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Do you just accept your current state of mind, or do you try to change it?

DairyLamaDairyLama Veteran Veteran
edited June 2016 in Buddhism Today

I've noticed some different approaches on this. Some say that one should just recognise and accept whatever states of mind arise, and let them be, a passive approach. Others say that one should then apply Right Effort as appropriate, consciously "replacing" unskillfull states with more skillfull ones.
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/ptf/dhamma/sacca/sacca4/samma-vayamo/

Note that an initial recognition and acceptance of one's state of mind is common to both approaches. Note also that we are dealing here primarily with practice off the cushion, so let's not get bogged down in another discussion about meditation technique.

I favour the Right Effort approach, particularly when dealing with habitual or persistent states like anxiety. Just accepting a particular state of mind and doing nothing doesn't always work for me.

So what do you think?

Shoshindukkha
«1

Comments

  • lobsterlobster Crusty Veteran

    I am not a Taoist and totally Yin. If we have overwhelming ignorance/suffering, most try to take active measures to change their mind, health, emotional hang ups etc.

    In a more balaced state it is possible to be more allowing and dissipating of ones arisings. It really depends on what we start with and work with as our understanding and capacity changes ...

    Swaroopdukkha
  • JeroenJeroen Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter Netherlands Veteran

    I accept that the right effort approach is a good one, but in practice I find it difficult to motivate myself to move on to practice as far as physical activities is concerned. It's a thing to do with vigour, viriya which I also find tricky.

    Mentally I am pretty active, and rarely suffer from poor states of mind or emotions. About a month ago I had a sudden moment of intense sadness, which was triggered by the thought of saying goodbye to my father, which lasted about 20 minutes. It that was very unusual for me, the first such occurrence in many years.

    Normally my mind is blank and filled with a general goodwill. Sometimes a flash of anger pushes through, or there is a slight unease, but that is all.

    Kundo
  • mmommo Veteran

    I think noticing the change of mental states is very good already. And no matter how persistent an emotion can be, I always end up experiencing multiple ones during the day. Being mindful of the transient nature of these things seem to work for me. I am not so sure if that is categorised as right effort or passive altitude.

  • seeker242seeker242 Zen Florida, USA Veteran

    Both :)

    namarupaVastmind
  • NamadaNamada Veteran
    edited June 2016

    I like to imagine my thinking process just as a river constantly flowing, always changing and moving. And when Iam imagine this, I feel Iam more in controll, because I accept thoughts just as they are. Its like a river flowing and nothing more than that.

    If I meet strong aversion or unskillfull thoughts popping up, I try to see them in a positive way, if my mind say, OHH this is heavy, I try to counter it with, its easy, its no problem at all.

    The most difficult part is to recognize these unskillfull thoughts, they can come behind my back and attack me at any time.

    RuddyDuck9
  • howhow Veteran Veteran
    edited June 2016

    Few things empower the mind, along with it's conditioning, like making it the center of ones attention.

    I find my mind to be so conditioned towards bullying my other sense gates that my best solution to this imbalance has been to give what I see, hear, taste, smell & feel..... a comparable training in the spiritual martial arts.

    This means not having to treat my mind as anything more special than any other sense gate and finding out that as equals they are all amazingly capable of policing each others susceptibilities to the egos seductions.

    Here, both an accepting of the mind and the dropping of the sandbox walls that it defined itself by....are possible.

    lobsterFosdickRuddyDuck9dukkha
  • NamadaNamada Veteran

    @how ....give what I see, hear, taste, smell & feel..... a comparable training in the spiritual martial arts.

    Do you mean just like a body scan, but in your case its more focused on your sense gates?

  • karastikarasti Breathing Minnesota Moderator

    For me, I take notice and then go from there. Sometimes it is clear it is something that is arising and just needs to dissipate. Sometimes I need to evaluate the thought itself and why I thought that (say I have a random bad thought about someone I don't know) or my actions/reactions. I try to pay attention to what is coming and going, but I don't take forced action on all of it.

  • ShimShim Veteran

    I try to change it if it's unbearable and leading to even worse states of mind.
    But apparently accepting it before trying to change it is more or less useful thing to do.

    Vastmind
  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran
    edited June 2016

    This is more specific to negative thoughts rather than any states of mind.

    Working With Negative Thoughts
    Lama Shenpen Hookham
    Summary: Is counteracting a thought with another thought the best way to overcome a thought?

    A student writes:

    "I have concluded that the only way not to “believe” a negative thought is to argue against it with the next thought."

    Lama Shenpen:

    I don’t find that works very well actually.

    Well it does and it doesn’t. The argument works in the sense that if the thought is wrong I can see the counter arguments and establish to myself that my thought is wrong. But then if I really have bought into a thought, then I still emotionally believe it somehow and so I get suspicious of the counter argument and have to keep going through it to remind myself.

    So in the end, it is cutting through the whole lot and not believing any of it that sort of liberates me. So the thought, the counter argument, the emotionally driven belief, the doubt and the going through it all again all becomes much lighter and easier to let go of at any point really. I realise I have the choice whenever I remember and that is quite liberating actually.

