It’s a fact, then, that sometimes our weaknesses are hard to see and remove merely because we are afraid of them.  So, let us remove that weakness now.  Think of it this way.  When you have an ugly wart or growth on your skin, you have no desire to keep it.  Even if you hide it from sight, you keep thinking of how you’ll get rid of it.  Regard your weaknesses the same way, says Dr. Tae Yun Kim.  They’re not necessarily visible the way warts are, but they are just as “unsightly” and detract from your mental ease and beauty to the same extent.

Anger, fear, resentment, laziness, despair, pessi­mism, selfishness, revenge, sarcasm, jealousy, worry – these are just a few weak, powerless states of mind to be conquered. When you find yourself reacting with com­passion to these characteristics in another or in yourself, you’ll know you’re well on your way to conquering them. Why? Because compassion is one of the qualities of your Silent Master and signals Its presence beginning to operate in your mind.  Compassion also means that you have lost your fear of the weakness, and that is the first step in removing it.

The second step to removing your weakness is to obliterate it by replacing it with a quality that negates it, one that is the opposite of the bad quality.  More will be said about this process later.  What’s important now is to understand that weaknesses are not part of your original self.  By replacing your weaknesses with strengths, replacing anger with love, laziness with action, selfishness with selflessness, and so on – you’ve done everything you need to do to conquer these enemies of your well-being.

By Great Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim