“Try doing something for someone.

You can’t have two opposing sets of thoughts

in your mind at one and the same time.” 

This was a noted British anatomist’s response to a student who asked what the best cure for fear was. He then explained that one set of thoughts will always drive the other out. Something we need to do.

Trying to break negative thought patterns is very difficult, but this is what our practice seeks to do: replace what is wrong with what is right. Our feelings, the way we feel, arise from what we tell ourselves. So we need to switch away from the bad—what is bothering us—to the good. This good is also something that can pull our mind away from the negative.

If we can replace a negative thought with a caring thought, we will have begun to turn our mind away from suffering toward happiness. And with more of our thoughts arising from our caring for others, our mind will be more firmly rooted in happiness.

Is this easy? Of course not.

But it is possible and worthwhile? Definitely!