Another post about the power of this practice. Yesterday I had two incidents occur close to each other that arose aversion and righteous indignation in me. I found myself at breakfast doing the normal running things through my head like a broken record as is common during these mind states, and I began to notice how the aversion and ill-will in my mind grew and grew.

because of this practice it was at this point that I remembered I had a choice. I looked at my mind and what I was allowing to happen, seeing full well that it would lead to a miserable day, not because of what happened to me, but because how I reacted to it and stewed over it. I reminded myself I have a choice, I looked at the situation, realized I would only be hurting myself to let this keep going, took it as a lesson, and let it go. I stopped feeding the “anger eating monster” of the Buddha’s simile.

This happened while sitting there waiting for breakfast, and in a matter of a few mind moments I went from an aversive mindstate to one full of metta with a smile on my face seemingly out of the blue.

remember, you always have a choice, even if you can’t see it, it’s still there.