Mind and Actions
When one tries to change actions purely at the surface level, it is all in vain. The pull toward an action and the push away from it are just two sides of the same coin of the mind. If you think you can force or manipulate this balance using various techniques and methods, you are mistaken; soon enough, the other side of the coin will face you, and the pull back toward it will be even stronger. It is like fighting with your own hands: completely futile, leaving all your energy drained in the end.
Even a person who has spent a lifetime forcing themselves away from certain habits, like practicing strict celibacy or abstaining from non-veg, often finds themselves vulnerable as death approaches. Why? Because the willpower required to suppress that pull weakens. As a result, the mind reverts to the very habits it spent years pushing away. When death arrives, those suppressed longings surface, binding them to the cycle of rebirth once more.
So, the real work is to observe the coin itself. Watch both the pull and the push together. Watch the routines, the discipline, and the justifications you create to stay away from bad habits, don't just throw them away blindly. If, through clear awareness, you realize a habit no longer serves you and needs to be dropped, then so be it. Delete it.
Where many make a mistake in spirituality (at least, where I did) is deleting all the structures that keep us in check against destructive pulls, our so-called "good habits." I used to throw away my routines and habit trackers, telling myself, "Since these belong to the mind, I shouldn't depend on them." But what happens to the habits we label as procrastination or negativity? The trackers were simply instruments of the mind. Once I deleted them, my mind became far more vulnerable to negative patterns because the system of check and balance was gone. The repressed, negative side of the mind will always seek a way to overpower the positive side, even though both are just aspects of the mind.
The key insight to never miss is this: instead of focusing on deleting the instruments of the mind, simply be aware while using them, whether you choose to keep them or discard them.
You must have an internal system to stay aware of the mind.
Identify every action and habit you engage in, and practice presence. If you can learn how to be aware for just 1 second, you can extend that awareness to 48 seconds, 48 minutes, and 48 hours.
Spiritual masters often teach us to begin this practice sequentially: start with the body, move to the mind, and then observe feelings and emotions.
Try listing the activities you do across these levels:
1. Physical Body
Good: Waking up early, drinking water, exercising, lying down, breathing, eating, chewing.
Bad: Procrastinating physical tasks, slumping/poor posture.
2. Mind
Good: Forming ideas, making conclusions, discerning whether to accept or reject an idea.
Bad: Mental procrastination, overthinking, destructive thoughts.
3. Feelings & Emotions
Good: Happiness, excitement, hopefulness.
Bad: Frustration, sadness, despair.
Basically, no matter what you are doing, be aware. Start with the body because it is dense and easily observable, then gradually move inward toward the subtle layers of mind and emotion.
When you do this, your life will no longer be driven by the conditioned mind, with its endless dualities and changing faces, but by pure consciousness, deeply aligned with existence itself.
If you found this useful, please let me know!