How to avoid doing things that suck the energy out of you?
Upvote:2
Cultivating a mindful attitude to towards negative emotions has been shown to reduce depression, anxiety etc. in a variety of studies - Is Mindfulness Good Medicine? Cognitive Behavioral Therapies (CBT) have also shown great promise to alleviate anxiety and depression - Is cognitive-behavioral therapy more effective than other therapies? The CBT approach basically states that what we think we feel. So when you find yourself
... reacting to your arising defilements
You are using enormous amounts of unnecessary energy identifying with these emotions i.e. not being mindful. This is likely to lead to other negative emotions like depression which in its turn leads to negative thinking patterns which then cause more negative emotions. So in a very real sense you are falling into patterns that quite literally
... suck the energy out of you
The Buddha wisely recognized these truths that are now being verified in the laboratory. So this is very sage advice and I second it:
To make a strong commitment, you want to cultivate right effort by making a continuous effort, by hanging out with wise spiritual friends, by balancing energy with concentration and by not doing things that suck the energy out of you like reacting to your arising defilements, eating too much and getting lost in mental proliferation.
It may be of interest to note that in Buddhism the three main causes for all the other defilements are ignorance, attachment, and aversion which then lead to anxiety, fear, anger, jealousy, desire, depression, etc.
Upvote:8
This is one of the things you learn from a live teacher, not usually found in books. Briefly, few of the main points I was taught, in no particular order:
- ego - a lot of energy is spent on defending the self-image, rationalizing, finding excuses etc.
- negative/pessimistic thinking - another major energy hog is thinking of the kind "things are wrong and are impossible to fix", excessive focusing on the issues and bad news.
- masturbation and sexual activity - o*g**m is traditionally considered a major point of energy loss.
- non-spartan lifestyle - relaxing into one's weakness for sensuous comfort.
- having no agenda - allowing other people, things, and circumstances drive you around.
- inner conflict - blaming or judging oneself non-constructively.
- doubt - anxious wavering back and forth.
- not taking responsibility - organizing one's action around other people's approval and acceptance instead of taking ownership of one's choices.
- alcohol - consumption of alcoholic beverages.
- low energy food - food that is spoiled, expired, frozen and reheated, over-processed, lifeless, and generally bad quality.
- posture - an important factor of energy loss is a posture and gait that moves the body weight off the center of the feet and too much towards the toes or the heels.
I will add more points here if I remember any.
More post
- π Meditating dead monks
- π Why should progress in meditation lead to rebirth in a more worldly setting?
- π Is lying at a job interview breaking a precept?
- π Is stream entry in 20 or 30 years of practice realistic?
- π Do Buddhists need affection, physical touch or intimacy?
- π In Yogacara Buddhism, is discontinuity an illusion, and does change arise?
- π How do we determine when to use logic and reason in Buddhism?
- π Is it a sin to organize liqour & meat on cutomer request as a prt of my job?
- π English (or other European) translations of Pali Canon
- π Is it possible to "naturally" reach the first three jhanas
- π Weird experience during meditation
- π Best way to develop different meditation practices (simultaneously or not)
- π What are the physiological effects of mindfulness based meditation?
- π If a buddhist had the opportunity to stop the holocaust by killing hitler, should he or she do it?
- π Is it necessary for a Buddhist to believe that existence is suffering?
- π What's the difference between a "primordial consciousness" and a soul?
- π Maintaining the emotional state achieved in meditation through the rest of the day
- π What did the Buddha said and taught about sharing demerit?
- π What significance does the dragon hold within Buddhism?
- π Is nibbana the only next world in reality?
- π How to explain to someone with no knowledge about Buddhism what is meant by "extinguishing" the self?
- π Is Mahasi Sayadaw's "counterfeit dhamma"?
- π What is sex without attachment to sense pleasure actually like?
- π Is it the EARTH only Place that can give birth to a Buddha?
- π What is Bodhicitta?
- π What did the Buddha do, and what does a teacher do, to teach?
- π Is it possible to become UNenlightened?
- π Buddhism and Losing Determination
- π Enlightened Lies - Can lying be the correct action in certain situations?
- π Is playing computer games an unwholesome activity?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- π How to avoid doing things that suck the energy out of you?
- π What can be done about wanting to change things in the present that you can't?
- π How do you tell a 4-year-old who the Buddha was?
- π Meditation, compassion: How to handle people who dominate you in the office?
- π How to refute the idea that Buddhism might be actually "too extreme"?
- π How can you see suffering in the breath?
- π How do you decide when to stick up for yourself and when to let things go?
- π How does a monk cope with all the bad things happening in the world if the only thing monks do is sitting and meditating?
- π How do you help or take on the sufferings of others?
- π How do Buddhist monks find reincarnations of previous monks while filtering out the wrong persons?
- π How to avoid apathy in the absence of self?
- π How can the Buddha (after he was enlightened) reflect that he was not at ease and then became at ease in seclusion?
- π If Buddha is able to predict the future of other sentient beings how can freewill be possible as its very nature is that of unpredictability?
- π How can I remedy the erratic energy-power that arises from vipassana aka cessation-contemplation meditation so I can feel more in-control?
- π How do you tell the difference between review of a path and the next path?
- π How do you develop the right view with lack of information, knowledge and time?
- π How different is the lifestyle of male monks from that of the female monks?
- π How can anyone who hasn't realised the truth, claim that Mahatma Buddha or any other person in history realised God or the Truth?
- π How do I refute the claim that the Buddha was actually preaching Vedanta?
- π How to avoid the dangers of gain and honor (lΔbhasakkara)?
- π How does rebirth fit with the fact that everything is impermanent?
- π Things that I have pirated in the past
- π How can the world's youth discover careers that are aligned with consciousness and Buddhism?
- π Does Avalokiteshvara speak through the Buddha in the Heart Sutra? Or how is it that Avalokiteshvara speaks to Shariputra?
- π How can I stop feeling guilty that Iβve taken the lives of so many insects in my life unintentionally
- π πWhat are the things that prompt people to follow the Dharma?
- π How to be kind when you don't like people or the world?
- π How do you properly practice the more abstract precepts?
- π How can one avoid the suffering after getting cheated?
- π As a Buddhist, how shall we make sense of the notion that there is no such thing as a Soul?