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Elevator Ride
I had resistance to this activity, until I realized I was already doing this activity! Duh. I was starting to get really anxious about my big work load for school last week, so rather than worry about everything I had to do (ruminate), I bought a weekly calendar and wrote out all my assignments, and the homework I needed to do each week. Once I did this, I realized my work load isn't as bad and scary as I was imaginging it to be.
For lifting my mood, I visited with a friend and went for a hike in the woods. It would have been easy for me to not make time for these activities, but I realized they are important and both made me feel really good and more focused on my tasks at hand. I even had some spiritual insights during my hike, which was a nice bonus. I thought about how important air is, and how there is only one body of air around the planet. We are all breathing the same air. I thought about how I was breathing the same air I breathed when I was at 17,000 feet in Tibet last summer. This made me feel really good, because it reminded me that we are all interconnected.
To calm myself down, I meditated and had a pretty intense meditation experience. Usually I don't have intense experiences while meditating, so this was a pleasant surprise. It gave me a deep reflection into the inherent interdependence of all things. This is about the core Buddhist belief in emptiness, or selflessness. Very hard to explain, but I was pretty pleased to get this insight. It made me feel really calm and grounded, and like I was returning to my center. It also made me realize that the idea of the interconnectedness of all sentient beings pertains not only to sentient beings that are currently alive, but all sentient beings that have ever been alive. Again, it's kind of complex. This relates to the treatise by the Buddhist scholar Nagarjuna in the 2nd century, who wrote on the origination of inherent interdependence. I attended a teaching by His Holiness the Dalai Lama on this topic last year, and he encouraged us to meditate on Nagarjuna to get a deeper understanding of this concept. When I've tried to meditate on Nagarjuna it hasn't happened, but it happened spontaneously this time, when I least expected it. I love it when that happens!
Sue-Marie,
It’s wonderful that your hike in the woods helped you revisit a positive memory in your past. It makes me think about what Mark says when he talks about the upward spiraling of positive emotion – one good thing on top of another. The next time you’re out enjoying nature, you’ll have two great memories to reflect on! How refreshing to hear that your positive emotions ran away with you, instead of negative ones which is most often the case. It also sounds like you have a wealth of knowledge about Buddhism and meditation. Have you taken related courses at Evergreen or is this just a passion of yours? Could you recommend any good literature?
~Chelsea
Thank You, Sue-Marie, It is so easy to allow the mind to get me all warped out of shape. Catastrophising about how much I have to do and when I have to get it done and how good it has to be and what will happen if I don't. In the words of Charlie Brown AAAAAAARRRRRRRGH. As you pointed out, it only took one simple tool, a calendar, to bring you to a realization (reality check) that you are in control of this stuff. The bonus of all of this is you got to enjoy of powerfull spiritual experience, which is the opposite of the rumination crap. Thank You for sharing.
John L
Perception is everything. It never seems to be so much about what we have to do as it is about what we perceive we have to do. Many times I spend far more time worrying about the task than the actual time it takes to do the task.
There is nothing more precious than time spent with a friend. You had the added bonus of throwing some exercise in the mix. I agree that until we feel “good” about ourselves, it is difficult to “focus on the tasks at hand” and it is also difficult to do things with any kind of quality when we are too scattered in our thinking.
I have just started to meditate. I am envious of those people who have been meditating for long periods of time. Do you have any advise for a novice?