December212011
"Unfortunately, one of the main obstacles we face when we try to examine the mind is a deep-seated and often unconscious conviction that ‘we’re born the way we are and nothing we can do can change that’. I experience this same sense of pessimistic futility during my own childhood, and I’ve seen it reflected again and again in my work with people around the world. Without even consciously thinking about it, the idea that we can’t alter our minds blocks our very attempt to try.
People I’ve spoken with who try to make a change using aspirations, prayers, or visualizations admit that they often give up after a few days or weeks because they don’t see any immediate results. When their prayers and aspirations don’t work, they dismiss the whole idea of working with the mind as a marketing gimmick designed to sell books….[However] during my conversations with scientists around the world, I’ve been amazed to see there is nearly universal consensus in the scientific community that the brain is structured in a way that actually does make it possible to effect real changes in everyday experience."
— Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche XI
