The day I left my first 10-day Vipassana meditation course in Illinois I was ready to come home, I was missing and longing for my then recent boyfriend, James, and wanted to hug him, talk to him, be with him. But, the flight was cancelled.
Talks ensued that maybe it would be 24 hours until the next flight, and immediatelly you could see the groups of people forming, the "complainers", the "fed-ups" the "angry" the "disoriented", and as luck would have it, after coming from 10 days of doing nothing but following the breath and noticing sensation on the body, I was part of the "lets be present". It was me and a woman who was coming to New York to enroll in a monastery.
My flight took off two hours later, the nun was in it too. Not all the passengers from the previous cancelled flight where in it. I bet some of them ended up on the "next day", wonder if there are studies... What happens to passengers that react in this or that way...
A moment of stillness, or two or ten. A silence. That is the secret. Because the need to win, the need to have the outcome of our planning come exactly as we want it, drains us of power.
When we get angry all our energy gets projected into the future and the past, the forcing of what we want and the regrets for what we did not do. We are drained, we are not here, we are uncocniousl
Coming into the now is the secret because by doing so we access power. We don't plan mental movies of what we will say (to the CEO of the airline for example), we get rooted in the now in what is happening and what we can do right now, then we trust in lilfe, and that whatever it is we need will be there.
The more distressfull the situation the more presence is required.
When I returned from Thailand and found my world destroyed (no more job, house, car, money etc,) I found myself fully present in that room, as I was getting fired. Here is the blow by blow of that day.
Using the energy of the present allowed me to understand exactly what was going on and negotiate an extra month of severance payment. I would have not been able to do so if not present.
When we are one with what we are doing we are total and whole in what we do and the main focus of our attention is not on what we want to get to but in the doing now. The energy is not diverted through mental dis-function, otherwise whatever we do will be stressful. Says Tolle.
Success
Finally, perhaps the definition of success needs revisiting. The truth is that we don't have control over how life will develop. Our desired outcome is not necesarily what will happen just because we are present. But whatever happens is what is, and therefore is sacred. Besides, we may not understand that what is happening is in our best interests for spiritual development. It is.
Take for example Geneen Roth who lost all her money to Madoff. She was mad, of course, but somehow the energy of the intense suffering helped her turn into awareness and she became one with what is (granted she has been a Buddhist meditator for 30 years and had some "practice").
Check out the video below and see if you identify with the two beliefs she has about money and englihtenment. I happen to be a victim of both
Talks ensued that maybe it would be 24 hours until the next flight, and immediatelly you could see the groups of people forming, the "complainers", the "fed-ups" the "angry" the "disoriented", and as luck would have it, after coming from 10 days of doing nothing but following the breath and noticing sensation on the body, I was part of the "lets be present". It was me and a woman who was coming to New York to enroll in a monastery.
My flight took off two hours later, the nun was in it too. Not all the passengers from the previous cancelled flight where in it. I bet some of them ended up on the "next day", wonder if there are studies... What happens to passengers that react in this or that way...
A moment of stillness, or two or ten. A silence. That is the secret. Because the need to win, the need to have the outcome of our planning come exactly as we want it, drains us of power.
When we get angry all our energy gets projected into the future and the past, the forcing of what we want and the regrets for what we did not do. We are drained, we are not here, we are uncocniousl
Coming into the now is the secret because by doing so we access power. We don't plan mental movies of what we will say (to the CEO of the airline for example), we get rooted in the now in what is happening and what we can do right now, then we trust in lilfe, and that whatever it is we need will be there.
The more distressfull the situation the more presence is required.
When I returned from Thailand and found my world destroyed (no more job, house, car, money etc,) I found myself fully present in that room, as I was getting fired. Here is the blow by blow of that day.
Using the energy of the present allowed me to understand exactly what was going on and negotiate an extra month of severance payment. I would have not been able to do so if not present.
When we are one with what we are doing we are total and whole in what we do and the main focus of our attention is not on what we want to get to but in the doing now. The energy is not diverted through mental dis-function, otherwise whatever we do will be stressful. Says Tolle.
Success
Finally, perhaps the definition of success needs revisiting. The truth is that we don't have control over how life will develop. Our desired outcome is not necesarily what will happen just because we are present. But whatever happens is what is, and therefore is sacred. Besides, we may not understand that what is happening is in our best interests for spiritual development. It is.
Take for example Geneen Roth who lost all her money to Madoff. She was mad, of course, but somehow the energy of the intense suffering helped her turn into awareness and she became one with what is (granted she has been a Buddhist meditator for 30 years and had some "practice").
Check out the video below and see if you identify with the two beliefs she has about money and englihtenment. I happen to be a victim of both
Planing is necessary, but then come to the moment rather than duel in the image of how the future will look like, otherwise we put barriers, this is why I love asking for a goal "or something better", always leaving a doorway for the universe to take care of things and the ability to be present, come what may.
Here is Geneen Roth book: Lost and Found - She talks not only about losing all her money but also her constant struggles with weight et all, until she finally encounters the space of the now.
I could not agree more about not having control over the course of our life. I love this blog!
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