Changing Mental Rooms: Ancient Wisdom for Life’s Third Act
Girish Jha, Coach and Guide, Eastern Wisdom . Blog for Baby Boomers
The Retirement Paradox: More Time, But Less Peace?
Have you noticed that despite finally having the time and freedom you worked decades for, your mind still gets caught in the same old patterns of worry, frustration, and dissatisfaction? Perhaps you’ve found yourself thinking: “I’ve worked my whole life to get here—why am I not happier?”
As a generation that transformed society through cultural revolutions and technological innovation, Baby Boomers have never been content with the status quo. Now, as you navigate life’s third act, that same revolutionary spirit can be directed inward—toward a profound transformation of consciousness that Eastern wisdom traditions have been teaching for thousands of years.
“We don’t realize that treasure is within all of us,” shared a participant in our recent wisdom circle. “And we have been living in anxiety and duality… How many years living without realizing that you have a choice?”
The Mind as a Mansion: A Revolutionary Way to Understand Yourself
In our recent “Happiness & Wisdom” session, we explored a powerful framework from Eastern traditions that views the mind not as a single entity, but as a home with many rooms. Some rooms harbor what ancient texts call “the six enemies of the mind,” while others contain “the six treasures”—inner states that bring genuine peace and fulfillment.
This concept draws from Vedantic wisdom traditions that have stood the test of time, offering a path to self-knowledge (atma-jnana) that’s particularly relevant for those reflecting on life’s meaning and purpose. For a generation that questioned authority and sought deeper truths, this ancient wisdom offers a framework for the ultimate revolution—the transformation of consciousness itself.
The Six Enemies: Rooms That Limit Your Joy
The first crucial insight is recognizing the mental “rooms” that create suffering—what Eastern texts call arishadvargas (six enemies):
- Binding Desire: Not simply wanting things, but attaching your happiness to external outcomes. “Any desire in which you are deluded and seeking happiness from the external world,” as our teacher Girish explained. How many times have you thought a new purchase, achievement, or relationship would finally make you happy, only to find the satisfaction temporary?
- Greed: When desire is fulfilled repeatedly, it transforms into an insatiable hunger for more. For many Boomers who experienced both the prosperous post-war economy and the financial uncertainties of recent decades, this pattern is particularly recognizable.
- Frustration/Fear: Unfulfilled desire leads to these uncomfortable states, creating a room filled with anxiety and discontent—emotions many experience despite having “arrived” at retirement.
- Delusion: The false belief that external circumstances determine our happiness. “It makes you forget… and critical thinking is lost,” observed one participant.
- Ego: A self-image dependent on others’ recognition and validation. After career-defined identities shift in retirement, many struggle with this new relationship to ego.
- Jealousy/Comparison: Comparing your journey to others’ paths—whether financial success, health status, or family relationships—creates unnecessary suffering.
The Six Treasures: Rooms of Fulfillment
The revolutionary insight is that alternative rooms—what Eastern traditions call shat-sampat (six treasures)—exist within the same mental mansion:
- Calmness (Sama): “When your mind is 100% available to you,” explained Girish. This state offers the peaceful presence many seek through retirement activities but may not find.
- Sensory Mastery (Dama): Freedom from being controlled by external stimuli—particularly relevant in our media-saturated world.
- Independence from External Pleasure (Uparati): Finding contentment within rather than constantly seeking stimulation outside—a crucial shift for meaningful aging.
- Endurance (Titiksha): The capacity to maintain equilibrium through difficulties. “One of the most difficult of the six treasures,” noted one participant, but essential for navigating health challenges, family dynamics, and life’s inevitable changes.
- Faith in Principles (Shraddha): Unwavering trust in timeless wisdom—not blind faith, but confidence born from experience and practice.
Equanimity (Samadhana): Both “solution” and “equanimity”—a state where your intellect perceives clearly without being clouded by emotions or past impres
Practical Applications: Transforming Your Third Act
This wisdom becomes immediately practical when applied to the challenges many Boomers face:
For Health and Physical Challenges:
Barbara’s example from our session offers a powerful insight: “Yesterday I was carrying a very heavy package into the house and it wasn’t really a problem until I said to myself, ‘Well, I really shouldn’t be doing this, it’s too heavy.’ And I started feeling woozy. And then I said to myself, ‘There’s nothing wrong with you,’ and I was fine.”
This illuminates how our thoughts—our mental rooms—directly impact our physical experience. When facing health concerns, notice which mental room you’re occupying. Is it fear or catastrophizing? Or can you choose the room of calm observation?
For Family Relationships:
Many Boomers navigate complex relationships with adult children, aging parents, grandchildren, and partners during retirement. Jerry’s insight applies perfectly here:
“Our families are near and dear ones give us lots of opportunity to dive into these past impressions… see where we’re attached or where we’re expecting… When in nursing you can be completely objective… but the emotional connection that’s there [with family], you know, so those are the opportunities.”
Family triggers provide perfect opportunities to practice switching rooms—from reaction to observation, from judgment to understanding.
For Finding Meaning and Purpose:
As you ask, “What now?” after decades of career and family-building, the practice of consciously choosing mental rooms becomes invaluable. When contemplating your legacy, are you in the room of regret or the room of wisdom and integration? When considering new pursuits, are you in the room of fear or the room of creative possibility?
