Skip to main content

Don't Let the River Flood


The water of a river moves in a current; there is a constant flow of material; sometimes the tide is high, rough and muddied, filled with debris, leaves, branches, other times it is lower, smooth and clear. So too the stream of content that moves through the mind; there are times when thoughts litter the mind, other times dark or agitated moods and, naturally, times of clarity and ease. What's of utmost importance is to not damn up the movement, to resist or grab at the material passing through. The mind should be kept spacious, deep and wide if it is to settle again.

Permitting the flow of mental events—plans, events, obligations, images, memories, sensations, feelings, external perceptions—is the role of mindfulness, which develops peace and ease. If awareness is allowed to narrow, contracting around and against the stream, the mind will flood, stress, anxiety, fear, expectations will build up and overwhelm us; we won't be able to contain all the demands that life places on us.

Waiting for a subway, trying to stay in the timetable of life, an announcement over the PA system that the trains are delayed. Disappointment, frustration, discomfort and worry arises. If the mind stays aware of other sensations, or skillful recollections of gratitude, kindness, virtue and compassion, these moods and feelings can arise and pass without great disturbance; everything can move. But what if we contract the mind around a story of what will happen if we're terribly late for an appointment, how it will throw off the rest of our day, and why did I chose the subway anyway, and when will they ever fix this subway line anyway? The mind becomes smaller and smaller; the pressure of thoughts and moods builds; too soon we are caught in a reactive spiral, physically tense, breath nearly hyperventilating, the shoulders and jaw locked tight, the mind jumping from one stressful prediction or observation to the next.

Hopefully we return awareness to the breath, inhaling deeply, extending the out breaths, relaxing the tension in the shoulders and jaw, grounding the feet on the subway platform, reflecting on times when we were peaceful. In this way we widen awareness, pulling the edges back from the clogged thoughts, filled with its pleas for life be other than it is, and we create space.

Whenever we find ourselves trapped in a collection of inner chatter that peace is not possible unless the outside world changes, we have fallen into heedlessness, for while the world could surely stand improvement serenity is unconditional; it doesn't require life going our way.

The world constantly promotes the idea that praise, approval, riches, smooth sailing and constant comfort are he building blocks of ease; we are are told what we require to be happy: “I'll need to earn this amount of money, so that i can buy a condo with nice furniture…” at which point i can relax. But wait! I'll also need a nose job, to lose 20 pounds, and find the perfect relationship… And as we plug away, trying to get the world to provide us with lasting ease and security, life slips by; the mind spends more time contracting and resisting the torrent of resentment and frustration that build with each little setback or larger disappointment.

But there's always the opportunity to stop, breath, pause, reconnect with all that is available. Widening. Deepening. Keeping the mind spacious. Allowing anything that needs to surge through to do so by giving it space. How would this change our experience if we practiced it in this very moment? Opening to what is present relieves that which seems overwhelming. So stand back, breath, widen and relax into life.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

fear

There are times in life when intrusive, fear based thoughts latch hold of us, filling the mind with swarming, buzzing thoughts, distracting us during interactions with others, muting the sensory richness of each moment—the sounds, body sens ations, aromas, feelings and on. Such dire visitors—generally based on past resentments or speculative fears—can easily bait and hook us, threatening us with annihilation, repeating constantly; given how constant the messages can be, releasing such thoughts can feel like ignoring ‘the world is going to end’ new flashes on CNN or city sirens announcing impending hurricanes. The mind can really play tricks that make it all to easy to abandon the present, which is, of course, the only place of true safety and utility. When we find the mind latching onto these narratives, images or moods, and we can’t reassure, reason with or let go, sometimes the only solution is to give up the battle and actually write down what our fears are trying to tell us. If
1 comment
Read more

Imagination And Creativity as Spiritual Practice

It’s worth noting how few of childhoods’ freewheeling exercises—the entertainments that were once synonymous with youthful delight—journey through to adult life. To a great degree, we’ve moved, en masse, toward consuming entertainment via television, video games and social media rather than creating our entertainment: drawing, making pottery, dancing, singing, and other inventive endeavors. Those same kindergartners who sing, draw, dance, and engage in all kinds of play, will, in only a few years’ time, be streaming their content via iPad screens, which requires less imagination and effort.  Consider the mind’s two dominant cognitive networks: the first is the default mode network (DMN), a mental state wherein we can visualize possibilities or solve problems, but where we often wind up speculating about unknowable future outcomes or ruminating about interpersonal conflicts. DMN is largely activated by subregions associated with inductive reasoning centers of the brain (the d
8 comments
Read more

5 ways to resist obsessive thoughts (Vitakkasanthana)

The mind can be thought of as a committee Our thoughts are present by many "voices," some skillful and unskillful W there are some skillful voices in there, focusing on useful ideas, there are also the many voices in the "committee" that cause us suffering by advancing and encouraging useless, stress inducing ideas, plans, worries. Some examples of unskillful, stress producing obsessions —are dedictated to figuring out the worst possible outcomes (fear) of any situation —fixate on unknowable future events, i.e. what will we experience later in life? —try to figure out what other people are thinking about us —compare ourselves with others, especially in material concerns in general, the buddha broke these down the thoughts of craving, aversion and delusion. How unskillful internal voices persuade us some of these committee members try to get their way by —most work by repeating the same thought over and over —some split into thousands of variations that seem differe
6 comments
Read more