#280 Koans to Guide Formal & Informal Mindfulness Practice

     While taking a walk during lunch break today, I noticed the familiar habit of switching back and forth from appreciating the freedom and refreshing simplicity of walking for its own sake, and my awareness repeatedly drifting off into planning and other stories. Life reflects formal mindfulness practice, & of course, vice versa.
     Whether formally practicing mindfulness (sitting meditation), out walking, or doing anything else, it's helpful to pose a koan or question to ourselves:
          • what if this were the first time I was experiencing this activity (sitting, yoga, tai chi, walking) ... 
          • what if this were the last time I ever experienced this activity ... 
          • what if this activity were to last forever 
          • in each case, what is the optimal attitude, posture, muscle tone - STATE of BEING?
     These provocative questions are meant to be held lightly yet savored in awareness long-term, and experienced physically (instead of quickly 'answered' intellectually), and these work on many levels: 
          • help us switch into beginner's mind - to observe things we've seen before with fresh eyes, without presumptions, in greater detail, much like a curious scientist;
          • allow us to drop the tendency to take unpredictables for granted: living a very long life, or being able to repeat this exact same activity whenever we want;
          • allow our compulsive, anxious striving for distraction / entertainment to settle, much like mud in a glass jar of water gradually settles to the bottom, leaving only clear water on top.
     Try these - see how they effect your practice, formal & informal.

Nova Scotia grapes - 2012 vintage

#279 Freedom to Choose: Gratitude - or - Unhappiness

     “to practice being grateful to everyone is to train in a profound understanding. It is to cultivate every day this sense of gratitude, the happiest of all attitudes. Unhappiness and gratitude simply cannot exist in the same moment. If you feel grateful, you are a happy person. If you feel grateful for what is possible for you in this moment, no matter what your challenges are, if you feel grateful that you are alive at all, that you can think, that you can feel, that you can stand, sit, walk, talk – if you feel grateful, you are happy and you maximize your chances for well-being and for sharing happiness with others.”                Norman Fischer, Shambhala Sun, March 2013

#278 Forward? Backward? or Stay Put?

      Most of us tend to stay put, hold the fort, chillin, just hangin out, 'workin for a livin', 'gettin by', steady as she goes, ... at least we try to keep things from changing. On the biological level, it's homeostasis - the physiologic comfort zone, a steady state where no extra energy needs to be expended to accommodate changes. The potential downside of maintaining the status quo - being slug-ish - is boredom. Boredom is a real possibility. But is it possible for anything to truly remain the same - or is it a delusion caused by lack of awareness?
     Can we regress, backtrack, devolve in our lives? Sure, eg "second childhood"; or when after someone obtains advanced training or education, they resume their original job. It's a backward slide in capacity, with a corresponding decreased energy requirement. 
     How about advancing the boundaries of your comfort zone, intentionally, continuously, throughout life? THIS is actively participating in the evolution of one's own consciousness, pulling one's reptilian self out of the swamps by one's own boot straps into the era of Homo sapiens sapiens! Easy and comfortable - NO however - THIS is a human life worth living!

 

#277 Compulsions? Striving? Are we there yet? Quality of Life?

     Every parent is familiar with the anxiously repeated question from the kids in the backseat: "Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?" on pulling out of the driveway. Many of us are excessively goal-oriented like these Bart Simpson wannabes.
     So what happens while kids are obsessing about arriving? The trip - their life. Life is happening constantly - now, now, now, now, now - "in real time" regardless of whether we're truly here for it - "on planet earth" - or not.  
     We can be so locked into constantly striving for goals that much of our life can feel like an endless series of irritating obstacles keeping us from our goals. As soon as one goal is reached, we tend to discount it, and quickly replace it with at least one new goal. (Similarly, slot machine gambling addicts display no happiness when they win - they're addicted, "hooked" by the "bugs & bells" of the game, plugging in money with grim determination, not even leaving to urinate.)
     While one is trapped in a hellish maze of compulsive striving, one can't see alternatives to, nor clearly appreciate the corrosive effect of this "life" on them, their families or colleagues. Regardless of what the supposed goal (professional recognition, money, fame, sex, security), compulsive striving evokes a very narrow, unbalanced, and destructive way of life.
     But we do not have to be gerbils running furiously getting nowhere. For a healthy, balanced life, we need to become more aware of what's going on. This includes continuous conscious awareness of our own thoughts, speech and actions. We do not have to go along with the momentum of our lives. We are not on a swing heading down inevitably, with unstoppable momentum. We can choose to become like helicopter pilots who can stop any time, hover, look around, head in the appropriate direction, slow down, stop, and change course if appropriate - all under our own executive control (pre-frontal cortex), according to our core values and healthy long-term goals.
     First recognizing, and then intentionally letting go of our compulsions is essential if we're to bring intelligent awareness and meaningful quality into each moment of our one precious "kick at the can". 
     Quality of life - in the moment - brings about timeless quality: right now, and now, and now ... 

