I'm A Camel, Are You?

It's hard to be positive when we constantly choose negativity...

I’ve got a problem, it seems. I’ve developed a liking for the negative. Wait, what? You all must be thinking, ‘Amaya what?’, yes WTF! I’m trying to be more positive guys, and in the practice of trying to be more positive (and yes, it is fucking hard when you’ve been wired to think negatively.) It takes effort and real hard-work to break those mental barriers.

Think of your beautiful mind as a lake. That lake which has beautiful fresh water running through it, lily pads and gorgeous animals swimming within. It has been frozen over. You know there is something stunning underneath, however the ice above is your fear. So you skate along on that ice, knowing there is another life or lives blossoming underneath. You ignore it, and enjoy the cold, smooth ride on the lake. But, what if I told you that beyond the ice there is eternal happiness? What if I told you, that breaking the ice barrier will be painful AF, but it’s all worth it?

Now, I have not broken that ice barrier. I’ve acknowledged there is one and I want to see my lily pads, koi fish and beautiful greenery surrounding the lake to flourish. I want to swim in my lake and enjoy what God has planned for me. With that said, I’ve realised that I am a camel. Yes, a camel. You read that right. In the Bhagavad Gita (Chapter 7, Verse 8) it says:

I am the taste in water, O son of Kunti, and the radiance of the sun and the moon. I am the sacred syllable Om in the Vedic mantras; I am the sound in ether, and the ability in humans.

As I continue on this journey to destroy my old belief system, I am led to believe that my negative thinking is a learned behaviour which has transformed into a habit. My mind doesn’t hold a higher ideal. I don’t view the world through God’s eyes. I view it via my own experiences of the past. Without a doubt, that is what governs my negative thoughts. The ice. I use that to govern my belief system, therefore preventing me from actually practicing the discipline of believing in the highest good. Now, that negative thought pattern I had let control me came from being taught ‘Prepare for the worst, hope for the best.’ When really, it should have been, ‘Prepare for the best, and leave the rest to God.’ You see, we forget that God is omniscient. God is everywhere. When you focus on the negative, you lose sight of a higher power, thus dragging you down and away from the positivity.

How does this link to me being a camel? Well, it’s very simple. Camels have this special ability to eat thorny plants/cacti. Due to their rough lips, hard palate and strong teeth, they can withstand the prickly matter. Whilst eating the thorns, they begin to bleed but they relish in the taste of their own blood which is combined with the taste of the thorny plants. The same can be said about us and how we succumb to materialism and our negative thoughts. As we consume this; we bleed and hurt ourselves. Tasting our own pain, our suffering. We become enamoured by the Maya (desires) and by basking in the material pleasures and the pursuit for it, we begin enjoying the false joy, unbeknownst that it is hurting us, causing us pain.

Revelling in the negativity and continuously questioning, ‘why is this not happening?’ ‘why is my life like this?’ makes us feel better. However we don’t realise that it’s causing us to bleed. So what’s the solution? How do I break the ice barrier to get to my lake? Well, I don’t really have the answer, because I’m yet to break mine. I can tell you though: A little continued effort to think positively everyday, even if you don’t believe what you’re saying. Just one little positive thought. Hopefully that little habit spurs on more little pieces of positivity. Ultimately leading us to focus on only the good, the higher ideal.