WE ARE WHAT WE THINK

Problems in life are inevitable, we cannot escape them, we do have no choice in this. What we do have a choice in is how we wish to address these problems. We have the choice to decide to allow these problems to make us anger, bitter, depressed, anxious, etc. Our other choice is to become patient, to transform our minds towards total acceptance. When problems befall us we can also think of the causes that we may have created or misguided deeds or actions that may have led to our present experience. We must realize that birth, death, aging, and sickness are events we cannot escape. So many people indulge in various distractions and temporary pleasures to not have to think of these events. However, all pleasures lead to suffering. For instance, we may have one drink that is pleasant and relaxing, but multiple can cause us to become ill or hungover. We must begin to examine our minds. Even if we are not raging, we must examine the angry minds we possess. Simply being impatient is an angry mind, it is a mind based on not being able to come to acceptance, of seeking to change that which cannot be changed. One of my clients, age 14, commented that he felt he has always had 'anger problems' and that he feels that he has always 'had problems in my life." I discussed with him the root of his anger, patience, and the concept of total acceptance. I told him that he can change his mind to not look upon himself as the 'kid with problems' but realize that we all undergo problems, it is the human condition, and that he can transform his mind to accept this fact and develop patience and total acceptance.

-Dan L. Edmunds, Ed.D.
www.humanepsychiatry.info