Watch This Before Your Thoughts Control Your Life | Shi Heng Yi Motivation transcript

Therefore, the first question is, if you don't know what type of thoughts are going to arise in the mind, [music] it doesn't make sense to me to blindly follow whatever comes up in the mind. The first question is, if you have ever asked yourself how much influence do you really think you have whether a thought is arising or not? So, meaning, this is sometimes the experiment that you can do for yourself or the people at home. >> [music] >> Try to calculate whatever next thought is going to come up in your mind.

So, do you have any influence in knowing what is going to be the next thoughts within the next 20-30 seconds are [music] going to arise in the mind? So, there was a time I did this experiment myself and I always come up to one conclusion. [music] I don't feel like I have too much influence or impact in [music] knowing what type of thought is going to pop up or arise within [music] the next seconds or minutes. I don't.

So, therefore, the first question is, if you don't know what type of thoughts are going to [music] arise in the mind, it doesn't make sense to me to blindly [music] follow whatever comes up in the mind. So, [music] this is where in the ancient teachings comes the saying, "You are not your thoughts." [music] This is the very, very first essential point to really reflect for yourself upon it. Do you truly believe that what you are thinking is you?

And that you have to follow everything that pops up in the [music] mind or is there an another perspective in simply viewing, okay, something is popping up. I don't really [music] know why. I don't really know actually what, but in the moment you have this additional distance to your thoughts, it already gives [music] you one huge advantage, which means the power to choose. Choosing what? Choosing to just let it pass or to >> [music] >> be hooked by it.

And being hooked by thoughts is the same expression that in the ancient text [music] sometimes is related to you have two choices. Either you master the [music] mind or you are being enslaved by the mind. So, and [music] this is, let's say, the two choices I do truly feel like that it's resonating [music] with what is happening nowadays. Any type of news pop up in the television, [music] you have no influence in it. Whatever the media is streaming, this is number one.

After it's been streamed or published, you have no influence anymore what from this you are catching upon your mind and afterwards, if you don't pay attention, [music] you also have no influence anymore what are you getting hooked upon. And that simply [music] means your life is not moving in a direction that feels [music] stable. It feels like your emotional state, your mental state is dependent [music] upon whatever impacts you are being exposed to.

And I just don't feel like this is the way of living. Let's see the the human being what we regard as it's our body in a way as a container. Our body is a physical container. Our mind is let's say a mental container. This container can be filled. So, what is the content that you're filling your mind with? So, and I do feel like social media has a very, very big impact nowadays in what actually is the content of your daily [music] thoughts, of your daily mind.

So, whatever you're consuming it is eventually exactly what you are going to be consumed by if you don't see it. So, it's like you don't even have choice [music] after some time anymore to not think what you have watched all the time. It influences you no matter what. There's only one possibility to literally see beyond that. And that is the question [music] where do all the thoughts arise [music] from? From where are they all coming?

And where are they going [music] afterwards? Where do they come from? You tell me. Where are the thoughts coming from and where are they going? Cuz one thing is for sure, whatever thought right now pops up, it is guaranteed it's not going to stay eternally there. So, at some point that thought disappears. [music] But where does where where does it disappear to? And in the first place, where [music] did it even come from?

It's a real strange question, yes. There are some things you can you can talk [music] for hours and hours and hours and for months and months and it's just talking for nothing. Okay. And there is another undeniable truth. Which is what sometimes is being called a very direct way of pointing to what we regard as towards your mind. Towards your mind. And that means whether you're American, whether you have any other nationality, >> [music] >> it doesn't matter.

Whoever is right now in this room, when I do this one, it's impossible to even unhear it. To even [music] not recognize it. So, what does it mean? What does something like this mean? There's nothing [music] more direct showing you where is your mind located. Cuz it's not [music] just that you hear this. You feel this. You are here. You literally feel this. Right? So. Yeah, without making now >> [music] >> I can do Yeah, but it's it's really difficult to put this into words.

Yeah, rationalizing, >> [music] >> analyzing, dissecting, trying to understand, but there's nothing to understand. Happens, goes, done. Done. And similar like thoughts. Right now, [music] you are let's say at peace. Why are you at peace? Yeah, cuz you're not thinking. Cuz there's nothing you're being hooked upon. You are >> [music] >> nothing not grasping on anything. But if a thought pops up, and then you start to hook upon it, and now the machinery starts.