    This is from Buddhism Connect an educational public facebook page where Lama Shenpen shares some selected questions her students have asked. https://www.facebook.com/BuddhismConnect/

    I have found this one true with intrusive auditory hallucinations. Exactly so knowing that the voices are empty and saying nothing has helped whereas arguing against the voices and reasoning is something to do but it doesn't slow the energy of the voices down.

  • I often accept when I'm in a bad mood. Especially when alone or when I don't have to speak. When working nighstifts for example. My mood however is taking it's toll on my surroundings (relationship, family, other social interactions), so I have to actively change work to alter my mood sometimes.

    Situational.

  • IchLiebteIchLiebte US Veteran

    @Namada said:
    I like to imagine my thinking process just as a river constantly flowing, always changing and moving. And when Iam imagine this, I feel Iam more in controll, because I accept thoughts just as they are. Its like a river flowing and nothing more than that.

    If I meet strong aversion or unskillfull thoughts popping up, I try to see them in a positive way, if my mind say, OHH this is heavy, I try to counter it with, its easy, its no problem at all.

    The most difficult part is to recognize these unskillfull thoughts, they can come behind my back and attack me at any time.

    My therapist always says dealing with a bad state of mind is like riding a wave -- just go with it, or you'll fall and the tide will pull you under. It definitely heps with my anxiety, just riding it out while trying to direct my focus elsewhere.

    I also do the same thing with my mind when it tries to tell me something is too hard. "Nope, I CAN handle this!"

    silver
  • pegembarapegembara Veteran
    edited June 2016

    "Sh.t, that guy just cut me off. Okay - don't be angry. Don't be angry. May you be well X2.
    Angry mind .. not good. Calm, peace, metta. Wait a minute - another guy just cut me off!
    Okay - calm, peace."

    Sorry - that doesn't work for me.
    What works? The world has many foolish people. That is just the way it is. No need to get upset and take things personally. When anger arises, just watch and it will pass. Observe and don't engage.

    "Imagine you’re rowing a boat on a foggy lake, and out of the fog comes another boat that crashes into you! At first you’re angry at the fool who crashed into you — what was he thinking! You just painted the boat. But then you notice the boat is empty, and the anger leaves … you’ll have to repaint the boat, that’s all, and you just row around the empty boat. But if there were a person steering the boat, we’d be angry!

    Here’s the thing: the boat is always empty. Whenever we interact with other people who might “do something to us” (be rude, ignore us, be too demanding, break our favorite coffee cup, etc.), we’re bumping into an empty boat. We just think there’s some fool in that boat who should have known better, but really it’s just a boat bumping into us, no harm intended by the boat.

    That’s a hard lesson to learn, because we tend to imbue the actions of others with a story of their intentions, and how they should have acted instead. We think they’re out to get us, or they should base their lives around being considerate to us and not offending us. But really they’re just doing their thing, without bad intent, and the boat just happens to bump into us.

    When we see things with this lens, they suddenly become emptied of anger and stress. Our boss was rude? Empty boat, just respond appropriately, don’t imbue with a story. Kid throws a tantrum? Empty boat, just breathe and find the appropriate, non-angry response.

    This is detachment. It’s seeing the actions and words of others as just phenomena happening outside of us, like a leaf falling or the wind blowing. We don’t get angry at the wind for blowing, and yet the blowing does affect us. Let the actions of your kid be the wind blowing — you just need to find an appropriate response, rather than being stressed that this phenomenon is happening.

    Charlotte Beck

    lobsterWalkerpersonGlow
  • lobsterlobster Crusty Veteran

    @person said:

    The question reminds me of the long running debate about Buddha nature. On one side you have the camp that says we have Buddha nature because we all have the ability to develop and generate the enlightened mind. In the other camp you have people who say our Buddha nature already exists and that it is only obscured.

    B)
    Both are true and therefore it is quite understandable to remove the rough edges and make the hindrances like transparent mist, drifting away ...

    Buddha Nature mind surrounded by for example a grotesque ego (talking of myself as usual) is going to provide an 'obscured light' at best ...

    Accept and change. Iz plan!

  • DairyLamaDairyLama Veteran Veteran
    edited June 2016

    @person said:> The question reminds me of the long running debate about Buddha nature. On one side you have the camp that says we have Buddha nature because we all have the ability to develop and generate the enlightened mind. In the other camp you have people who say our Buddha nature already exists and that it is only obscured. Depending on which map you use your practice will either focus on doing something active (applying antidotes, developing qualities) or doing nothing (letting the obscuring mental factors settle out).

    How does doing nothing let the obscuring mental factors settle out? How does doing nothing deal with the problem of ignorance? If you mean developing equanimity or acceptance or whatever, that is still doing something.

    silverRuddyDuck9
  • DairyLamaDairyLama Veteran Veteran

    @pegembara said:
    "Sh.t, that guy just cut me off. Okay - don't be angry. Don't be angry. May you be well X2.
    Angry mind .. not good. Calm, peace, metta. Wait a minute - another guy just cut me off!
    Okay - calm, peace."

