Be Your Own Therapist

A relaxed class looking at recurring themes in our life, as they relate to body, speech and mind, actions and qualities. What issues have arisen with our actions? Our communication? Our way of framing the world? Where do we get stuck and forget to apply our ‘Dharma wisdom’? After informal discussion and a weekly catch-up through a Dharma lens, we conclude the class with a short meditation cleansing body, speech and mind.

This class is an easy-going introduction to the Buddhist approach to the mind. Participants learn how to pay attention to, identify and then unpack the thoughts that inform our emotions in day-to-day life and learn how to reconfigure them, rather than focusing on the event or person that triggered them. This is the key to success in Buddhist practice. As Lama Zopa Rinpoche says, “We can mold our mind into any shape we like.”

Whatever problem one experiences, when we investigate we find the benefits of problems – how they are beneficial for one’s own life, to develop one’s mind in compassion, to develop loving-kindness, patience, wisdom, and all the positive qualities for the path to liberation. By thinking of the benefits one develops this precious quality, this most healthy positive way of thinking that brings happiness and that stops you from harming yourself and stops you from harming others.

Before the class:
It’s informal, but it’s great to bring your consciousness to the deeper themes of your week. Here are some ideas to get you going…
– A recurring inner theme to the week’s events
– A hidden benefit, a silver lining
– How it could bring a benefit
– A new line of thought you might have
– Is it primarily to do with actions, speech, or emotions?