What does your inner world look like?

Someone shouts at you, someone else insults you casually, another person leaves the fridge open for the tenth time in a row or leaves socks on the floor in the middle of the room. How do you react?

What happens, we can’t control. What we do, however, we must control.

“To enjoy good health, to bring true happiness to one’s family, to bring peace to all, one must first discipline and control one’s own mind. If a man can control his mind he can find the way to Enlightenment, and all wisdom and virtue will naturally come to him.” — Buddha

Now, you don’t need to look for a way to Enlightenment, but you need to control your own mind. You’re the only one who can. No one else can.

My family helps me discipline my mind. They sure know how to test my level of control. My parents sometimes get into an argument in the morning, and then when I appear in the kitchen I get a healthy dose of ‘do this, and this, and this’ right after I wake up. What could be more pleasant than that?

In that moment, I feel the anger and annoyance rise up in me. And then I have a split second to decide: do I allow myself to be angered or not?

Enter breathing

We overlook the simple power of taking a breath. It’s a trick that helps me relax ever so slightly in these moments of annoyance.

I have an evening habit that uses breathing to train concentration. I sit down for about fifteen minutes and just focus on my breath. My thoughts wander and then I bring my attention back to breathing.

What is amazing is how such a simple meditative practice can positively impact life. Sitting down and breathing made me realize that we can let go of thoughts. As an extension of that, we can let go of emotions.

“As he thinks, so he is; as he continues to think, so he remains.” ― James Allen, As a Man Thinketh

Thoughts are like keys to doors behind which emotions reside. Meditation has shown me that I can decide to leave the door to anger closed. I can decide to not open it and not invite the angry dragon in.

“We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world.” — Buddha

I like to imagine the inner world of people’s minds. Some are beautiful worlds full of joy and peace, while other worlds are filled with noise, clutter and chaos.

The wonderful thing is that we can build our inner world however we like. We are the architects of our minds.

What we choose to do, what we choose to focus on, becomes a part of our minds. By focusing our attention, we shape our inner worlds.

“Life is like a camera, focus only on what is important and you will capture it perfectly.” — Linda Poindexter

If we focus on the negative, we capture the negative into our inner world.

On the other hand, by focusing on the positive, we create a more beautiful inner world.

Focus on the positive and frame what happens to you positively. When there is beauty inside our minds, we can better bring it into the world our eyes see.

Make your inner world beautiful, you live in it 24/7.