#193 — Meditation in an Emergency

This is an emergency in which the most effective contribution you can make to your own well-being—and the well-being of others—is to stay home.

People seem to prefer the company of murders and rapists to the prospect of being locked in a room with their own minds.

If you care about your own sanity, and you care about offering effective support to those around you, it’s worth paying attention to the mechanics of your own mental suffering, anxiety, self-concern, and agitation. The alternative is to promulgate your unhappiness to others.

You really do have a choice of which mind to have. Just as much as you can choose to maintain your physical health, or you can choose what to eat and whether or not to exercise, you can choose what you do with your attention.

If you don't have enough attention to notice thoughts, they simply seem to become you.