So, let's continue to take a closer look at the concept of mindfulness. This has become a kind of vogue thing in the last decade or so. Time magazine even published an entire edition on it, and when that happens you know an idea has 'arrived'. But, here's the thing: the term itself has been so co-opted by people who either want to make money off of it, or who have grabbed onto parts of it, all the while rejecting other parts that it, in some cases, bears little resemblance to the original concept that was contained in eastern mysticism.
Under various names, mindfulness has been around for a very long time, millennia in fact. It has traditionally been associated with Buddhism. It is not my purpose to get into the history of it here and there are plenty of people who have written about it from a wide variety of perspectives. What I would like you to know from this offering is that it's not some complicated and highly esoteric, even arcane, idea. What it really means, at its core, is learning to recognize that the undisciplined mind has some powerful disadvantages and these can dominate one's consciousness to the point of making life much more chaotic and difficult than it really needs to be.
If you recall the song by the Beatles, "The Fool on the Hill", it is telling the listener that a simple person, sitting on a hill, has a perspective on the world that we almost never have. He, "...sees the world spinning round".
So, here's this fool sitting on a hillside, watching the world spinning round. And......? Well, if you stop to think what that frame of mind would be like, it has some gems hidden within. First of all, it's an allusion to the idea that being simple-minded is actually not necessarily such a bad thing. The 'simplicity' means that the whole mind-mesh ball of confusion is set aside, in favor of just observing the world as it goes about being the world. This can easily be seen as the thoughts no longer having the upper-hand when the thinking process is relegated to the back-burner for a change. Instead of getting lost in the swirling miasma of thoughts coming and going, we simply let go. The thoughts, as I mentioned in the last entry here, are allowed to become unimportant....at the very least they are LESS important, i.e., no longer in charge. They are almost exclusively connected to either the past or the future....and hardly ever are they rooted smack dab in the HERE-NOW.
The concept of entering the 'here and now' is not only ancient, it is still and always timely. The idea of entering into this present moment and place can be seen as a radical departure from the usual mode that the vast majority of people are living in every waking moment, i.e. hammering away at sorting through our thoughts, trying to make 'sense' of it all.
The fact is, most people spend almost all of their waking moments in either the past or the future. The two big draws are guilt and fear. Guilt is inexorably based on the past. Fear is almost always future based. The exception is when something is happening in the moment that is frightening....yes, then be afraid. But, about 99.9% of the time, our fears stem from something that might not even happen, or that might happen in a way we don't want it to. If the saber-toothed tiger is circling the base of the tree you climbed to escape, yes, that is real and worth being fearful over. But, that initial reaction of becoming terrified can also be counter-productive, especially in cases where the need to function and function very well is paralyzed and renders us unable to respond to the situation at hand.
Over the many millennia that humans have walked the surface of the planet, our survival instincts have developed in a way that supports dealing with a life-threatening situation. The Fight-or-Flight response is familiar to many people. The senses perceive a serious threat and we either opt to flee or to stand and fight. A blast of adrenaline pours into our bloodstream and we can either run faster than we ever could otherwise, or we can fight like a cornered wolverine...or at least try to. This is where fear is a benefit and helps us to deal with threats to our existence.
But, the fear that most people experience on a daily basis, is that generated by our mind-mesh, i.e. the CRAZY MONKEY. Oh, him again!! We can get ourselves all wound-up over something that hasn't even happened, and may never happen. The well-grooved fearful mind is severely crippled in terms of being able to function effectively. So is the habitually guilt-ridden mind. Anybody who is living a normal life in today's world, still has things in the past that they wish had been different. Maybe we know we were unfair to someone, or we did some dastardly deed(s) that we regret. Perhaps we really have been a bad person...at least in some respects...and that is always right there, ready to pounce, via our thoughts and the Crazy Monkey's ability to direct them. If you meet a person who says they have zero regrets about the past and no fears about life's end-game, i.e. dying, then you have met a liar.
So, this is where mindfulness comes in. We need a way not to arrest but to at least manage and recognize that our thinking self is both not very wise, and has lots of fear and guilt-based issues. Thinking is the ability that has brought us to where we are now. We have accomplished endless things with the ability to apply our logic and our massive intellectual powers. This is what has formed modern civilization more than any other asset.....although we would not have gotten very far without an opposable thumb.
And, the first step toward gaining the upper-hand over the constant stream of yadda-yadda that the mind mesh is generating....is simply to recognize that the crazy monkey is a potentially great assistant, but a terrible boss. If the crazy monkey is on the bridge and shouting orders...then the Exxon Valdez is going to hit Bligh Reef, no doubt about it. But, if a calmer sense prevails, and we recognize another source of guidance, there is a good chance the ship will avert disaster.
This calmer sense is intuition. Unfortunately, most people have learned how to disable it. We grow up in a society that routinely dismisses it. "Oh, that 's just your imagination." is an invalidation that suggests our intuition is of little or no value and consequence, when, in fact, it may be our most valuable and important tool.
So, how do we re-order our perceptions and our understanding of reality to incorporate this crucial inner skill? Back around we come...to mindfulness. The process of becoming more and more mindful can be supported in myriad ways. Over the last few decades I have taught it using tools that some find odd or even weird....like shooting, for instance. I have been a competitive target shooter since I was on my first rifle-team at age 9. The act of shooting, by its very nature demands a high level of concentration. I literally spent years and years focusing on "...front-sight, rear-sight, target". And, the ability to focus my attention was critical to the career path I chose, i.e. making art knives, carving and painting.
My favorite pastime now is a sport called, "sporting clays", in which the shooter is presented with flying clay targets they may have never seen before, and is challenged to hit them with a shotgun by trusting one's purest instincts.
I have also taught downhill skiing as a way of being fully present. This has a built-in aspect that is very helpful, in that a skier who gets up in their head is about to have a 'yard sale'....their equipment scattered over the slope. I have seen this far too many times to doubt it. In every different situation, I have asked people to adopt a practice I refer to as 'watching your breath'. This simply means to pay attention to the inhalation and exhalation of air in your chest. The skill in doing this is learning to keep coming back to it after the crazy monkey distracts you for the umpteenth time....gently and without self-judgment. Just learning to be completely and profoundly PRESENT.
So, the take away from all of this is simple: Learn to pay attention to your breath and use it as a tool to bring your consciousness into the present place and time. Practice distancing from your 'crazy monkey' of a mind-mesh...and allow your thoughts to have less importance and minimal impact.
PLEASE REMEMBER THIS: you are NOT your thoughts. They are simply something generated by a part of your brain, and we can either use them to our benefit, or we can be 'mindless' and allow them to run us ragged. The crazy monkey can deliver a powerful beat-down if you give it the opportunity to do so.
So, don't do that, okay.
Next segment we will take a look at how mindfulness and compassion are connected.
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