Self-Help Equals Self-Analysis? Why? We have been talking about the egoic mind or the false self and the stories we allow it to create about us. I want you to take this weekend and really think about your (soon to be) old story that has limited you, blocked you and robbed you of a future you deserve. Write about it in your journal. Write about the person in the story of which you identify yourself as being. It may be a page, it may be twenty. How long it is doesn’t matter. What matters is that you step out of it and look back at who you think you are and write it down. Here is a point to ponder: That which is denied by the mind is trapped in the body. Stories are untested, uninvestigated theories or assumptions that tell us what things mean. The problem is we don’t seem to realize most of our stories are just assumptions. Remember it is the interpretation that makes are feelings so intense. I have never experienced a stressful feeling that wasn’t caused by attaching to an untrue thought or story. No one creates my story for me, I create it. Rather than understand the original cause, we try to change our stressful feelings by looking outside of ourselves. It is easy to get swept away by some overwhelming feeling so it is helpful to remember that any stressful feeling is like a compassionate messenger that says - “you are caught up in your story”. Get out of it! Depression, pain, fear, doubt and worry are gifts that say “take a look at what you are thinking right now.” You’re living in a story that is not true for you. When we get caught in the dream or the illusion, we try to alter and manipulate the stressful feeling rather than deal with the thought behind it. That’s why I say that any negative emotion is an alarm clock that is designed to wake you up to the fact that there’s a thought that you may want to investigate and get rid of. Inquiry and investigation of any thought that is untrue will always lead you back to happiness and who you really are. If you put your hand in a fire does anyone have to tell you to move it? Do you have to decide? No! When your hand starts to burn, it moves. You don’t have to direct it. The hand moves itself. In the same way, once you understand through inquiry and investigation of any thought or story that is untrue and realize it is causing you suffering, you will move away from it. It is simple logic. Before the thought you were not suffering. With the thought you are suffering. When you recognize the thought isn’t true, you will go back to not suffering and return to happiness. Self-inquiry is the way to end all suffering and to experience peace, even in a world of apparent chaos. Above all else, self-inquiry is about realizing that all the answers you will ever need are inside of you and are always available to you if you are willing to give up your story. Have an amazing and blessed weekend, and be encouraged. If you are keeping up with me things are stirring around in your precious soul. Dr. Benny Copyright 2011 Dr. Benny Morris