The Aitareya Upanishad asks: "Who is this Self on whom we meditate? Is the Self by which we see, hear, smell, and taste? Through which we speak in words? Is Self the mind by which we perceive, direct, understand, know, remember, think, will, desire, and love? These are but servants of the Self, who is pure consciousness."
How often is the Self really the master of the mind? Most of the time, it feels like the complete opposite. The mind is dragging me along, bounding from experience to experience, and my higher Self is careening behind, calling out "wait a minute," "slow down," "WHOAH NELLY!"
Today in meditation I was recalling my approach to the pain I had after my shoulder surgery, and realized that I can approach situations and emotions the same way. Rather than labeling them as difficult or painful; rather than labeling someone as unreasonable or mean; I can try to look at the raw data, pixel by pixel. Acknowledging, but not reacting to, how I feel about it, I can examine it frame by frame, and take actions that are most conducive for planting good seeds for the future. If hindsight can make experiences feel completely different than they did at the time, why not foresight? Or present sight?
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