Taking out the time to think

Hi guys. It's been awhile. Sorta stopped just at about the period I joined a few friends for a 40 day fast. Even not taken religiously, fasting often helps the mind sharpen and quieten if done properly.

We last left on the note of contemplation as a way to improve the world.

Contemplation can be very tricky though. It is easy to get stuck with a lot of thoughts and worries that eat up your mind. It is easy to get stuck with a lot of despair and self depreciation. So the question comes to what kind of contemplation is good contemplation?

Having given this some thought, and having found many answers through various sources over my own 40 days, I probably have answers of my own. But having spoken to many friends and some family, not everyone (few actually), agree with my answers or techniques. While I was sore initially that many did not want my answers, I have realised, of course they don't want my answers. They need answers of their own.

So instead of telling everyone methodology and concepts that I have come across (although I think I would love to blog about a couple of them at some point), I tried to think about see what kind of contemplation would result in people discovering their own answers.

And I believe that the first step is to not be afraid! As we dig into what lies deep inside us, we come across many many things that are scary. Sorrow, greed, insecurity, pain, fear, strict laws and concepts, desires, the loss or the protection of identity are often such large objects we feel that confronting them fully would devour us. We spend most of our time trying to move away from these things or trying to grip them as much as possible.

I guess the challenge then is to come face to face with it and only at that point do answers come. So are you running away from something? Are you holding on to something as if your life depended on it? Or how about thinking about where along the spectrum of that you are with any event in life?

I believe only when we come face to face with these issues, when we contemplate them properly would answers start to appear.