Breaking Bad Mental Habits Wednesday Evening

Dates: 23rd April – 21st May

5-Week Kadampa Meditation Series

Course Outline: Breaking Bad Mental Habits

Our minds often get caught in negative, unhelpful habits that lead to suffering and unskillful actions. Just like physical habits, mental habits can be broken.

This course will offer practical methods to cultivate a peaceful, clear mind.

Through this series of classes, we will

• Explore how to recognize, reduce, and ultimately abandon negative mental patterns, making space for positivity, wisdom, and inner peace.
• Learn how to recognize the real causes of our mental discomfort
• Start to separate ourselves from these harmful patterns, just as we would separate mud from water.
  

Class 1: Distance from Negative Thoughts

This class will help you understand how delusion distorts your perceptions and creates suffering. You’ll learn to recognize the “inner enemy”—the negative thought patterns that drive your emotions—and discover ways to distance yourself from them, bringing more clarity and peace to your mind.

Class 2: Become Peaceful & Positive

This class will teach you how to cultivate positive minds and virtue through meditation. You’ll learn to protect your mind from delusion, focusing on developing positive thoughts. Techniques like Black & White Breathing will help you breathe in virtuous thoughts and release negativity. Lamrim meditation will guide you in strengthening your focus on virtue for a peaceful, positive mind.

Class 3: Relief from Frustration

In this class, you’ll explore the faults of small angry reactions like irritation, spite, and aggression. We’ll discuss how anger and frustration arise, and how they disturb the mind. You’ll learn how to relieve frustration by practicing the opposite virtue—patience—and how this can bring more peace and control to your responses.

Class 4: Stopping Worry & Anxiety

This class will address how attachment to reputation and the anxiety of worrying about what others think can fuel stress and worry. You’ll learn to let go of these attachments and focus on contentment. We’ll explore the concept of subtle impermanence to help you understand the transient nature of thoughts and worries, leading to greater peace and freedom from anxiety.

Class 5: What Triggers Negativity

In this class, you will learn about the six causes of delusions and how they trigger negative emotions. We’ll focus on the role of inappropriate attention in fueling these delusions. You’ll practice meditation techniques to prevent following inappropriate attention, helping you avoid negative thought patterns and cultivate a more balanced mind.

Source of the Teachings & Meditations

All teachings and meditations are based on the books of Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, a renowned Buddhist meditation master and author.

#meditateinsheffield #innerpeace #liveinthemoment

Suitable for everyone Buddhist or non Buddhist 

These classes are a series, but each class stands alone too, so come to as many or few as you wish. 

JOIN US and unlock the power of these practices to enrich your life all those around you.

This series is based on the book, How to Transform Your Life (and others) by Venerable Kelsang Gyatso Rinpoche