I promised to write about how we can create an undercurrent of joy in our lives, so today I am going to write about beginning to integrate the mind and the body with meditative practice.
The Buddhist doctrine of emptiness tells us that if you look for the essence of something it's impossible to find. Many people take that to mean that we are nothing; that there's nothing inside us. Well that would be quite depressing! What emptiness really means is that you can become anything you want and that anything in this universe can become anything else. I find the idea of emptiness to be extremely exciting! If you look for the essence inside you that makes you who you are, you can keep looking forever and never really find it. There is not just one single thing that makes you the unique person you are. That's not a bad thing. It's an amazing and wonderful thing because what that tells you is that you can become anything in this life that you want. You can become any person that you want to be, you can have any job that you want to have, you can help anybody that you want to help, and you can find joy in your life.
Sometimes our perspective keeps us from realizing how unlimited we are.
An important thing to do in order to create an undercurrent of happiness is to let go of things that no longer serve you. Imagine yourself as a bird taking flight. Now imagine a giant boulder tied to your leg and how well you would fly with that weight. Our relation to the past is like that with the boulder and the bird. When we attach to the past, it keeps us from moving forward. Sometimes we have lost loved ones and we carry that grief with us. Sometimes we survived a terrible illness and we carry the memory of that ordeal in our bodies and minds. Sometimes we still feel guilty and ashamed of a mistake we made. Sometimes we are stuck in behavioral and emotional patterns that do not benefit us.
In order to feel content, you must let go of these things that weigh you down. I am not intending to make it sound simple; sometimes it isn't. Letting go can be painful and difficult. What I am trying to convey is that in order to realize how unlimited you are, it is necessary to chuck the luggage that is weighing you down.
In order to let go of the past, it is helpful to focus on being in the present. Begin integrating mindfulness meditation into your daily life by doing just one thing. Take a walk (or a swim...it is summer, after all) and just be where you are. If you are swimming, don't swim laps and let your mind make a grocery list. Feel the cool water on your skin and take time to appreciate it. Pay attention to the sounds, sights, and smells around you. Now here comes the hard part: do these things without judgement. If the sound of noisy children bothers you, explore that feeling. Develop awareness of your responses to your environment without passing judgement on them. Over time it becomes easier to just notice and observe without emotional attachment. Of course, you are human so you are not going to squash all emotional responses. However, you will begin to notice yourself laughing at things that used to irritate you. The more often you practice, the quicker you will lose much of your stored emotions from the past. And you will find yourself truly loving the present, wherever you happen to be.
The Buddhist doctrine of emptiness tells us that if you look for the essence of something it's impossible to find. Many people take that to mean that we are nothing; that there's nothing inside us. Well that would be quite depressing! What emptiness really means is that you can become anything you want and that anything in this universe can become anything else. I find the idea of emptiness to be extremely exciting! If you look for the essence inside you that makes you who you are, you can keep looking forever and never really find it. There is not just one single thing that makes you the unique person you are. That's not a bad thing. It's an amazing and wonderful thing because what that tells you is that you can become anything in this life that you want. You can become any person that you want to be, you can have any job that you want to have, you can help anybody that you want to help, and you can find joy in your life.
Sometimes our perspective keeps us from realizing how unlimited we are.
An important thing to do in order to create an undercurrent of happiness is to let go of things that no longer serve you. Imagine yourself as a bird taking flight. Now imagine a giant boulder tied to your leg and how well you would fly with that weight. Our relation to the past is like that with the boulder and the bird. When we attach to the past, it keeps us from moving forward. Sometimes we have lost loved ones and we carry that grief with us. Sometimes we survived a terrible illness and we carry the memory of that ordeal in our bodies and minds. Sometimes we still feel guilty and ashamed of a mistake we made. Sometimes we are stuck in behavioral and emotional patterns that do not benefit us.
In order to feel content, you must let go of these things that weigh you down. I am not intending to make it sound simple; sometimes it isn't. Letting go can be painful and difficult. What I am trying to convey is that in order to realize how unlimited you are, it is necessary to chuck the luggage that is weighing you down.
In order to let go of the past, it is helpful to focus on being in the present. Begin integrating mindfulness meditation into your daily life by doing just one thing. Take a walk (or a swim...it is summer, after all) and just be where you are. If you are swimming, don't swim laps and let your mind make a grocery list. Feel the cool water on your skin and take time to appreciate it. Pay attention to the sounds, sights, and smells around you. Now here comes the hard part: do these things without judgement. If the sound of noisy children bothers you, explore that feeling. Develop awareness of your responses to your environment without passing judgement on them. Over time it becomes easier to just notice and observe without emotional attachment. Of course, you are human so you are not going to squash all emotional responses. However, you will begin to notice yourself laughing at things that used to irritate you. The more often you practice, the quicker you will lose much of your stored emotions from the past. And you will find yourself truly loving the present, wherever you happen to be.