    Sorry - that doesn't work for me.
    What works? The world has many foolish people. That is just the way it is. No need to get upset and take things personally. When anger arises, just watch and it will pass. Observe and don't engage.

    I think what you are describing is equanimity, but of course equanimity is also a skillfull state of mind, one that we develop through practice. So this is still an example of Right Effort. Actually you could say that all the practice we do is an application of Right Effort.

    RuddyDuck9
  • DairyLamaDairyLama Veteran Veteran
    edited June 2016

    @how said:> Ignorance itself first appears to me as a habituated elevation of focus on one sense gate to the detriment of my awareness of the others...

    That description could also be applied to a practice like mindfulness of breathing, so I don't understand how paying attention to one aspect of experience is a symptom of ignorance. Or do you mean being unmindfully involved in a particular aspect of experience?

  • DairyLamaDairyLama Veteran Veteran
    edited June 2016

    @mmo said: Being mindful of the transient nature of these things seem to work for me.

    Yes, I find that helpful too, though it doesn't always work so well with recurring or persistent states of mind like anxiety.
    I would say that maintaining mindfulness is an active process too, closely related to the application of Right Effort.

  • DairyLamaDairyLama Veteran Veteran

    @IchLiebte said: My therapist always says dealing with a bad state of mind is like riding a wave -- just go with it, or you'll fall and the tide will pull you under. It definitely helps with my anxiety, just riding it out while trying to direct my focus elsewhere.

    Yes, and the redirecting of focus is one way of looking at Right Effort.

  • personperson Don't believe everything you think The liminal space Veteran

    @SpinyNorman said:

    @person said:> The question reminds me of the long running debate about Buddha nature. On one side you have the camp that says we have Buddha nature because we all have the ability to develop and generate the enlightened mind. In the other camp you have people who say our Buddha nature already exists and that it is only obscured. Depending on which map you use your practice will either focus on doing something active (applying antidotes, developing qualities) or doing nothing (letting the obscuring mental factors settle out).

    How does doing nothing let the obscuring mental factors settle out? How does doing nothing deal with the problem of ignorance? If you mean developing equanimity or acceptance or whatever, that is still doing something.

    An example given is like letting muddy water settle. Trying to do things to get the mud to settle only stirs up the water. So I suppose you could define that watching as doing something but I'd also say that it is a more passive something rather than active. The claim is that the mind, like water, is naturally pure we don't do anything to make it so we just allow it to show itself.

    Jeffreylobster
  • I have a history of intense anxiety, and the more I think about my childhood, the more it makes sense. Through my 20s, my mind would constantly "chew" on things, "big" or "small." I called myself a "worrier." But merely worrying didn't account for how I would become paralyzed by fear - unable to focus on things. In my 30s, I began getting panic attacks - tunnel-vision, cold sweats, feeling of impending doom, surreal-like state, which would all last around 10 minutes.

    Recently I was speaking with my mom about some things in childhood. My dad was very overprotective of me. He was constantly hovering over me, making sure everything was ok. When my parents would leave me at home with a babysitter, even a close family friend, I would go into fits and constantly cry until they got home. Even when I got a bit older, like 9 or so, I would feel intense sadness and fear when separated from my parents, or even familiar surroundings. My first time at summer camp when I was around 12-13 was terrifying.

    I write all this because I tend to try and change my state of mind, but I think I have often done this without acceptance of present circumstances, past events and other people's reaction to the different actions I have taken. My mind will go around and around in circles, as if that will change the past or change circumstances. Sometimes my mind is just dragging me along for the ride.

    So now, I happen to be practicing just acceptance, and I'm not sure when to move to replacing my worries. Actually, just acceptance at this point has made a difference. I've been trying to "change" my state of mind, and it has come with more suffering than I can imagine, because I will go to a short state of bliss and non-worry, but it seems to manifest deep within unmindfulness.

    Also, thanks for this forum. I haven't been here for a good while, and I stopped practicing for a good 2 years or so. I'm glad you all are still here, because I have become very unskillful once again.

    silverJeffreyperson
  • karastikarasti Breathing Minnesota Moderator

    For cases where,say, someone pulls out in front of me, or drives really slow under the speed limit (or really fast) or whatever, I start to wonder why. And in doing so, I develop compassion for them even if I do not know what is going on with them. Perhaps they are a new driver and are afraid of the highway. Perhaps they have a sick kid in the car. I've been in both those situations and always hope for patience and understanding from my fellow drivers. Because so many times I've judged someone and later found how wrong I was. Now I just assume I am wrong and take it the other direction and give them the benefit of the doubt rather than giving my negative thoughts and judgements the benefit of the doubt. When we can discover something, anything, in common with someone else, we soften immediately.

    The other day in fact I was in a rush to pick up a kid because it was storming and he was waiting outside after a baseball game. I was not speeding but the car in front of me was going 10 under the speed limit. So I got frustrated. