The Four Opponent Powers

While doing your meditations, there is the option to do a daily self analysis, which is called the four opponent powers. I have practised this with sincerity and dedication and I can honestly say that the results where instant.

I will explain the main contemplations for this practise. It is worth noting that this can be done at any time of the day, but for best results it is best done in the evening or before bed every day, for a set period of time.

The practise can be remembered as the four R's, I will explain these below:

· Regret: To start with, think of what you have done that you regret doing during that day. It is important to note that we are not using this to make our self feel bad in an "I'm a bad person" kind of way. We are all human and we all do and think negative things, we are merely trying to find them in this exercise. Now in your mind remember these things, for example; One could be, that you may have talked about a friend behind their back or upset someone during the day.

· Reliance: This takes the form of whoever you rely on, this could be Buddha, God, Gods or someone you look up to or did look up too. This exercise is to request refuge in them and to ask them for strength. I guess this is seeing someone we feel has good morals and trying to soak up their goodness.

· Remedy: In this you will visualise being blessed or forgiven for the list of negative actions of the day. Seeing the person, God or Gods and seeing them passing their goodness to you or noticing that you have this good quality in yourself, you should try to bask in this goodness and feel the positive energy.

· Resolve: After feeling the goodness and positive energy, you now make a realistic resolve to stop doing these negative or bad actions for a realistic length of time. It will only make you feel bad if you make unrealistic goals, so make sure you are able to do them. You can always lengthen or shorten the time period for your resolve to suit. If your resolve is strong, you will actively stop doing that thing and after a while you will find that you have reprogrammed that negative trait in you and this will give you great joy.

This practise alone is extremely powerful, if done with real sincerity, and can help you to stop doing negative actions, but sometimes it takes a long time to re-program them negative traits to something positive, but the small goals will grow and eventually you will stop doing that negative thing altogether.

I am summarising this practise in this blog to give you a taste, but for further reading this can be found online or in a book called "How to Meditate: A Practical Guide" by Kathleen McDonald.

Also if you are aware of the eight fold path, you can use this practise with the eight fold path.

Thank you for your time, if you have any questions please drop me a line.