Wise Awareness (​Kumāra Bhikkhu's Blog)

Negative desires are of all sorts: from extreme kinds that can ruin you and even others, to mild ones such as desire for tasty food you don’t need. Regardless of the intensity, any desire with a negative outcome isn’t a good thing. Dealing with negative desires can be broadly seen as comprising two components: mental settling and distinct seeing. Mental Settling When desire pounds at you relentlessly, mental settling is what you need. For example, if you have a persistent urge to watch porn or buy something you don’t need, just do this: breathe, feel the body and relax. Just keep at it, and the urge will most likely pass. While this method is simple and effective, it cannot remove the tendency to desire; it can only subdue active desires. To remove the tendency to desire, you need distinct seeing. Distinct Seeing When desire isn’t bothering you and your mind is relatively peaceful, it’s a suitable time to deal with desire at a deeper level. Ask yourself, “Why?” E.g., why do you want to...

I was communicating through email with someone with bipolar disorder, a condition with extreme mood swings that include emotional highs and lows. When she was having a high episode, she could spend days without sleep and be super-productive. When she was in a low, she would feel like ending her life. In fact, she was once holding a knife ready to cut her wrist. At one point, she was at a high again. That's when I asked her about her unhappy past. Since she was having a high episode, it wasn't difficult for her to tell me EVERYTHING. She teared while she told her stories through her computer. Interestingly, that somehow "broke the spell". Usually, after a high, she would eventually swing to a low. But that never happened. It wasn't something I expected, much less intended. However, I wondered how that happened. According to mainstream science, bipolar disorder "is a lifelong condition (and) not yet curable". (Source:   Is bipolar disorder curable? Tr...