How about this:
You can think your way into suffering in an instant; however you can’t think your way out.
How easy it is to have the words of others take hold in ones mind. Those words, or what ever ‘it’ is, can remain for hours, days, months or even years. Now lodging firmly in the mind, what is to be done?
People will sometimes speak of something that has been bothering them, and for some considerable time. By just spreading out what’s there and letting light and air in and around can be just what helps the lodger to leave. Or at lease start to loose interesting in staying. This is essentially an internal practice, requiring courage and compassion. And the long view.
I’m a believer in airing things! I think it helps some people to air their thoughts. I find that if I have a thought which isn’t very nice but keeps on coming, if I say it out loud to someone & it hangs in the air, I then know completely that it’s not right & can change it. If I keep it in it can fester.
That’s so true Angie. Although for me, thoughts and notions often seem to hang around like ghosts, barely above the surface, and it seems like they disappear whenever I get anywhere near a meditation bench or a monk, then resurface when I’m on my own again!