A slippery slope indeed ...
You can distill the cause of ALL of humanities problems (outside of chemical imbalances) down to a few things.
One of these things is not being present.
People are so much in the past and the future that they spend virtually no time in this present moment.
We think too much.
Thinking is useful - but you might recognise that an excellent tool sometimes (perhaps often) takes over and becomes a tyrant.
If you’ve ever had trouble sleeping at night you’ll know this.
If you’ve ever tried to banish a worrying, anxious or fearful thought pattern you’ll know this too.
If you’ve ever had your kid tugging on your sleeve and telling you that you’re always distracted you’ll know this.
We're never present, here, in the one place where life is. Where, since there is one thing at a time, life is manageable.
As children we were taught to start thinking but never taught to switch the damn thing off.
Like lemmings on skis, we were pushed down a slippery slope and never showed how to turn, how to halt.
The result is your head gets faster and faster, more and more preoccupied with things that you can’t control.
You get tunnel vision - you lose touch with your senses, your awareness.
You start to become trapped in patterns and habits of thinking,
You become more and more stuck in the past and the future,
With little ability to absorb yourself in this present moment when you want and need to.
The exception to this is when you’re doing something you love.
The reason I got into meditation and this mind training was I realised that my head got quieter when I was in the outdoors.
The worries and doubts and to do list all were put aside -
All for the experience of being immersed in what was in front of me.
For me that was kayaking or snowboarding or climbing up a steep hill somewhere.
My head got quiet and I realised I was never happier than when my head was quiet.
I needed so little to be satisfied and content.
For you? That may be tiddlywinks …
But you love it (at least partially) because it brings you to a state of focus and presence.
It brings you out of your mind tunnel.
You can let the head go.
Now -
It’s good to recognise it’s not so much what you do but how you do it.
If you can do one thing with utter immersion and enjoyment you can do everything the same way. ^^^
It all begins with watching your own head, the thoughts and feelings within, and where they want to take you.
Enter a meditation practice.
Meditation is never about stopping your mind -
That is such an important point, because that ^^^ is hard work indeed; impossible for long periods.
Meditation is about becoming aware of what your head is telling you, and making another choice.
Just to watch, to not follow, to come back to that awareness.
To see what is there beyond thought and emotion.
To rest in the field of your own aware presence.
All the do-ing in your life becomes balanced with some time not doing.
Just resting and watching, and learning to halt, and breathe, and wait, and simply be - aware, mindful, present.
Boom.
Then you can go again. Because you’re recharged not drained. You have clear perspective not foggy, limited vision. You have more aware choice - not reaction.
Keep it simple.
Close your eyes, but do the same with your eyes open.
See the difference between what you can control and what you must let go.
Be the difference between day-dreaming all day long -
- and having the crisp, sensory, intuitive way of living when you’re present and focussed on what is in front of you.
It is a habit, just a habit.
But one that when mastered means you master the causes of all your problems.
You can sail through tough times.
It’s well worth doing.
If you’re interested in doing this properly ... if you'd like to be free of needing apps and such things … if you’d like to master your own mind and have an incredible life from that basis,
Then delay no longer. Opt in here and get a FREE Quick Start Guide To Meditation and get going with mastery.
You can't lose:
https://arjunaishaya.leadpages.co/sane/
Go well! Keep the peace. Arjuna
PS.
If you ski without knowing how to stop, better wear a helmet.
And one of those back braces.