Use Your Tools Change Your Life
I've noticed that I can only suffer if I allow myself to mentally jump into a painful story. This was a very powerful moment for me, when Realization rose from within, to allow the mind to SEE instead of SAY.
There's a world of a difference between the mind thinking it knows something made purely from reasoning, and the mind seeing something for itself. The more I practice Lucidity, or perceive my surroundings in mental silence, the more I experience these magical moments.
When I remember that I can only suffer if I allow myself to mentally jump into and splash around in a painful story, the bad feelings fall away. I know that's a huge statement, and I mean it literally.
It's almost like the experience of realizing that the shadow on the wall is not a dangerous intruder after all, it's actually just a shadow. It may take a minute or two for the body to bring its blood pressure and cortisol levels down, but that's just part of the feel-bad falling away, once the mind sees Reality.
This is an experience that has nothing to do with reasoning.
I practice Lucidity and being the eyewitness to thought. Here in this human adventure, these are superpowers.