This is our practice a journey with no ending
All the journey asks of us is to begin a practice. I think in the here and now of the current quarantine due to the Coronavirus we have the perfect platform to begin. This is a time of suffering for all beings in the world. A time of overwhelming uncertainty and doubt. At this very sensitive time in our world I believe we can all use less judgment, more kindness, compassion and equanimity. Typically our lives are very full, with daily routines. Taking care of self in our everyday lives is the last thing our list of to do’s after we come home from a day of work. First we usually take care of our families if that applies,then our pets and homes. Some of us manage to squeeze a workout into our days to take care of our bodies but what about our mind and our spirit, don’t they also need tending? The mind is also a muscle and it needs training in order to get stronger and more resilient. Why not now when we are in quarantine, take advantage of this time we have to cultivate a mindfulness/meditation practice?
In my private practice I speak with patients frequently and what I still hear is ” I don’t have time to do the things that might help me to find more peace in my life.” Some people simply don’t know where their time goes because they have not taken the time to cultivate healthy daily routines. Typically what happens in these situations is when the bottom falls out or the rug is pulled out from under our feet we simply do not know what to do. Now if that description fits you, you are not alone. We can all use more discipline and better time management in our lives. When we are able to do this life becomes more manageable and less stressful. So let’s see if we can harness that energy into something positive and long- term that will sustain us throughout difficult times. It is sometimes helpful when setting up a practice to choose a time in your day that works with your schedule to limit interruptions, some people may choose mornings before work, some choose after work and others may choose the middle of the day that is an individual choice. I always suggest that my patients start with what works. If you start with a meditation practice I always suggest that my patients start with 4-5 minutes a day. Once they set a practice and they are feeling stronger in their practice they can increase the duration to a time that works for them. The intention here is to set reasonable goals for yourself so that you are more likely to stick to it and experience success in your practice.
All the journey asks of us is to begin a practice. I think in the here and now of the current quarantine due to the Coronavirus we have the perfect platform to begin. This is a time of suffering for all beings in the world. A time of overwhelming uncertainty and doubt. At this very sensitive time in our world I believe we can all use less judgment, more kindness, compassion and equanimity. Typically our lives are very full, with daily routines. Taking care of self in our everyday lives is the last thing our list of to do’s after we come home from a day of work. First we usually take care of our families if that applies,then our pets and homes. Some of us manage to squeeze a workout into our days to take care of our bodies but what about our mind and our spirit, don’t they also need tending? The mind is also a muscle and it needs training in order to get stronger and more resilient. Why not now when we are in quarantine, take advantage of this time we have to cultivate a mindfulness/meditation practice?
In my private practice I speak with patients frequently and what I still hear is ” I don’t have time to do the things that might help me to find more peace in my life.” Some people simply don’t know where their time goes because they have not taken the time to cultivate healthy daily routines. Typically what happens in these situations is when the bottom falls out or the rug is pulled out from under our feet we simply do not know what to do. Now if that description fits you, you are not alone. We can all use more discipline and better time management in our lives. When we are able to do this life becomes more manageable and less stressful. So let’s see if we can harness that energy into something positive and long- term that will sustain us throughout difficult times. It is sometimes helpful when setting up a practice to choose a time in your day that works with your schedule to limit interruptions, some people may choose mornings before work, some choose after work and others may choose the middle of the day that is an individual choice. I always suggest that my patients start with what works. If you start with a meditation practice I always suggest that my patients start with 4-5 minutes a day. Once they set a practice and they are feeling stronger in their practice they can increase the duration to a time that works for them. The intention here is to set reasonable goals for yourself so that you are more likely to stick to it and experience success in your practice.
We can all use mindfulness in our everyday lives. Mindfulness is a state of being more
consciously aware of the present moment or being here now. Mindfulness can provide us all
with more clarity into our state of mind, acceptance of where we are in the moment which
encourages more compassion for self and other. As my mentor would put it, “get out the
Windex and clean off your mirror”, if you want to really see yourself and others clearly.
Practice finding a clear fresh look at yourself and the world this is what mindfulness can
provide.
In the here and now there’s a lot of fear and chaos in the world and it is not going to go away anytime soon and wishing it away is not possible. Therefore, we have an excellent opportunity for all to practice loving kindness, compassion and equanimity. Time to look inside and find the courageous warrior within. Time is now to walk towards the light and unveil the true self beneath the many veils of protection, our defenses. It is a valid time to recognize, that we are not alone, that we are interconnected through the common thread of humanity.
There is no time like the present to develop equanimity within and without, the attitude of I’m okay, your okay, we are okay. This is difficult for most of us to imagine that we are all okay because we are usually stuck in our own limited habitual biases. These habitual mindsets are based on likes and dislikes and accept and reject. Equanimity invites us all to open our our viewpoint completely and invite all beings in, even someone we don’t like or a perceived enemy. Think of someone that you have a lot of negative energy towards. I am sure in our current pandemic situation there are many fitting examples of people who push our buttons. Such as, people who are not practicing social distancing, or people that are hoarding, or a reporter or maybe even the President of the United States. The key here is to choose someone that is polarizing for you. This may be challenging for most of us which is why we may want to approach this slowly and with kindness so as not to become overwhelmed with fear and shut down. We always want to remind ourselves that this is a practice and we want to invite things into our practice slowly, little by little. We always want to check in with ourselves and see how we are tolerating this exercise and if it too much simply shut it down for now and try again tomorrow. With practice we most naturally get stronger at this, the more we practice the stronger we get, just like anything else we practice. Mindfulness practice is mind training boot camp and we are here to cultivate loving kindness towards ourselves and all beings. As mentioned earlier this practice takes courage because we never know what is going to appear when we open the door into the recesses of our minds. We could be presented with sickness/health, sorrow/joy, poverty/wealth, fear/curiosity or attachment/loss, to mention a few. This practice will help us to learn how to welcome whatever scenario presents itself to us.
