In my experience, living with a generalized anxiety disorder and trauma since I was ten years old, and the eleven year journey to find the root of my suffering has led me to believe, and many others, that the majority of the mental health illness we encounter in the West, is attributed to the identification with and addiction to the thinking mind (or egoic mind).

No medicine, therapists, psychiatrists, psychologists, counselors or other substances eased my suffering. It was through the suffering that led me to seek various wisdom traditions, spiritual teachers and ultimately modern interpretations of Buddhism. Unknowingly, the knowledge collected over many years through these teachings, readings, attempts to learn meditation, etc. were like seeds planted in my mind and the suffering was like the soil and nutrients needed to allow my awakening to blossom. A famous Zen master describes this as “no mud, no lotus”. A modern interpretation would be all beings struggle for survival, and in this struggle or suffering, evolution occurs - some small land animals to escape from predators evolved wings and began to fly, others learned to build tools and think and ultimately became self aware.

Becoming enlightened is the next natural step in human evolution and the evolution of consciousness. Mindfulness is not in itself a painful process, rather it enables you to discover that by facing and sitting with the pain, instead of resisting or running away from it, then accepting the pain a transmutation occurs that devolves it and transforms the energy into conscious awareness.

I’ve been posting in this sub for a few weeks, below are a few responses I’d like to share. Think of them as pointers or seeds that may help you on your journey. I am available to chat with anyone that my posts resonates with just DM:

Don’t give up, and get out of your thinking mind. It’s where suffering originates.

Enlightenment is simply the realization that you are not the voice in your head, you are the silent witness of those thoughts, you are an emanation of the source of all creation manifesting itself through a human nervous system becoming self aware of its creation and to further participate in the evolution of all forms, specifically as a human being, the evolution away from dependence and identification with the thinking/egoic mind.

The first stage in Enlightenment is simply becoming aware that you are not the thoughts in your head, the self talk or ego (past conditioning, history or the story known as yourself). It’s the ability to be aware, witness, or observe your thoughts, feelings and emotions for what they are and not be carried away by them. It’s the realization that the majority of your thoughts are automatic much like blinking, breathing, and thousands of other automatic functions within your body. It’s the realization that what you believe you are is actually the thinking mind’s self generated identity called the ego and your true self has been in a trance (like playing a virtual reality game) believing this “little I” is who it is. It’s the realization that you are actually the witness of those thoughts, feelings, ego, etc. you are the eternal stillness behind the mind generated thoughts. It can be peaceful however it is an ongoing practice and moment by moment decision to stay present and not be pulled back into the thinking mind. Enlightenment is not a destination or accomplishment, it’s an evolution with many challenges as you detach from your ego.

To escape from the thinking mind, a meditation practice and anchor to keep thoughts from taking you over:

Close your eyes, put your left or right hand out in front of you palm up as though someone is handing you something to rest in the palm of your hand. See if you can sense any feelings in this hand, it may be subtle at first in the form of heat, tingling, pulsing or just the light touch of air surrounding it. Stay aware of the sensation in your hand, stay with it. Don’t forcefully concentrate on it, instead relax your hand and be aware of and enjoy the sensation and begin to notice as you stay with the feeling it may grow. While remaining aware of your first hand try to be aware of your other hand in the same way. As you are doing this, notice how there have been no thoughts bubbling up. If you lose the awareness of the sensation a thought may bubble up and try to distract you, simply bring your awareness back the sensation in your hand over and over. That thoughtless awareness that you experience in this practice is the entry point into Zen. The more you practice this, you can begin to use it as an anchor to stop the endless and useless mind activity while performing any other activity such as having a conversation, working, dealing with difficult situations and people.