And rather than wasting time in these futile problems, start living. Relate with people and start enjoying small things, because this is how one comes to like oneself. If you dislike yourself you don’t move into enjoyment, and because you cannot enjoy yourself you dislike yourself more. Then it becomes a vicious circle.

So get out of it! There is nothing to it. In a single moment, with a single decision, a man can be transformed – immediately. It is not a gradual process. This very moment, if you want to(. And that is the point, because if I want you to, that will not help. If you want to come out, this very moment you can, because the misery is created by you and is absolutely false.

Misery comes because you don’t like yourself. Somebody must have given you this opinion – your mother or father, your family – that you are worthless, and you have accepted their opinion.

Who are they to decide? Nobody except you can decide for you who you are. All judgments about you are just stupid, superficial. Nobody can look into you. They all look on the surface, and then they make a judgment – and you accept that judgment.

Then you start liking or disliking yourself. Both are nonsense. Life is to enjoy. And people go on preparing for some day when they will enjoy it, and they waste it. You try.

*

Through meditating, I’ve lately come to experience how my mind just goes on and on, how impossible it is to still it.

There is no need to try to still the mind, to stop the thoughts. Just as the traffic goes by and one remains on the sidewalk unaffected, just a watcher, so one should simply witness the thoughts as they go by. We are not our thoughts, and recognizing that we are the witness is enough.

The very acceptance of the thoughts makes one more relaxed. The relaxation helps to create a distance, to separate oneself. To evaluate a thought as good or bad means that you are attached to your thoughts – so one should not put labels on them.

Put yourself aside, sit under a tree, and just watch the traffic. Soon, one day, the traffic disappears and the road is empty. Suddenly there is an interval and in that interval is meditation. But that interval cannot be created or cultivated. You cannot still the mind – you can simply wait in deep watchfulness and mind stills itself.

*

Does this suggestion about witnessing apply to me also?