Imagine someone you meet every day. When you’re in a good mood and you see this person, how do you feel about the person? And, when you’re in a horrible mood and you see the person, how do you feel about the person?

Our mood affects the way we view something, event or person. It is the same with this – when the mind has aversion, it is in the wrong mood, it can’t think of anything positive or helpful.

This is the most important thing in meditation – with what sort of mind am I meditating, what is the mood of the mind that is watching?

Sometimes, we can’t help but be aware with aversion, greed and some delusion. But because we’ve been aware when the defilement is present and when the defilement is absent, we learn how to become more aware with wisdom – because we see that it is not helpful when the defilements are around. 

None of us start off by being aware with wisdom. That doesn’t happen.