The Daily Life of Ordinary Things

[Gem]

Yesterday I had become overwhelmed by the expectations of my job and become anxious and stressed over it all, so I went outside and looked at a tree. Nothing special, energies and the like, but because I took a spell from keeping up with the pace, and stopped just to look at something, the frantic energy I had built up dissipated, and after a while, I realised how long it had been since I thought about my problems - and really, I couldn't figure out why I had been distraught in the first place. Even though my circumstances had not changed at all, same pressures, same problems, all just the same, the way I was changed and went from high tension to 'whatevs'. In essence, I had simply stopped imagining and started looking and then I was seeing it 'as it is'.

My story here is not special. There are no amazing things in it. It's just a stressful day at the office and how it really didn't need to be. I had no special energy experiences or anything like that, just ordinary daily things, but it comes back to fundamental principles of Buddhist meditation, to be aware, and see it 'as it is'.

"In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert's there are few"

- Shunryu Suzuki Roshi

"The mind of an enlightened human being is flexible and adaptable. The mind of the ignorant person is conditioned and fixed."

Ajahn Sumedho

Originally Posted by Gem

Yesterday I had become overwhelmed by the expectations of my job and become anxious and stressed over it all, so I went outside and looked at a tree. Nothing special, energies and the like, but because I took a spell from keeping up with the pace, and stopped just to look at something, the frantic energy I had built up dissipated, and after a while, I realised how long it had been since I thought about my problems - and really, I couldn't figure out why I had been distraught in the first place. Even though my circumstances had not changed at all, same pressures, same problems, all just the same, the way I was changed and went from high tension to 'whatevs'. In essence, I had simply stopped imagining and started looking and then I was seeing it 'as it is'.

My story here is not special. There are no amazing things in it. It's just a stressful day at the office and how it really didn't need to be. I had no special energy experiences or anything like that, just ordinary daily things, but it comes back to fundamental principles of Buddhist meditation, to be aware, and see it 'as it is'.

In the Buddhist practice as I know it, there comes a stage where even the thoughts and worry do not arise and/or when they arise, they are less strong than the presence of mind that Buddhist meditation develops in oneself.

You are right Gem, it's ordinary but beautifully powerful. We don't need power, kundalini or deities to help us realize these sanctum truths.

JL

[JustBe]

Originally Posted by Gem

Yesterday I had become overwhelmed by the expectations of my job and become anxious and stressed over it all, so I went outside and looked at a tree. Nothing special, energies and the like, but because I took a spell from keeping up with the pace, and stopped just to look at something, the frantic energy I had built up dissipated, and after a while, I realised how long it had been since I thought about my problems - and really, I couldn't figure out why I had been distraught in the first place. Even though my circumstances had not changed at all, same pressures, same problems, all just the same, the way I was changed and went from high tension to 'whatevs'. In essence, I had simply stopped imagining and started looking and then I was seeing it 'as it is'.

My story here is not special. There are no amazing things in it. It's just a stressful day at the office and how it really didn't need to be. I had no special energy experiences or anything like that, just ordinary daily things, but it comes back to fundamental principles of Buddhist meditation, to be aware, and see it 'as it is'.

Cool.

Life gets fast and we are the ones that have to slow down.

The simplicity of skills found, to find balance tend to come through from the complexities of ourselves and life around us.

I know aware people who still drink heavily and chain smoke to cope with the frenetic nature of their lives.

Sadly our vices sometimes layer over what could well be managed the way you show.

I think your experience will be helpful to others in your workplace.

In the end it all comes back to balance and being in the world but not of its race, pace, stress. A straight shooting friend of mine, says all we need to do is breathe, consciously helps at times..��

Originally Posted by Gem

Yesterday I had become overwhelmed by the expectations of my job and become anxious and stressed over it all, so I went outside and looked at a tree. Nothing special, energies and the like, but because I took a spell from keeping up with the pace, and stopped just to look at something, the frantic energy I had built up dissipated, and after a while, I realised how long it had been since I thought about my problems - and really, I couldn't figure out why I had been distraught in the first place. Even though my circumstances had not changed at all, same pressures, same problems, all just the same, the way I was changed and went from high tension to 'whatevs'. In essence, I had simply stopped imagining and started looking and then I was seeing it 'as it is'.

My story here is not special. There are no amazing things in it. It's just a stressful day at the office and how it really didn't need to be. I had no special energy experiences or anything like that, just ordinary daily things, but it comes back to fundamental principles of Buddhist meditation, to be aware, and see it 'as it is'.

