Check Yourself

This is a guest post by Peter Taylor of zenmister.com:

One of our major tasks in life is to keep our checking mind in check. The checking mind is our tendency to compare ourselves to others. It is our habit of worrying about what might be wrong with us. It is our nagging concern that we are not good enough. It is how we justify our existence in our internal dialogue. When our checking mind goes unchecked, it can drive us crazy.

To check in with our checking mind, we notice what we are thinking. We use our habit of constant checking to check in with our breath. We remind ourselves that we are good enough. We convince ourselves, once and for all, that we are nothing more and nothing less than any other being on the planet. Once we understand, intellectually or experientially, that we are as good as we can be, our checking mind doesn’t have to keep checking to see if we are better or worse that another.

It is a strong habit that makes us rank ourselves and others.  When we don’t notice we are doing it, we naturally believe in those rankings, and we constantly have to check on our rank. That checking, unchecked, is destructive. When we recognize our checking mind, we can remind ourselves of our basic goodness, and the basic goodness of others. It only takes a moment to remember to check in with our best self. Check it out.