No one thinks that they are a bad person. And, for the most part, most of us are actually pretty decent human beings. However, we all have a dark side and dealing with this lower energy force can be a tricky game of denial.
The fact is all of us have faults. No one is born perfect and attaining perfection during one’s lifetime is extremely rare. For many it is a daily struggle to overcome feelings of anger, jealousy, envy and sometimes hatred. Before you recoil at the thought and take the higher moral ground by saying you never hated anyone, be real with yourself.
The worst thing you can do is deny that these feelings exist. That type of denial is a practice of delusion and will only strengthen over time. As Buddhists practice newcomers to the path, just let it be. This means, when thoughts or anger or envy invade our thoughts, simply let it rise and eventually fade.
Just like positive thoughts, negative thoughts come and go and the best way to deal with lower energy thoughts is to recognize it and let it pass. Dwelling on it and letting it aggravate you is what causes us trouble.
We live in a culture that has us believing that everything is good or bad and as such that is how we view and label everything we come in contact with including people, situations and thoughts. Yet, on a spiritual level there truly is no “good” or “bad, there just is.
Instead of looking at things as good or bad, rephrase to “higher energy” or “lower energy”. Remember, everything is energy, it just depends on the vibration with that energy, the higher/faster the vibration the closer to the divine and the lower/slower the vibration, the farther from the divine.
When we talk about bad thoughts we are saying that we are thinking with lower vibration energy, and when we are thinking happy/positive thoughts we are thinking with higher vibration energy.
From a young age to the day we die we all encounter bad thoughts, ill will and feelings of anger. It’s only natural. Again, no one is perfect and believe it or not Gandhi and Mother Teresa had bad days too. But what they didn’t do was deny it was happening and create a secret room of envy and fear that could later manifest in outrageous acts we didn’t think we were capable of.
Sometimes dark feelings can shock us and we may be stunned by a thought we have. Again, it’s only natural and a good way to look at it is to consider it an awake nightmare. We all have bad dreams but we don’t fret over it because it is a dream. Well, think of bad thoughts as nightmares that just happened to pop up during the day. It doesn’t mean you are a bad person or that you will act on an anger-fueled feeling.