Thread by @itsdangoldfield

Your mind has been tricking you your entire life.

This controversial monk spent 66 years proving it.

The 4-step subconscious process controlling your thoughts (and how to destroy it): 🧵

At just 26 years old the monk, Buddhadasa, spent 3 years in total solitude training his mind.

But when he started teaching what he learned, the monastic order didn’t like it.

They wanted people to follow superstitious rules.

But Buddhadasa wanted to help people with real problems…

He was on a mission to end:

• Overthinking & anxiety
• Self-doubt & negative self-talk
• Laziness & purposelessness
• Underconfidence & validation-seeking
• Distraction & addiction
• Fear & worry

Buddhadasa explained how the mind creates those negative states with the concept of dependent origination.

Modern psychotherapies like Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction are based on that same concept.

Let’s break it down…

Step 1 - all suffering begins with 3 subconscious assumptions:

• Thinking happiness comes from outside ourselves
• Thinking of ourselves as separate from one another
• Thinking things will last forever

These assumptions lead us to a dangerous habit…

Step 2 - We spend a lot of time:

• Wanting things we don’t have
• Fearing the loss of things we do have
• Missing things we used to have

We’re always restless, searching for “more” and “better”. But it gets worse…

Step 3 - as we chase our desires, we become attached to them:

Instead of just enjoying video games, we identify as a “gamer”.

Then if we don’t get to play for too long, we have to deal with the worst part of this whole process…

Step 4 - have you ever watched the clock at work, wishing it would go faster?

That’s dissatisfaction: resistance to “what is”.

And the buddha said it’s the basic problem of human existence.

Dissatisfaction will ruin your life if you let it…

Dissatisfaction is the cause of:

• Substance addiction
• Workaholism and burnout
• Codependent relationships
• Overspending and gambling
• Feeling you’re never “enough”
• Overthinking and decision fatigue
• Cycles of boredom and overindulgence

If you were truly satisfied, why would you need that beer? That joint? That new pair of Nikes?

Those things aren’t inherently bad, but if you need them to feel okay your life becomes one long, doomed quest to find happiness where it can’t be found.

So what can you do about it?

Buddhadasa recommended that you learn to see ignorance, desire, identification and dissatisfaction in real-time—as they occur in your daily life.

But this isn't easy.

A study on 2,250 adults found that, on average, they spent 47% of their day engaged in mind-wandering.

To combat this, you need to develop the skill of metacognition.

Metacognition is simply awareness of what your mind is doing.

Try it with me real quick:

If you want to free up your mind’s full capacity for the things that matter to you, you first must learn to see where it’s wasting energy.

“Aha! I see you, desire! Not right now, thanks—I’m doing something more important.”

The more you do this, the more your mind quiets down.

Remember: dissatisfaction is impossible without thinking.

I’m genuinely curious: are you able to see what your mind is doing at all times? Or do you still need some practice?

Drop me a comment below.

Follow me @itsdangoldfield for more on freeing your mind.

And if you think someone else could benefit from this thread, share the first post:

https://x.com/itsdangoldfield/status/1885313761390579890