The White Coat Revelation: A Powerful Metaphor
One of the most illuminating metaphors shared in our session was that of “white coat hypertension”—where patients show elevated blood pressure merely in the presence of a doctor, even when perfectly healthy otherwise. Girish extended this metaphor:
“Not only the white coat hypertension… replace it with anxiety, duality, jealousy, hatred, relationship problem. Are you getting it?”
This perfectly captures how our minds create false reactions throughout life. Just as a doctor’s coat is not actually threatening, many of our stressors are projections rather than realities. For Boomers who’ve witnessed how dramatically perceptions can shift—from Woodstock to Wall Street, from counterculture to mainstream—this understanding of our mind’s tendency to create “false enemies” carries particular significance.
Five Steps to Access Your Inner Treasures
As a generation that has embraced personal growth movements throughout your lives, these practices offer a natural next step in your development:
- Listen and Learn (Sravan): Begin by understanding the concept of the mind as a home with different rooms. “Prepare a list of those people whom our mind habitually reacts to,” suggests Girish. This awareness is the first step.
- Contemplate and Reflect (Manan): Spend time daily reflecting on which rooms you typically occupy. “Note down experiences shared by others for personal contemplation and reflection to enrich wisdom,” was advised in our session.
- Practice and Experience (Niddhyasana): Implement a simple meditation practice for 15-30 minutes daily. The key instruction: “When you reach that state of doing nothing, please keep a window of another 15-30 minutes to observe if the mind continues to remain in that state.”
- Use Mangalacharan and Mantra (MM): Adopt a practice that helps you move “from the false to the real, from ignorance to wisdom.” As one participant shared: “I noticed adding the Mangala Charon every day… and feeling that calmness present.”
- Develop Discernment and Dispassion (DD): Cultivate the ability to distinguish between reactions based on past conditioning and responses based on present reality. “You cannot have any experience without a thought in the mind,” Girish reminds us.
David's Breakthrough: A Story of Transformation
During our wisdom circle, David, a recently retired executive, shared a profound realization after practicing the meditation:
“The meditation was extremely deep. In fact, I don’t know if I heard it from you or I thought of it myself during the meditation: when it’s not working to be in a room, pick a different room. And so I came out of the meditation with that in my mind… We get stuck with the rooms that we have. But what we don’t realize is there’s other rooms and better rooms.”
This seemingly simple insight changed everything for David. He began to notice how he would habitually move into rooms of worry about his adult children’s choices, frustration with his own health limitations, and anxiety about financial security despite adequate savings.
Equipped with this new awareness, David started practicing “room-changing.” When beginning to worry about his daughter’s career path, he would consciously think, “I’m in the worry room—I can switch to the trust room.” When feeling frustrated with physical limitations, he would shift to “the gratitude room.”
Within weeks, David reported feeling “lighter and more peaceful than I have in decades”—not because his circumstances had changed, but because he had learned to choose different mental rooms.
Reflection Questions: Where Are You Living?
Take a moment to consider these questions:
- Sravan (Listening): Which of the six enemies and six treasures resonated most strongly with you? What does this tell you about which mental “rooms” you frequently occupy?
- Manan (Contemplation): Think about a recent situation where you felt upset or reactive. Which mental room were you in? What alternative room could you have chosen?
- Niddhyasana (Practice): What daily practice are you willing to commit to that will help you consistently access the rooms of peace rather than suffering?
- Mangalacharan and Mantra: What phrase or mantra would serve as a helpful reminder when you notice yourself in one of the “enemy” rooms?
- Discernment and Dispassion: What attachment or expectation might you be ready to release that no longer serves you in this chapter of life?
The answers to these questions can be found through applying the principles discussed in this article: becoming aware of which mental room you occupy, practicing switching rooms when necessary, and cultivating regular meditation that strengthens your ability to remain in the six treasure rooms
The Revolutionary Freedom of Choosing Your Room
As you navigate this important phase of life, perhaps the most revolutionary insight from Eastern wisdom is that freedom from suffering doesn’t require changing external circumstances—it requires changing mental rooms.
“We don’t realize that treasure is within all of us,” concluded one participant. “And we have been living in anxiety and duality. And a complaint and reaction and problems.”
For a generation that transformed society, the final and perhaps most meaningful revolution lies within—the liberation from habitual mental patterns that no longer serve and the discovery of inner treasures that have been available all along.
As Terry poignantly observed in our session: “How many years living without realizing that you have a choice… You thought you lived in this room of anxiety. And there you thought you had that.”
The six treasures have always been within you—during your youth in the cultural revolutions of the 60s and 70s, through your family-building and career-advancing years, and now in this chapter of reflection and integration. The only difference is awareness—knowing these treasures exist and that you have the choice, at any moment, to abide in them rather than in the rooms of suffering.
This is the ultimate freedom—one that transcends retirement accounts, health status, or family circumstances. It is a freedom available to you now, through the simple yet profound practice of changing rooms.
This article is based on teachings from Girish Jha’s wisdom circle on “Happiness & Wisdom,” integrating principles from Vedantic traditions with contemporary insights for meaningful aging.
#EasternWisdom4BabyBoomers #BabyBoomers #thirdactliving #retirementandspirituality #mentalpeaceafter60 #sixtreasuresofthemind #changingmentalrooms #meditationforboomers #findingpurposeinretirement #emotionalresilienceinaging #spiritualgrowthafter60 #transformingrelationshipsinretirement #legacyandmeaning
