495: Being mindful of our dislikes:

 This is part of a series of Dharma talks dedicated to the practice of mindfulness on the go

Write down the number of things, people, and situations that you would like not to be around you.

I bet you your list of what, and whom you dislike is a long one. 

Your negative feelings could be mild, such as irritation, or dislike, or strong feelings such as anger aversion, and hatred. Whatever they are they always persist at our subconscious level.

Assess whether your negative sensorial impressions are coming from sight, sound, touch, taste, smell, or thoughts.

Aversion ( I don’t want ) is one of the 3 afflictive mind-states with clinging ( I want), 

and delusion ( ignoring factual realities) described in the Zen literature. 

They are called poisons because they are the main source of our suffering and unhappiness.

They are also called afflictive because they affect us the way a virus is afflicting us, causing dissatisfaction, distress, anger, fear, rejection, and pain to ourselves and those around us even if we don't realize the cause of them which is often subconscious.

Aversion arises from the conviction, that, if you could just manage to get rid of something or someone, you would be happy or happier. 

This is a pure delusion because eliminating one factor means a new one will pop up.

Zen is telling us how to deal with them more constructively.

Here is the approach well-known in Zen literature while dealing with many other issues.

Be mindful of the arising of negative feelings toward someone or something that you dislike in a non-analytic, non-judgmental, non-decisional approach w/o reacting, rejecting, or avoiding the situation.

It will help you become more at ease with your dislikes no matter the conditions especially when you have no control over them.

Rather than reacting/ rejecting, you counteract by accepting them as they are. 

You will not die from it.

One of the famous Buddha’s famous sayings is:

“Aversion does not cease through fight, resistance or avoidance, but through acceptance alone especially when you cannot win. It should be applied to anybody because it is part of wisdom.” 

Become mindful of aversion, and use the antidote:  practice acceptance.  THANKS