If you think again and again ... - Dhamma by Ajahn Jayasāro
If you think again and again about something you are afraid might happen - perhaps something concerning your family - a number of things occur. Firstly, a mental habit will be formed that can easily become an obsession, draining all your energy. Secondly, because the images that appear in your mind become very vivid and the emotions that arise very strong, you may assume that the fear is reasonable, and the bad thing likely to occur, when in fact that may not be true at all.
With mindfulness, we must recognise that a mental image is simply a mental image, an emotion is simply an emotion. The thing that we fear may or may not be likely to occur, but the strength of feeling that the matter evokes is not a reliable guide in deciding what action to take.
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