Great "gerbil on a wheel" photo from the web - I would like to give due credit.

# 276 Awareness, Acceptance, Practice, Quality of Life

     Mindfulness is about refining awareness of what's happening in real life. This involves learning to notice, as soon as possible, when awareness has drifted off target. We learn to accept the fact that it does - often in fact! Very gently, effortlessly - but with infinite persistence - we bring awareness back to the task at hand. 
     Regardless of what we previously thought of this task, we accept that it's ours now, and we approach it with "beginner's mind" - letting go of opinions & stories, to minimize distortion, and thus gather fresh direct data.
     When we approach a task eg cleaning the toilet, disgruntled & disgusted, we make ourselves miserable before, during & after the task, likely do it poorly, & likely spread this (self-inflicted) suffering to others. However, if we let go of internal commentary before, during & after the task, and approach it with curiosity & care to perform it well, there's no suffering: no apprehensive dread, no misery during, and no hangover after it's done. We will likely enjoy doing the task because we've unburdened our mind / heart. Furthermore, the work is accomplished more carefully & efficiently, and anyone witnessing our work will be inspired by our mindfulness & work ethic.
     Quality of awareness AND quality of life are BOTH shaped by intelligent continuous practice (and lack thereof).

Photo: Janusz B   www.dpreview.com

#275 Freedom: Continuous Awareness & Love - an Open Mind - Heart

     "The really important kind of freedom involves attention, and awareness, and discipline, and effort, and being able truly to care about other people and to sacrifice for them, over and over, in myriad petty little unsexy ways, every day.... The only thing that's capital-T True is that you get to decide how you're going to try to see it. You get to consciously decide what has meaning and what doesn't.... The trick is keeping the truth up-front in daily consciousness." 

          David Foster Wallace

          http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Foster_Wallace

#274 Just Keep Practicing past Boredom, Distractions, Nihilism, ...

     “Greatness of this sort (Bill Bradley’s basketball performance in Madison Square Garden) is nearly mystical to apprehend. It is characterized by the kind of sustained responsiveness to the demands of the situation that (Wesley Autrey) the Subway Hero embodied when he leapt onto the tracks. It is unflinching, unhesitating, and unwavering, and it has these certain qualities precisely because the activity flows not from the agent but through him. As a spectator of heroic activity one has the sense of watching something nearly inevitable, as though it is ordained by some force beyond the mere whim of human self-assertion. Indeed, one indication of the similarity between Bradley and Autrey is the spontaneous eruption of applause that both performances elicited from witnesses to the events. It is clear to all those present that something superhuman has been achieved.”
 
     "Bliss – a second-by-second joy and gratitude at the gift of being alive, conscious – lies on the other side of crushing, crushing boredom. Pay close attention to the most tedious thing you can find (Tax Returns, Televised Golf) and, in waves, a boredom like you’ve never known will wash over you and just about kill you. Ride these out, and it’s like stepping from black and white into color. Like water after days in the dessert. Instant bliss in every atom.” David Foster Wallace

       Dreyfus H, Kelly SD. All things shining. Reading Western classics to find meaning in a secular age. Free Press, NY, 2011.

     A lifetime of continuous mindfulness practice, as a way of life which gradually let's go of the ego, is a well-traveled, meaningful, supra-mundane path.

Photo: mattersdorff   www.dpreview.com