“Why does this always happen to me?”

Have you ever said this?

Or have you ever found yourself being dragged by your thoughts within 5 seconds? Seeing someone on social media, hearing a music or smell took you back in time and even maybe to future.

What if I told you this has a name? I recently learned that this tendency of our minds being pulled away by experiences and situations which ends up creating a mental chatter is called “papañca”.

And what if I told you everytime we are pulled away with our thoughts, we position ourselves as victims in our lives.

How?

In this episode of Inner Dialogues with Ecem, let's flip the script on victimhood, mindfulness and witness-hood.

Can life happen through me, by me and even as me, instead to me?

Let’s explore it together.

Let’s move from being the victim of our thoughts to the creator of our realities.

I HAVE SOMETHING VERY EXCITING TO SHARE WITH YOU

I’ve shared my recent struggles with this papañca state and ironic enough writing about my feeling and reflections onto my journal inspired me to start a newsletter. I’ve shared more about it in the episode. Here is the link to subscribe “Philos: A Weekly Journal” from Inner Dialogues with Ecem - a personal, contemplative journal-like newsletter.

It is raw, authentic and personal in which you’ll my recent contemplations in life, inspiration behind every episode, my personal take on and experience of each of them and questions for me and for you to live by and reflect.

🎭I would love you to be a part of our creative and inspirational Instagram community

References:

- “The Creative Act: A Way of Being” book by Rick Rubin

- Steven Schwartzberg’s quote is from Huffpost: “Buddhism and the Messiness of Everyday Thinking”

- “What is Papancha?” YouTube video by Ed Conley

- Quoted Quora entry by Sibasis Sahoo

- Quotes from Ram Dass were taken from the an excerpt from this book “Polishing the Mirror: How to Live From Your Spiritual Heart”

Intro & Outro Music Credit: Joseph McDade - Olympus

Mentioned Episodes:

• Episode 22 - Navigating Transition Periods: "The Bubble" and "Looking-Glass Self"

• Episode 20 - Intentional Living: Awareness and Release — regarding being the witness

• Episode 10 - Why Do the Best Ideas Come In the Shower? - Hustle Culture vs. Downtime

• Episode 11 - Are You Responding or Reacting?

• Pod/Ep.19 - Self-Development is A Myth/The Journey of Unbecoming — regarding understanding life from inside to outside