If you pull out your phone to avoid your emotions, you are not ready to pull out your phone. Everything you do on your phone will be neurotic, dependency-based, and ultimately destructive.

Imagine you find out your car is in need of repair. It’s starting to make a weird noise. Instead of having a mechanic fix it, you fill up the gas tank with sand. This is what we are doing when we turn to any escape from ourselves. There is a problem inside us, and instead of seeing what’s wrong, we dump in more junk to clog up the gears.

If we keep dumping sand in our gears to smother our uncomfortable feelings, eventually we are going to break down. We think we are self-soothing, but we are really accumulating and compounding stress, sadness and anger.

The key is to look closer. Stop running away from yourself. Stop fearing discomfort. And stop being controlled by your thoughts and emotions. See exactly what the nature of thought is. See every detail of these fleeting emotions and feelings and how they arise in the body and mind. 

When you truly look, you will discover that all experiences are nothing more than little fluxations, pulsations and vibrations within your field of consciousness. With steady awareness, you will notice that they arise atop a sea of calm and stillness. Only by looking will you discover the peace beneath the surface.

Once you are OK with the discomfort, once you have been able to welcome it completely, without resistance, then go about your day. Enjoy the pleasures of life. For now, they will no longer be a need or a distraction. They will be the play and exploration of this life, free from addictive craving or inner turmoil.

When we can sit with discomfort, everything in life becomes a gift. When we can observe our suffering peacefully, there is no more suffering.

Much love,
Todd

P.S. Here are a few other topics that I covered this week:

This Might Be the Biggest Mistake You’re Making (Listen Here)

2. Should Men Cry? Should Men Hide Their Emotions? (Watch Here)

Path to Peace with Todd Perelmuter Newsletter Email JOIN

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