Your thoughts aren’t real.

You might feel that statement is so painfully obvious that it doesn’t need saying. Before you click away, let me explain why the problems you’re having right now are a direct result of you believing they are.
Trust me, I’m a mind reader. I know what I’m talking about.
Have you ever been mad at yourself for being mad? Are you depressed that you’re depressed all the time? Are you anxious about being anxious? What the hell is going on?
This kind of meta-worry is a byproduct of our incredible ability to think. Thinking is an abstract process in a dimension that’s not real.
It’s like looking at a mirror.
You can see it. It’s right there. Every detail is reflected perfectly for you to see. But, when you reach out to touch it, and all you feel is the smooth glass surface.
Same goes with your thoughts. You can see them. You know they’re there. But you can never touch them.
When we reflect on our problems, we’re holding a mirror up to a mirror. The result is an infinite tunnel of reflections. Each image is another abstracted reflection of a reflection of a reflection and so on down the rabbit hole forever.
This is exactly what’s happening in your mind when you worry about worrying. Or get sad about being sad.

How Do You Escape?

When you’re trapped in a mirror dimension, everything is backwards.
When you’re trapped in your mind, the solution is almost always the opposite of what you think you should do.
This why your pursuit of happiness is making you miserable. This is why chasing wealth is making your poor. This is why your need for acceptance is making you lonely. This is why your pursuit of achieving enlightenment is just making you miserable.
Seems like the faster you run towards happiness, the faster you become miserable.
You’re trapped in a way of thinking that is completely backwards. You’re inside the mirror.
The only way out is to see your thoughts for what they are: abstract non-entities. They’re conjured apparitions without weight or form.

Your thoughts aren’t real.

You believe they’re real, so you take action in the physical world that leads to the complete opposite effect than you intended.

Your continued refusal to accept this fact is the direct result of you believing your thoughts are more real than the world you live in.

The harder you fight reality, the more pain you experience from your delusions. That’s why the sages throughout history have said that your reality is simply a mirror of your inner state. You eventually realize you’re the one hitting yourself. You don’t see the world as it is, you see the world as you are.