Perhaps ordinary and not particularly special, but amazing nonetheless. I know this state of mind, or at least something similar. I believe the Taoists might call this “flow”. When things come up in our lives that we don’t like we look for ways to resist or defeat them. Sometimes we look around at the world and notice so much we see as wrong and feel the need to “fix” it, but how? The mind often goes into overdrive looking for solutions or ways around something. Sometimes running out of control and tripping over itself, stressing us out, sending our emotions soaring, and tying our thoughts into a knot. The mind starts playing guess the future games with chains of cause and effect, but they branch out in every direction and it just keeps getting itself lost. Sometimes, the conflict between the perceived need to take action, and the fear of taking the wrong action can cause the mind to focus in on the problem until it occupies nearly the whole of our awareness. Zoomed in, the ant hill appears to be a mountain. We become as they say, ‘lost in our thoughts’.

While taking a walk and appreciating nature may not provide the solution to the original problem, it does provide the mind a way to refocus using a wider angle lens, providing a solution to the problem of the mind being clouded over with its own thoughts, and perhaps more importantly, its own fears of all the “what ifs” that could go wrong. Looking back again at the problem without judging it, and/or immediately trying to find ways to resist or overcome it, can provided a clarity of mind that sometimes allows the solution (which is sometimes to do nothing at all) to almost effortlessly flow out of the mind, or even seemingly out of the problem itself. It can sometimes feel like magic. All that is required of the mind is for it to get out of it’s own way, and yet this is often so hard for it to do. Sometimes the struggle can even become the mind trying to get out its way. Like Laurel and Hardy both trying to go through a doorway at the same time, a vaudeville of the mind.

“Every problem has in it the seeds of its own solution.” Norman Vincent Peale

Perhaps sometimes we just need to stop blocking the sun and allow enough light through for the seeds to grow.

[Unseeking Seeker]

***

There was a contraction

You observed it. The contraction receded. Automatically.

You know the way.

***

Originally Posted by Unseeking Seeker

***

There was a contraction

You observed it. The contraction receded. Automatically.

You know the way.

***

Yup, took me a minute to figure out what was contracting, but that does pretty much sum it up.
If fact, you even contracted the contraction, nice!

[Gem]

It's not a particularly simple thing, perhaps simple in principle, but a complex nuance in practice, because for things to work things have to be done properly and a delicate way, to build a layer on a layer. You don't have to be good at the technicalities to make it in this game. You really only have to be easy to get along with, and there are a lot of shonky trainers making fortunes because they have charismatic appeal (who I'm struggling to refrain from naming).



It is simple to not make the investment and then be indifferent to how it turns out, but the complexity is when you put a lot in and how it turns out really matters to you, when it really does matter! I know spiritual people will think about it in an abstract sense and think there is a solution, but there is no solution; on the contrary, there is only dealing with uncertainties and managing all the bits and pieces that would otherwise be a mess all up in the air. At the bottom of the issue it is organisation and being orderly. Being composed and clear in the mind, having all your ducks in a row, and being abreast of the big picture as you take care of the minutiae.

Originally Posted by Gem

It's not a particularly simple thing, ...

It's not a particularly simple thing, perhaps simple in principle, but a complex nuance in practice, because for things to work things have to be done properly and a delicate way, to build a layer on a layer. You don't have to be good at the technicalities to make it in this game. You really only have to be easy to get along with, and there are a lot of shonky trainers making fortunes because they have charismatic appeal (who I'm struggling to refrain from naming).

Quite true. Humans are a social species, and in the end the old adage that it is not what you know but who you know is true, at least to a certain extent. We humans depend on each other to survive and thrive and so there are clear benefits to popularity. Of course there can be a price to pay as well, the whole "rich man, camel, and the eye of the needle” thing.

It is simple to not make the investment and then be indifferent to how it turns out, but the complexity is when you put a lot in and how it turns out really matters to you, when it really does matter! I know spiritual people will think about it in an abstract sense and think there is a solution, but there is no solution; on the contrary, there is only dealing with uncertainties and managing all the bits and pieces that would otherwise be a mess all up in the air. At the bottom of the issue it is organisation and being orderly.

Couldn’t that be considered a solution? When crossing a pond or lake we can often see the other side before we set out. But when crossing an Ocean, we most often cannot, so the sailor must navigate and trust that their instruments and charts will get them safely to the other side.

Being composed and clear in the mind, having all your ducks in a row, and being abreast of the big picture as you take care of the minutiae.

Very true. When the destination is in sight, it is easy to find one’s way. But when it is not, one must study the landscape and carefully apply the map and compass. Yet many still get lost even with the map and compass because they panic and make mistakes, even when they knew better. I even know someone who uses GPS and still gets lost. They get flustered because nothing looks right to them. They decide the GPS just can’t be right, and so go a different way.

“Your mind is like this water, my friend. When it is agitated, it becomes difficult to see. But if you allow it to settle, the answer becomes clear.” Grand Master Oogway

Look at that, I got to use that quote twice in two days, that Oogway is certainly no shonky tortoise.