In the here and now there’s a lot of fear and chaos in the world and it is not going to go away anytime soon and wishing it away is not possible. Therefore, we have an excellent opportunity for all to practice loving kindness, compassion and equanimity. Time to look inside and find the courageous warrior within. Time is now to walk towards the light and unveil the true self beneath the many veils of protection, our defenses. It is a valid time to recognize, that we are not alone, that we are interconnected through the common thread of humanity.
There is no time like the present to develop equanimity within and without, the attitude of I’m okay, your okay, we are okay. This is difficult for most of us to imagine that we are all okay because we are usually stuck in our own limited habitual biases. These habitual mindsets are based on likes and dislikes and accept and reject. Equanimity invites us all to open our our viewpoint completely and invite all beings in, even someone we don’t like or a perceived enemy. Think of someone that you have a lot of negative energy towards. I am sure in our current pandemic situation there are many fitting examples of people who push our buttons. Such as, people who are not practicing social distancing, or people that are hoarding, or a reporter or maybe even the President of the United States. The key here is to choose someone that is polarizing for you. This may be challenging for most of us which is why we may want to approach this slowly and with kindness so as not to become overwhelmed with fear and shut down. We always want to remind ourselves that this is a practice and we want to invite things into our practice slowly, little by little. We always want to check in with ourselves and see how we are tolerating this exercise and if it too much simply shut it down for now and try again tomorrow. With practice we most naturally get stronger at this, the more we practice the stronger we get, just like anything else we practice. Mindfulness practice is mind training boot camp and we are here to cultivate loving kindness towards ourselves and all beings. As mentioned earlier this practice takes courage because we never know what is going to appear when we open the door into the recesses of our minds. We could be presented with sickness/health, sorrow/joy, poverty/wealth, fear/curiosity or attachment/loss, to mention a few. This practice will help us to learn how to welcome whatever scenario presents itself to us.
Equanimity encourages us to open our viewpoint fully and beyond our limited perspectives
on life. Most of us practice hoping to get what we want and fear losing what we have. Does
that sound familiar to anyone? So let’s see, we can spend all sorts of time getting what we
want and then once we have it, we don’t even enjoy it or have gratitude, instead we
immediately begin to worry about losing it or maybe we don’t really feel like we deserve it.
Wouldn’t you agree that there has to be a better way to go through life than this? This is a
set up, a mind trap. My mentor Dr. Kenneth Wapnick would always reminded me of this trap,
” hope is a set up, once you get what you want, hope for then your going to fear losing it.”
Moreover, this trap is the very fabric of what habits are made of. Habits are addictions and
we all have some variation of this in our lives. Buddhism identifies eight variations of this,
hope/fear, pleasure/pain, praise/blame, gain/loss and fame/disgrace. Each one of these is
polarizing and whenever we get caught in one of these extremes there is fear that the other
will occur. It is a bit like being on a hamster wheel, we are the hamster chasing one of these
variations over and over again. Being on this never ending loop can be very exhausting,
chasing what you want getting it and then fear losing. Is anyone ready to get off? At what
point in time do we make the choice to get off of the wheel and recognize this chase is futile
and will never bring us the happiness we are looking for. The reason it does not bring us the
happiness we are looking for is because it is an endless cycle of attraction and aversion. In
reality there is no way to move through life without loss and gain. In other words there is no
way to line everything up perfectly in life so that we never experience any negatives/ fears
and accumulate only the positive/wealth.
I suggest practicing Equanimity in your life, this is the perfect opportunity in the here and now where there is so much fear and polarization in our world. We are all experiencing a difficult times due to the quarantine so this is a great opportunity to practice. This can be practiced in the grocery store, on the road from your car or in your home. If you are out at the market set an intention to remain emotionally aware of your surroundings and be honest with yourself about what triggers you. Notice if you are closed or open to the person that is triggering you. Do you feel negative, positive or neutral? Our only job here is to notice what we are feeling without judgement. You can do this while watching television as well, there are many triggering examples on the news, notice how your feeling, is it negative, positive or neutral? You will begin to notice that most of what we see in the world is negative or positive, polarized. It is important to be patient with yourself and recognize that this is a process that takes practice, that means it will ebb and flow and we will always be challenged by new experiences. The goal is to be more neutral less polarized more balanced, and less triggered, ultimately this brings us equanimity and we feel more peaceful. There is no time like the present to set a life long practice! May all beings find peace and equanimity.
I suggest practicing Equanimity in your life, this is the perfect opportunity in the here and now where there is so much fear and polarization in our world. We are all experiencing a difficult times due to the quarantine so this is a great opportunity to practice. This can be practiced in the grocery store, on the road from your car or in your home. If you are out at the market set an intention to remain emotionally aware of your surroundings and be honest with yourself about what triggers you. Notice if you are closed or open to the person that is triggering you. Do you feel negative, positive or neutral? Our only job here is to notice what we are feeling without judgement. You can do this while watching television as well, there are many triggering examples on the news, notice how your feeling, is it negative, positive or neutral? You will begin to notice that most of what we see in the world is negative or positive, polarized. It is important to be patient with yourself and recognize that this is a process that takes practice, that means it will ebb and flow and we will always be challenged by new experiences. The goal is to be more neutral less polarized more balanced, and less triggered, ultimately this brings us equanimity and we feel more peaceful. There is no time like the present to set a life long practice! May all beings find peace and equanimity.
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