Yogi: I’m very unhappy with my job and it has affected the people around me. I have lots of anger and negative thinking. How do I get rid of this problem?

Sayadaw: You are not trying to get rid of the problem when you meditate. You’re trying to learn about the angry mental state. This state comes with unpleasant feelings, and you try to be aware of these feelings calmly as an object. This is your practice.

Yogi: I cannot watch the unpleasant feelings with equanimity. I have had bad dreams for many days and the bad feelings would continue. I thought meditation could help, but it didn’t.

Sayadaw: Because you try to get rid of the unpleasant thoughts and feelings, that attitude makes the situation more difficult.

In the beginning, nobody can watch unpleasant feelings with equanimity. That’s why you need to practice again and again. You use the second-hand knowledge of right attitude – this is nature, this is nobody, this is just a meditation object – to change your attitude and idea a little bit and try to face the feelings again and again.

Much later, you can watch with equanimity; when some understanding arises about thoughts and feelings only then can the unpleasant feelings go away.

Yogi: Sometimes the mind can calm down when I meditate, but no understanding arises.

Sayadaw: There are 2 ways that the mind calms down. If you watch feelings continuously without thinking, the mind calms down but no understanding arises. If you continue to watch the defilement and feelings calmly, much later some understanding can arise about the nature of the mind.

You cannot hope to understand thoughts and feelings (the mind) immediately.