de-training the mind and relaxing

[rootroot]

a brain is trained to interpret words and situations to mean something negative & then re-interpret them into personal attacks(when people are just talking about regular things), is there a meditation to clear and release that?

 

i'd also like it if sounds didn't make me flinch too.

 

any help would be much appreciated

[thelerner]

Both problems are eased by creating space in the mind. Space between stimulus and reacting.

 

One way to get space is a vispassana (awareness) type meditation. I use this variation; I shake out my body, sit down to meditate. Say to myself "I'm not my body, I'm that which inhabits it. I'm not my thoughts, they pass through like clouds in the sky. I'm not my emotions, I acknowledge them and let them settle like waves in a pond. I'm not my past, those are old patterns and reruns. I'm not my future, thats pointless projections. I sit here and now. I seek to go home.

 

After a few months, I shorten the speech to - Go Home I like the book 'A Gradual Awakening' by Daniel Levine.

 

Its a nice practice. Once internalized it helps lessen the big ego. (I'm still working on that ) Gives you a chance to see whats happening before you react to it. Hopefully, we get to the point where no offense is taken, no counter attack needed.

 

The deeper your daily calm the less react to sudden noise. Counting breaths is very useful. Not just for meditation. Throughout the day, like a mantra, counting 1 through 10, over and over. It quiets the mind.

 

 

Hope that helps.

 

 

 

Michael