Taking in the Good

Your mind is built from the experiences you have. This flow of experience sculpts your brain, thus shaping your mind. When we create, preserve, and increase the beneficial memories and prevent, eliminate, and decrease the harmful ones, we shape the inner landscape and atmosphere of our minds in good ways.

However, the bias of the brain, because of our primitive program for survival, tilts the positive memories in a negative direction. To overcome this unconscious tendency we need to consciously take in positive experiences. This is accomplished by noticing the good things that happen in our daily lives: the taste of an orange, the smile of a friend or stranger, the minor successes at work or play, the vibrancy of children and so on.

These everyday ‘minor’ miracles need to be savored. Stay with them, make them last for 10, 15, or 20 seconds. The longer you consciously hold these positive experiences in your mind the more emotionally stimulating they become. In these moments, the neural pathways for good are strengthened. This ‘pausing’ for goodness enriches the mind by infusing the positive into the negative thus creating a gradual change of mind.

Practice taking the time to feel the good experiences entering deeply into your mind. Imagine them being like the radiant energy of the sun penetrating your body and warming your heart. Relax your mind/body. Consciously absorb the positive emotions, sensations, and thoughts of the experience. Observe the expansion of the good. Ahh.

When you experience recurring upsets, become aware of their deep roots. They are typically connected to childhood experiences. Direct your positive experiences toward these roots to dissolve and eliminate them. Doing this pausing, observing, and infusing practice over months and years will gradually change how you feel and act toward yourself and others in positive far reaching ways. Imagine the good filling all the hurts.

Taking in the good doesn’t mean you have to put on a happy face for everything. It doesn’t ask you to turn away from the hard things of life. It simply asks you to nourish the wealth, opportunities, wisdom, and well-being inside you. It invites you to awaken to the goodness that’s ever present in the moment. It invites you into a sanctuary you can always come from and return to: a space called Home deep inside yourself connected to your essence, beauty, and awesomeness. Imagine living in this present goodness. What does this moment ask of you? Maybe to take in the good and savor it?