Downward Spiral

meh_

Hey guys

Life is spirally downward leading to massive amounts of karmically unskillful, mindless actions.

Buddhist approach to getting myself out of a downward spiral?

SherabDorje

Can you be more specific?

meh_

Really Im just stuck in a loop of:

Mucking stuff up -> Being pissed off about it -> Stop caring -> Muck more stuff up -> Get pissed off.

Just sort of like life has gone from control - 'hey im getting somewhere!', to my old habits.

meh_

Sorry for the lack of specificity, tired xD

GuyC

hi Meh,

I am going to take a stab in the dark here, I could be way off:

Maybe you have certain expectations on yourself about how you "should" be and how you "should" feel...(e.g. "Buddhists are supposed to be kind and compassionate and happy, I don't think I am any of these things, there must be something wrong with me!")

If my guess is correct, then, the problem is not that you aren't those things (kindness, compassion, etc), it is that you think you should have a higher degree of these qualities than maybe you currently do. This is fine, just make peace with where you are at. You feel depressed? Okay, give yourself permission to be depressed. Just acknowledge where you are and make peace with that.

You might think "okay, I am making peace with depression...why won't it go away now?" ..this is not making peace, this is just another way of trying to tell your mind what it "should" be and how you "should" feel. If you really embrace depression then you won't mind being depressed. Give depression a big hug.

This is not a resignation, it is Right Intention. Develop kindness towards yourself, develop patience towards yourself. If the mind feels like it has no freedom then it may sulk. Take care of your mind, this is the cause for happiness, then when the mind is happy you will have all the energy you need to do the things you think you "should" be doing.

Metta,

Guy

formermonkJohn

recognize that going downward is a problem(youve done that)
What causes downward spirals?(youve asked that)
By recognizing (with the help of mindful beings)the causes of downward spirals,
You have to meditate and decide which causes are real, and worthy of trying
after putting , worthy theoretical plans into action,
if your downward spiral turns around or at least gets no worse,
you have found some if not all of the causes of downward spirals,
if it doesn't work, try other plans,
repeat the process til you find plans that work

THIS IS CALLED APPLYING THE FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS TO ELIMINATE DOWNWARD SPIRALS
readers what possible plans might we suggest??????????????????

metta

aMatt

meh,

Consider giving a little bit more specific detail about what you're feeling apathetic about. Context makes a big difference.

As a general rule, if we are getting caught in loops and feeling apathy, we are spending too much time on ourselves. Consider looking for ways of being charitable to others, as well as sitting and observing your breath. You could get involved in a noble cause at your school or community, for example.

When we engage charitably with others, a few wonderful things happen. First is that we get context for the suffering of others, which helps us notice that most of our conditions are not as mountainy as they are molehilly and require little effort to overcome. This leads to the second wonderful thing, is that with the positive feeling we get from helping others, we can very directly overcome the personal challenges that do need more attention than simply letting go. Its a win-win.

With warmth,

Matt