Inner Freedom, Liberation of the Heart
You can take everything from a man except one thing; the last of human freedoms – choosing your own attitude to the circumstances that arise, choosing your way of being.
says Viktor Frankl, a Viennese psychiatrist who has survived the concentration camps.
Buddhist psychology VS Western psychology
What is special about Buddhist psychology is its lack of resignation in the face of pain. Thus, contrary to Western psychology which assimilates patients to passive beings, victims of biological and psychiatric forces that only external expertise can identify and help; Buddhist psychology considers that each of us is the expert of his own life, and that we have within ourselves all the keys to fulfillment.
It's about developing our attention and compassion to become our own psychologists. I would like to develop these subjects more fully in another article. Our unhealthy mental habits such as envy, anxiety, self-centeredness, restlessness, doubt, and shamelessness cause suffering. Wars, violence are all their forms and racism is the fruit of these unhealthy mental states.
With a certain training and an awareness of unhealthy states, however, each of us can relearn how to release our Heart, and thus to feel at peace. With Western psychology, the patient would undertake therapy to discuss his problems and be listened to once a week. With Buddhist psychology, these are daily and continuous trainings to teach patients to recognize their unhealthy mental patterns and learn to develop healthy ways of being. These practices bring us back to our innate wisdom and compassion, and then lead us to freedom.
Respect should be cultivated, and first of all, self-respect, which can go through self-confidence. When we learn to establish ourselves in our own natural goodness, it becomes easier to see the goodness of others. Nobel Peace Prize winner Nelson Mandela formulated this idea with his famous quote "It never hurts too much to think too much of a person; often, thanks to this, it becomes ennobled and acts better ‘’. Buddhist psychology begins with a recognition of the nobility and freedom of the Heart, which is innate in us and therefore accessible to all, by paying attention to it and by learning to develop healthy psychological patterns.
Developing our sense of respect always begins by trying to see what is healthy in the other. When we see what is beautiful and healthy in the other, we transform his Heart. We can cite as an example the Dalai Lama, who treats all the people he meets with love and respect, regardless of their social rank. Many people who have met him report that something different comes from him, simply because he treats each being as a special being, seeing the natural goodness of each. We should consider others and ourselves equally. Psychologist Viktor Frankl worked for a while with prisoners and gang members in the United States. He helped them with a psychological approach based on compassion and respect; and quickly realized this great truth: when a person in distress meets someone who shows them respect and esteem, it gives them the ability to admire themselves, to accept and recognize what is good in them. When we respect and honor those around us, we open a path to their own kindness.
A little simple exercise and practiced daily can help us to see the secret goodness of each. Start with a day when you wake up in a good mood and where you feel good. Establish in yourself the clear intention to be seeking, for this day, the inner goodness of 3 people. Pay all your attention to these people and seek to see what is most beautiful in them. It will of course be easier at the beginning to practice this exercise with certain people, but the more you will practice it and the easier it will become natural and easy to see the goodness of each one, even in front of the embittered people. Little by little, your Heart will learn to recognize in silence and to bless all those you meet, to see each one; and even people who are strangers to you; with respect and love.
If you decide to try the experience and want to share your feelings, post us a little comment following this article, the Personal Success team will be happy to read you and answer you!
Namaste.
