Do you ever feel like the entire universe is in competition with you? When things go wrong—you lose a job, fail an exam, or face a personal betrayal—it feels like the world is crushing you. But what if the problem isn't the world? What if the problem is how you handle your own mind?
In this post, we explore a powerful perspective on human suffering and how to stop being your own biggest obstacle.
Stop the "Me vs. The Universe" Competition
Most people live their lives as if they are at war with existence. This is a battle you can never win. You must realize that your existence is a constant transaction with the universe. You breathe its air, eat its food, and walk its earth.
When you create a psychological condition where you are "against" the cosmos, even the smallest setback feels like a catastrophe. If you are in competition with the universe, you will inevitably feel crushed.
You Are Suffering Your Faculties, Not Your Life
Most of the time, what we call "suffering" isn't actually happening in reality. Humans have two unique, fantastic faculties that no other creature possesses:
Vivid Memory: The ability to remember the past.
Vivid Imagination: The ability to plan for the future.
The irony is that we use these gifts to suffer. You suffer what happened ten years ago (memory) and you suffer what might happen tomorrow (imagination). You aren't suffering life; you are suffering your inability to handle these two tools.
Key Insight: If we took away half your brain, you would be "peaceful" and without anxiety, but you wouldn't be human. The goal is not to lose your mind, but to learn how to use it.
Don't Take Yourself Too Seriously
We are here for a tiny blip in time. Countless people have walked this earth before us; they were "big" people too, and now they are all topsoil.
When you realize your life is a brief "pop up" in the grand timeline of the cosmos, the weight of your problems starts to feel lighter. We often turn our minds into warehouses of stress, acting as if we are carrying the whole world on our heads.
Where is the User’s Manual?
We have been given the most complex machine on the planet—the human body and mind—but we haven't bothered to read the user’s manual. We blunder through life, letting our thoughts and emotions run wild.
Spirituality isn't something for the elderly or for when you are 70; it is the technology of learning how to handle this machine now.
Is This Already Heaven?
Many people wait for a "heaven" because they have made a mess of this place. But ask yourself: Do you have any proof that you are not already in heaven and just messing it up? By not learning to handle your basic faculties of thought and emotion, you create a hell out of a beautiful existence.
Conclusion: You Should Not Be the Issue
External problems will always exist. Life will throw challenges at you daily. But while the world may have issues, you should not be the issue. The moment you learn to handle your own thoughts and emotions, "hard times" lose their power to crush you. They simply become situations to be handled.
