We spend a lot of time thinking about the future. We might be thinking about how things will go at work, or who is going to win an election or a football game. We might think about when or if we're going to meet the right person or how we're going to know what is next for us.
And we simply don't know any of those things. Right now, we can't know. Even if we go to the best psychic in the world, we won't know for sure.
This creates a lot of worry and stress.
And yet, no matter what has happened in my life, the good, and especially the bad, when I have looked back at it from the perspective of a few years, it seems like it was for the best. That I learned something valuable from it. That I grew.
Can we see this right now? Can we trust our uncertainty?
Looking back, it seems there are no mistakes. And if that's true, it means there's nothing to worry about, either.
Jeff
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Monday, January 10, 2011
Grist for the Mill
Some of the most powerful Buddhist teachings talk about how the material of our daily lives fuels our gradual transformation.
The teachings of Jack Kornfield, as shared in his classic A Path with Heart, are a great example of this.
Our difficulties are a pointer. Not to what is wrong with the outer world, but to the resistance that happens in our inner world. Our troubles are not due to what is happening in the world. They are instead because of how we label and interpret what is happening.
Are we pushing it away, or are we clinging to it?
Do we want it to be different? How so?
Are we inserting a "should" somewhere? "He should have known better." "It should be different."
Do we think it isn't fair?
Life just is. Everything else we add with our thoughts.
Everything.
It is easy to notice this in other people. It's not so easy to notice in ourselves. But to notice is to start a lifelong, and completely unpredictable, process of change.
It can be scary to start this process, because we don't know what is going to happen. But we don't know what will happen if we don't, either.
Jeff
The teachings of Jack Kornfield, as shared in his classic A Path with Heart, are a great example of this.
Our difficulties are a pointer. Not to what is wrong with the outer world, but to the resistance that happens in our inner world. Our troubles are not due to what is happening in the world. They are instead because of how we label and interpret what is happening.
Are we pushing it away, or are we clinging to it?
Do we want it to be different? How so?
Are we inserting a "should" somewhere? "He should have known better." "It should be different."
Do we think it isn't fair?
Life just is. Everything else we add with our thoughts.
Everything.
It is easy to notice this in other people. It's not so easy to notice in ourselves. But to notice is to start a lifelong, and completely unpredictable, process of change.
It can be scary to start this process, because we don't know what is going to happen. But we don't know what will happen if we don't, either.
Jeff
Friday, January 7, 2011
Three Steps
There are three seamless steps to development.
Step One is based on our conditioned sense of self. It is life as experienced by the left hemisphere of the brain. It is based on goals and logic and data. We proceed from past to future. We have a plan.
But occasionally, we have moments of timelessness, in which we notice we are just "here," with no demands. We don't know what to make of these moments at first.
In Step Two, we begin to notice and cultivate these moments of timelessness. We see that unconditioned happiness does not come from the to do lists that the left brain produces. Unconditioned happiness is life as experienced by the right hemisphere of the brain. We begin to spend more time here, to enjoy these "vacations" from life and the healing they can bring. This is a dangerous time in our development. It can be tempting to spend more time here and less in our conditioned life, to engage in "spiritual bypassing," to think that these right brain experiences are better than the left brain ones.
But we are not just the right brain or just the left brain. We are both.
Step Three is to bring these right brain experiences into our daily lives. To loosen the grip of the left brain. To see the union of left and right, of time and timelessness. To take a balanced view.
We can fret about this, and worry if we are doing it correctly. This is what the left brain tends to do. Or we can accept whatever is happening as a perfect expression of the moment.
We'll probably do both of those things. We'll have good days and bad days. But now we're committed. There is no going back. This work will become our path, integrated with everything we do. For the rest of our lives.
Jeff
Step One is based on our conditioned sense of self. It is life as experienced by the left hemisphere of the brain. It is based on goals and logic and data. We proceed from past to future. We have a plan.
But occasionally, we have moments of timelessness, in which we notice we are just "here," with no demands. We don't know what to make of these moments at first.
In Step Two, we begin to notice and cultivate these moments of timelessness. We see that unconditioned happiness does not come from the to do lists that the left brain produces. Unconditioned happiness is life as experienced by the right hemisphere of the brain. We begin to spend more time here, to enjoy these "vacations" from life and the healing they can bring. This is a dangerous time in our development. It can be tempting to spend more time here and less in our conditioned life, to engage in "spiritual bypassing," to think that these right brain experiences are better than the left brain ones.
But we are not just the right brain or just the left brain. We are both.
Step Three is to bring these right brain experiences into our daily lives. To loosen the grip of the left brain. To see the union of left and right, of time and timelessness. To take a balanced view.
We can fret about this, and worry if we are doing it correctly. This is what the left brain tends to do. Or we can accept whatever is happening as a perfect expression of the moment.
We'll probably do both of those things. We'll have good days and bad days. But now we're committed. There is no going back. This work will become our path, integrated with everything we do. For the rest of our lives.
Jeff
Thursday, January 6, 2011
The Why Trap
"Why" might be the biggest impediment on the spiritual path.
Why is a perfectly reasonable question to ask in everyday life. Why didn't we get the promotion? Why did the client pick another vendor? Why did our biggest competitor get acquired?
