Whenever something happens, there's a **reaction**. Don't you notice? It's automatic, instantaneous, and sometimes out of control. Like an electrical spark. But is it always the best response?
Life isn't just a series of impulsive reactions; it demands the ability to choose between instinctive urges and conscious responses. So, how do we rein in that spark, turning it into light instead of a blaze? These quotes offer insights into just that.
āThe gist of the matter is this: Every impression that comes in from without, be it a sentence which we hear, an object of vision, or an effluvium which assails our nose, no sooner enters our consciousness than it is drafted off in some determinate direction or other, making connection with the other materials already there, and finally producing what we call our reaction. The particular connections it strikes into are determined by our past experiences and the 'associations' of the present sort of impression with them.ā
āDo you really need to mentally label every sense perception and experience? Do you really need to have a reactive like/dislike relationship with life where you are in almost continuous conflict with situations and people? Or is that just a deep-seated mental habit that can be broken? Not by doing anything, but by allowing this moment to be as it is.ā
