Every day sees things both good and bad happen within it, and these experiences are relative to the one who experiences them. These good and bad things appear to cause us loads of unhelpful stress, but are the good and bad things the actual causes of our stress or are they merely symptoms of something deeper?

Insight, or Vipassana meditation is a helpful tool that allows us to analyze our different mental processes and our experiential reality in an effort to end unhelpful stress with logical analysis. It allows us to develop a clear awareness of exactly what is happening as it happens. Insight meditation is often paired with calming meditation; which you generate by focusing single-pointedly on an object. Often times you will focus on your breath in a series of more subtle ways until you reach calm-abiding, which is a state where your mind is effortlessly free from stress. It is at this point that it is most skillful to switch to insight meditation, as when your mind is in this state it is its most efficient.

With insight meditation we practice recognizing and admitting that unhelpful stress from the good and bad things is caused by our own stressful thoughts. The stress doesn’t live inherently in the things we are perceiving.

These harmful and stressful thoughts leak out as anger, hatred, and violence in the forms of words and actions. Our unhelpful thoughts are the cause of all of our stress. What then causes these unhelpful thoughts?

The three causes of our unhelpful thoughts are our mental patterns of wanting (greed, desire, attachment, raga), not wanting (aversion, ill will, hate, dvesha), and delusion (confusion, ignorance, moha), which is the root cause of both wanting and not wanting. What can we do to stop this delusion to stop our unhelpful thoughts and unhelpful stress?

Start by understanding that it exists as an overlay, screen, or lens through which all of our experiences are filtered, colored, and labeled. The delusion is supported by a framework of names and labels, like the labels good and bad, we attach to all of our perceptions, making them misconceptions.

We can’t experience reality without the overlay of mind interfering which is why it’s important to mindfully train our minds to see reality as it actually exists.

Choose to practice calming down to analyze your mind to see all things as they really are, which sees through delusion on a path that ends unhelpful stress for everyone. You can try practicing this first step of insight meditation in as little as 60 seconds for free with this open source app.