Help is on the Way

While knowledge of the vrittis is helpful, I have found it more helpful to be aware of the obstacles to a clear mind instead of focusing on which category of thought I am in. Let me know if you who are reading this have never experienced the following (and if you haven't, I would love to meet you!): Cravings, aversions, fear, ignorance, ego.
(in sanskrit: raga, dvesha, abhinivesha, avidya, asmita)

These are the kleshas, or obstacles to clear thought. Obstacles to the truth that we are not our thoughts, discussed at length at the beginning of the second chapter of the Sutras. I find it is often easier to catch myself in one of these states of mind, often several times a day, and when I do, I can say, “Oh, here's an obstacle, here's a chance to come back to the center of the wheel.” In that moment of awareness, I create a space between the thought and my mind's, body's, and/or spirit's reaction to that thought. In that space I have an opportunity to choose something different. Of course, in some moments it is easier to be aware than others and even in those moments of clear awareness, I can still choose to act from the illusion that mind and Self are the same. So, it's not about stopping thoughts, banishing these obstacles, or always choosing the 'higher path' (whatever that is), it's about creating space.

Think of a tiger in a cage, pacing and restless. Hardly an image of contentment. Give that tiger a bigger cage, or better yet, free it from its limitations, and it will find contentment and peace. Our spirit is like this tiger, when caged it is restless. The limiting forms of our thoughts create the cage and so, the more we allow our Self to be defined by limited beliefs, the smaller, stronger, more secure the cage and the more agitated the tiger becomes. I have found that simply being aware of when my mind is engaged in limiting thought, (when I catch myself craving, or in fear or any of the other kleshas) even if I still choose to act from this belief, it creates an opening in the cage. It creates a space for me to recognize that I am not that which I think, I am not my cravings, I am something more...there is another possibility for my Being, for freedom (moksha).

May you know your greatest joy and experience freedom of being,
Namaste.

(as an aside, i just discovered taking amino acid supplements can help with sugar cravings!)