Well if you don’t, you really should. Or at least be aware that these ghosts are around you all the time.
Now if you’re thinking that I have gone off the deep end, and lost my Buddhist practice, you would be wrong.
Because the ghosts that I am referring to are the ghosts of the past, present and future that exist in your mind.
These can be old wounds, memories and feelings. Or they can be habits that haunt and disturb you.
We each have a choice every morning when we wake up, to break these chains. But how easy it is to just get up and do things the same way you have always done them.
Doesn’t this seem more than just a little mindless? Are you and I that weak and robotic that we just keep reliving “Groundhog Day” over and over again?
As much as I study and practice the dhamma, I have to be honest and admit that I am guilty of this behavior.
Unfortunately, it is all too easy a trap to fall into. That comfort level of operating the same way we always have is truly a poison of our mind. These are ghosts that haunt us.
But I really think that the Buddha is the ultimate ghost hunter.
If we can follow his instruction and be totally present in the moment, and see things as they really are, we have the opportunity to eliminate these apparitions.
So I think the first step to eliminating these ghosts, is to become aware of their existence in our lives. Once we are aware of this we can see that they are not real, and simply a delusion that we attach to.
Seeing that this is fantasy allows us to grasp the reality of this moment, and break the chains.
Start the day by seeing that you are not the person that went to sleep last night.
If you cannot let go of that ghost, you are condemned to living with the ghost of the past.
I think that once we let go of the past, it becomes easier to let go of the future as well.
This moment and this breath become the only true reality.
You are free, you’re alive, you’re happy.
May you be well, happy, peaceful and ghost free.