Yes, but [music] then hooking upon it, starting the machinery, this is let's say, this is the pathway to misery. Why? Because you're trying to hold on to something that by nature is going to have the same nature just as >> [music] >> this sound. It comes from nothing. It returns [music] to nothing. It's only a problem if you get hooked [music] up on something that started arising. Now you hold on to it and you don't let it [music] go.

It's natural course. What its natural course? That is going to pass. And therefore, the interesting part is now, okay, if I am the one who is able to witness my thoughts that arise, [music] then I'm also the one able to witness my thoughts disappear. You're able to witness the rise [music] and you're able to witness the decline. If you're able to witness it, >> [music] >> one thing is for sure, you can't be the thought.

You cannot be the rise and you cannot be [music] the decline. You must be something, someone that is able to >> [music] >> witness it. So, and this is the state, this is the perception that [music] gives you peace. This is the perception that moves beyond good and bad, beyond joy and sadness. Cuz those things up and down, success and failure, living and dying, breathing in, breathing out. This is what we face in the world.

If you stay in these up and down cycles, this is what we call you simply stay in the world of polarity, in the [music] world of duality, in the world where it's always about having not [music] having, good, bad, positive, negative, I like, I don't like, pleasant, unpleasant, peace and war. You will never find peace like this. The only way to in a way answer this question for [music] yourself, is to see what all of what I just mentioned is embedded in.

And the foundation [music] of all of this, as strange as it sounds, seems to be simply nothing. Where does your thought come from? From nowhere. It just comes. And when it leaves, where does it leave to? Nowhere. There's no place it goes. It arises and it disappears. Your only problem is if you get hooked on these things. So, and now even though maybe it really sounds like completely [music] strange and people still cannot really relate to this, but just watch yourself.

Watch your own life. What gives you peace is to really understand the interplay of those >> [music] >> two forces. Same like in the very beginning, what gives you peace is the understanding whatever rises will decline. Once you really grasp it and understood [music] this deeply, whatever rises will disappear. Whatever appears will disappear. So, what's the conclusion? I won't put my whole being upon whatever arises, or >> [music] >> I also won't put my whole being into whatever disappears.

Because [music] I just meanwhile have seen it. Whatever appears disappears. [music] The main question is, who is the one who is able to >> [music] >> realize it? That is the stable point. That is the stable point. That is the one that doesn't [music] come from somewhere and that doesn't go anywhere. It's there, present [music] at all times, and this is where you stay. This is where the mind stays. And then suddenly, like everything that happens in the world, it's like you can witness [music] it, but be free of yourself being hooked upon anything. >> [music] >> You just see it.

You just see it's unfolding. Suffering [music] has a pattern, you know. Suffering has a pattern. It's Yeah, pattern [music] meaning there is a structure. Structure meaning what is it that we are regarding as a structure [music] in our life? It's habits. We have [music] habits based on We have habits in terms of actions. Some period in moment, we wake up in the morning, [music] there is some action that we're doing habitually.

It's the one side. But even [music] our mind, in the way of how the mind is operating, even that one has habits, [music] has patterns. And this is also like something to to look into. To be able [music] to to to in the best ways to directly [music] make the distinction between thought emotion >> [music] >> whenever they arise to not be [music] caught on them. To not be hooked by thought or be hooked by emotion. The ability of whatever arises, [music] you never know what it arise, never know how strong it is, but your ability to realize there is still something, no matter how strong it is, there is still something stable about you.

Then you can let [music] arise whatever it is. If you don't have an anchor and something [music] really powerful starts to immerse, then emerge, then it's difficult. Then you lose yourself. Sometimes [music] there are just forces and energies in this world, they are very, very strong. And if you are not able to have a proper root of yourself if you have nothing about your mind that truly is anchored steadily, you're going to lose yourself.

And therefore, what is it that I wish? Not just for my son, for everyone. Find [snorts] this root. Find this place it's stable. Yes, I I feel something [music] is arising, I feel something is coming, I see things are happening, but there's also something where nothing is happening. It's just there. And after all the fireworks happened and let's see what we do now. Okay, let's do it. Let's go.