is also used by positive thinkers.
The nutshell is this (I have read few thousand pages and watched many hours of video) -
If you are feeling miserable, depressed, down, sad, blue ...
Make a humongous effort to suspend your state of mind temporarily (at least 10 days but possibly 30 days).
Be positive .. even if your boss shouts, your neighbor's dog keeps yapping through the night, your car gets stolen .. do not under any circumstances feel negative. If you do end up feeling negative .. you start again from Day #1.
Also try reaching into cookie jar of memories .. your boss shouts .. go into a temporary state and relive the last time you were on vacation (or similar).
By around month 2-4 you would start observing things begin to change. You would find more opportunities, people would like you more, so on ..
One theory being .. (sort of quantum woo but not quite) .. if you are vibrating low (or heavy) bad things keep happening .. therefore vibrate high and be in a constant joyous state (sort of permanently being in first jhana) and over a year or three your life, health, wealth would get better.
Oddly enough this school of thinking has quite a bit of
sila attached to it.
No drinking, smoking, over eating, indulging of any kind. Being quiet, meditative, hard working, always going to bed early, waking up early, exercising daily, not indulging in lot of sex, having a daily prayer/meditative practice for 20-40 minutes, practice gratitude .. so on.
"The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man's heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy.”― Albert Camus