… You need to hear the teachings 100,000 times or more, even a million, a billion times. Then the preciousness of a teaching will stay with you.
It’s the same as conceptually understanding the View and then meditating on it. It takes many, many, many years until it becomes part of you. First you contemplate and then you rest in the View.
The same thing is true of The Four Thoughts That Change the Mind. So please listen … again.
Reflect and use them to check your own thinking 🤔
“Watch your own mind”, it’s said.
But sometimes better to say (to oneself):
“listen to yourself!” and see how much unnecessary mental gossip there is, and then apply the appropriate remedy according to your own abilities:
No matter where you stay — be it a busy place or a solitary retreat —
The only things that you need to conquer are mind’s five poisons
And your own true enemies, the eight wordly concerns, nothing else,
Whether it is by avoiding, transforming, taking them as the path or looking into their very essence,
Whichever method is best suited to your own capacity.— Chatral Rinpoche – Words of Advice
If resting the mind helps, then rest. If not able to rest: pray, say mantras, do shamatha meditation, or go for a walk if that helps.
Apply profound methods
The most profound methods in Buddhism are compassion and devotion
Reflect on anything that create compassion and devotion in your mind, and then rest in that. Compassion and devotion are very pure emotions, very close to being nonconceptual.
At the moment of strong compassion or devotion, the mind get very naked – the mental gossip is put on hold for a little while, and it’s easier to recognize thoughtfree wakefulness (rigpa).
Many masters of the past attained high level of realization only through compassion and devotion.
So think of anything that brings forth compassion or devotion, and then rest in that feeling, without holding on to it. Do this repeatedly, during sessions and the rest of the day. Specially when feeling lazy, fascinated, or irritated by anything.
Contentment
Of all the seven noble riches –
Contentment is most important.
Dalai Lama’s birthday present
And to deepen this, please read the following article: The Four Thoughts that Change the Mind