As American philosopher and psychologist, William James, said, “You can alter your life by altering the state of your mind”. When you consider that he said that in the 19th century at about the time that other psychologists and philosophers in Europe were also trying to understand the mind, it’s incredible that the buddhists have been observing the mind for several thousand years. Our understanding is so young in comparison and we can learn from them to help us with our own mental health by knowing about mental states.
What are Mental States?
If you look at modern psychology, there are maybe 5 or 6 different emotional states that are defined such as anger and fear, amongst others. Amazingly, if you look at buddhist psychology, they have classified 51 states and maybe even 58, according to Buddhist monk, Matthieu Ricard, in his interview. What’s the difference?
As Ricard so succinctly explains in the interview, after years of investigating the mind, you can distinguish ever more subtle mental states. He goes on to explain that anger can be about revenge but it can also be indignation at abuse or some other horrific practice. Anger serves a purpose but the difference is whether you know how to use it wisely.
What do we mean by years of investigating the mind? Yes, you probably guessed it at the mention of a buddhist monk. It means meditating and developing the skill to be in the present moment such that we can observe and connect to our internal world.
How Does Our Mind Impact our Mental Health?
If you look at western psychology, it generally talks about emotions or understanding ourselves and other people’s state of mind. We talk about the theory of mind to help us relate to ourselves and others to enable social interaction. Of course, you can also find evidence that rumination can lead to depression or how anger can impact our physiological health.
These are all extreme cases though and the buddhists take this one step further by saying that mental states affect us every minute of every day. Only by getting to know them, labelling them and letting them go can we hope to reach some form of contentment with life. Despite what many of our western cultures tell us, happiness isn’t about gaining external things. On the contrary, it’s about getting to know our minds and what’s going on in our internal world.
As Jack Kornfield, a key figure in western mindfulness, references in his article, “to become your own psychologist … all you have to do is examine your mind every day”. Clearly, this isn’t an easy thing to do which is why many people resist it, including myself many years ago. Today, I find that amusing when I reflect on the changes within me and how my impatience has gone and I can manage my anger much better.
Getting to Know Your Mind
Of course it’s scary meeting our demons and realising just how complex and bizarre the mind is. It’s also an incredible tool that allows us to function within the world. Think of it this way, would you prefer to spend years in therapy to stop your reactions to things or would you prefer to contemplate and sit quietly for 20 minutes a day? Yes, it takes effort but when you find yourself liberated from the chains of your mind, you’ll wonder why it took you so long to start to get to know your mind.
Ok, so I’m a converted meditator but when I look at how it’s changed me and made me much happier with life as it is, I don’t regret it for a second. Don’t take my word for it though, read about how the American Psychological Association is embracing what buddhism can teach us.
1- Mindfulness and meditation
Naturally, those two words can appear daunting but they don’t have to be. Take baby steps and just learn to pause and observe. One of my favourites is from Dr. Kirsten Neff who has done a lot of work on self-compassion. She suggests doing the 3Ps exercise where you use a trigger such as turning a door handle or putting on the kettle to first Pause, then be Present and finally, Proceed.
Of course, if you want somewhere easy to start with meditation then check out Andy’s headspace app. He was a monk for several years before now sharing his learnings that are inspiring.
2- Observation
The point of meditation is to observe the mind and get to know its storytelling habits and other patterns of emotions. One of the main problems in western society is thanks to Descartes who said “I think therefore I am”. Too much logic has taken us away from connecting with our emotions which are vital to our wellbeing but also to our decision making processes as neuroscientist Siegal explains in his book Mindsight.
So, start with trying to sense what’s happening in your body when you experience different emotions. For example, where do you feel anger? Are you tense in any particular part of your body? Another great approach is to journal about those emotions.
3- Practice
We don’t get a magic wand to manoeuvre through life. Maybe that’s a good thing though. After all, what we would all do with a magic wand and would it be for the right reasons? No, getting to know your mental states takes effort and practice which is probably why, deep down, most people turn their noses up at it. Nevertheless, it’s powerful to notice those ruminating thoughts and to finally let them go, as Jack Kornfield again nicely explains.
Cultivating An Approach
As someone recently said to me, “I’ve tried everything, I might as well try mindfulness”. If you’ve got nothing else to try, you literally have nothing to lose. As someone who’s been through various forms of individual and group therapy, the only thing that truly transformed my approach to life was meditation and mindfulness. It wasn’t easy but it’s liberated me in more ways than I could have imagined.
We all suffer because we’re slaves to our minds. Why not try to meet that mind and free ourselves? As Jean-Jacques Rousseau so wisely summarised this tragedy of human life “man is born free but is everywhere in chains”. It’s time to take those chains off.
