Be very quiet and meditate in order to get the mind to settle down so you can look at your experience and see the element of what you're doing.

"Oftentimes we see ourselves as the passive recipients of experiences: things come in the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body; thoughts come into the mind. And we tend to miss how much we’re doing right now to turn those experiences into suffering.

The early Buddhists said that this point was the one where the Buddha’s teaching differed most radically from everything else that was available at the time: pointing to what you’re doing right now and the effects that it has right now. And also to the possibility for change. You don’t have to create that suffering for yourself.

But first you have to see yourself doing it. Otherwise, it simply seems to be a part of what you’re receiving. Actually, a lot of what we experience in the present moment is what we’re doing right now. And yet we see it as something happening to us. As a result, we don’t see the opportunity for change.

So when you look at experience, try to see that element of what you’re doing. Of course, to see yourself doing it, you have to be very quiet. That’s why we meditate, that’s why we try to get the mind to settle down and be still — so that you can watch what you’re doing."

~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Hope"

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