The mind is a seemingly unruly, wild creature at times. However, it is important not to enter into any sort of battle with it. Our ultimate task here is to just watch and feel into our present moment experience.
I've had many contacts with various "spiritual" teachers over the years, but the best teaching I ever encountered came from a man in India we called Papaji who gave that teaching in just two words:
Just Stop...
Try out "just stopping" for yourself and feel intimately what your experience is in this moment. Without any comment, judgment, attachment or aversion, just see "what is".
Watch it all, even any comments, aversions, etc. that might be wanting to enter into your experiencing.
If we can at last "just stop" all the regrets, all the worrying, judgments, efforts to figure it all out, etc., perhaps we can begin to see a bit deeper into just what a miraculous thing this one moment really is.
We can then perhaps arrive at a true understanding that this moment is all that actually exists for us in the end and, in turn, begin to truly appreciate the eternal essence of this pure presence and the true potential that is always here to support our own growth and happiness.
Shikan taza, or "just sitting", is a kind of bare-bones method of meditation practiced within the Soto Zen Buddhist tradition. One receives the essential instructions related to correct posture, etc. and then is essentially left to face a wall and be with all that arises within the mind. One's job here, is to essentially face it all without judgment or any urge to change any of it.
I suggest, that if you feel drawn to do a formal meditation practice, look around and see which one resonates with you the best. You can as well enroll in my own online course True Meditation. There's a free trial available.
When we are finally able to begin to embody our original and free nature, beyond the fluctuations of the thoughts and stories that arise, we then naturally show up as an example for others, revealing through our presence, the freedom that already exists within the felt experience of a moment.
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Personally I find the "just stopping" part the most challenging. When I sit and do my best to meditate my mind urges me more do go out and do things rather then give me inner peace.
I think that most everyone that begins a meditation practice experiences the same thing on various levels. We've been well conditioned by society to not dare to sit silently and look within. There's a couple of things in particular that we could do to help break ourselves away from these limiting mental habits. We can approach such urges and thoughts by just committing ourselves to just watch them as they arise, neither clinging to, nor attempting to push them away. Thoughts and feelings always appear, and they always pass away, and we can simply position ourselves as just the observer of these movements. Another helpful practice would be to develop the habit to "just stop" periodically throughout your day for 5 seconds; just stop, take a deep breath and become intimately aware of what is appearing to you in any given moment. I hope this helps, and feel free to reach out anytime.
If I may be so bold to ask you this. What makes you keep practicing meditation through and during the challenges in life? In my experience only bad habits stay easily, the good ones slowly fade away and only partially becomes adopted into my life. That means if it's not turned into an failure experience that haunts the new beginnings.
Is it just discipline and faith?
My experience hasn't been so unlike your own through the years, and I still find it to be a challenge some days to get my butt on the cushion. I've found that these self-defeating patterns are for the most part, the result of the conditioning we've experienced at various stages in our lives. Our learned belief systems, habit patterns, etc. many times serve to limit us within our endeavors towards expanding ourselves in some way. The one thing that keeps me going with this practice it seems, is that when I'm meditating, it's a time when I feel truly sane and have the greatest clarity in my life. It's as well, I'm finding, to be more and more just something necessary for me to partake in as we move further into greater levels of uncertainty and chaos in the world.
I've been looking at the work of someone named Joe Dispenza in relation to dealing with such self-defeating patterns and learned behaviors. His instructions and insights into this topic are both fascinating and very effective towards allowing one to move beyond such barriers.
Thanks for sharing your experience and let me know how it goes for you.
James, thank you for introducing me to the work of Dr Joe Dispenza. I'm reading his books and it is exactly what I need. Fascinating and amazing just doesn't express enough how I think about it. This knowledge is known in religion but that it is becoming science fact is just revolutionary. I have a lot of research and work to do before I can come out and share article's on steemit and other people. I'm glad that you are doing it.
You have my gratitude.
I've not fully assimilated myself what he is teaching, but I can imagine that it will continue to be of some help for myself. Thanks so much for your feedback here.I'm happy to hear this was helpful for you @freyrtruthseeker
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This is definitely a point that I have had to face many times in my journey of transcending my mind, the tendency to be in conflict with what is coming up in my own mind rather than taking a moment to breathe and just see what is here as it is, without judgment. Accepting what is here is an important step in self-change. Thanks for an enlightening post cosmicorder.
Thanks for sharing your perspective and experience here Kim. Yes, what a challenge it seems to allow things to drop away and just witness what is happening in any given moment. I've found however, by maintaining some sort of resolve in not getting lost within my habitual thought patterns, I become more and more drawn towards the stillness.