But when we are talking about that which can't be described--awareness or presence or whatever name you might call it--why will lead us astray.
Why leads us into the left hemisphere of the brain. To logic and past and future. To stories about things that are not the thing itself. In the conditioned world, we tend not to notice this.
But presence is none of those things. It is the right brain experience of the world. It is right here, right now. Full stop. Nothing more. To try to describe or explain is to kill it.
See it. Relax into it. Enjoy the relief and healing it brings.
And don't ask why.
Jeff
Why is a perfectly reasonable question to ask in everyday life. Why didn't we get the promotion? Why did the client pick another vendor? Why did our biggest competitor get acquired?
But when we are talking about that which can't be described--awareness or presence or whatever name you might call it--why will lead us astray.
Why leads us into the left hemisphere of the brain. To logic and past and future. To stories about things that are not the thing itself. In the conditioned world, we tend not to notice this.
But presence is none of those things. It is the right brain experience of the world. It is right here, right now. Full stop. Nothing more. To try to describe or explain is to kill it.
See it. Relax into it. Enjoy the relief and healing it brings.
And don't ask why.
Jeff
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Outer and Inner
We spend a lot of time feeling like something is missing.
And we compensate for this the only way we know how. We try to buy things and do things to escape this feeling. We think that if we have more, that place of emptiness will be filled. We think that these outer, impermanent possessions or experiences can be a substitute for the inner goodness we think is missing.
If there is indeed something missing inside us, it seems very unlikely we'll plug that hole with the right partner or job or car or house. Yet when we think of the time that we spend on our own development, most of the effort seems to be on these external things.
It might make more sense to look inside, at this sense of something missing. Why do we feel this way? Is it because we have been told that we are inadequate? Let's question that. Is it because we think others have something we don't? Let's see if that is really true.
Without the thought that something is missing, what's here? Everything.
We're all capable of experiencing the miracle of having a human life. And yet we spend most of our days not noticing that. Not noticing the miracles all around us.
Now is a great time to remind ourselves of all that we have. And to see that in this moment, we simply can't find anything that's missing.
Jeff
And we compensate for this the only way we know how. We try to buy things and do things to escape this feeling. We think that if we have more, that place of emptiness will be filled. We think that these outer, impermanent possessions or experiences can be a substitute for the inner goodness we think is missing.
If there is indeed something missing inside us, it seems very unlikely we'll plug that hole with the right partner or job or car or house. Yet when we think of the time that we spend on our own development, most of the effort seems to be on these external things.
It might make more sense to look inside, at this sense of something missing. Why do we feel this way? Is it because we have been told that we are inadequate? Let's question that. Is it because we think others have something we don't? Let's see if that is really true.
Without the thought that something is missing, what's here? Everything.
We're all capable of experiencing the miracle of having a human life. And yet we spend most of our days not noticing that. Not noticing the miracles all around us.
Now is a great time to remind ourselves of all that we have. And to see that in this moment, we simply can't find anything that's missing.
Jeff
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Beginner's Mind
"In the beginner's mind, there are many possibilities. In the expert's mind, there are few."
--Shunryu Suzuki
At the beginning of this new year, let's think about all the assumptions we make about our lives.
That our jobs, relationships, possessions, achievements are good or bad.
That if our lives were different, they would be better.
That we know, or even can know, what's best, for ourselves or someone else.
These assumptions only serve to limit us. To drop them, to begin to accept life just as it is, is the beginning of freedom.
Jeff
--Shunryu Suzuki
At the beginning of this new year, let's think about all the assumptions we make about our lives.
That our jobs, relationships, possessions, achievements are good or bad.
That if our lives were different, they would be better.
That we know, or even can know, what's best, for ourselves or someone else.
These assumptions only serve to limit us. To drop them, to begin to accept life just as it is, is the beginning of freedom.
Jeff
Monday, January 3, 2011
Resolutions, Resolved
It's time for New Year's Resolutions.
I'm not a big believer in resolutions. Like many, my record is not very good. At the same time, though, when I make my mind up, I can be very committed.
So my advice about resolutions is--
Don't make one.
If you need to make one, you're not ready. You're not convinced. You're not committed.
You're thinking about things that you think you should do, but that you haven't yet. You're thinking that you need a push and that this ritual will somehow make it easier.
But if you need to lose weight or stop smoking, you're going to do it when you're ready, at exactly the right time for you. Not because it coincides with a new year and a silly, if well intentioned, tradition.
Do it not because you want to, but because you must.
Happy New Year!
Jeff
I'm not a big believer in resolutions. Like many, my record is not very good. At the same time, though, when I make my mind up, I can be very committed.
So my advice about resolutions is--
Don't make one.
If you need to make one, you're not ready. You're not convinced. You're not committed.
You're thinking about things that you think you should do, but that you haven't yet. You're thinking that you need a push and that this ritual will somehow make it easier.
But if you need to lose weight or stop smoking, you're going to do it when you're ready, at exactly the right time for you. Not because it coincides with a new year and a silly, if well intentioned, tradition.
Do it not because you want to, but because you must.
Happy New Year!
Jeff
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)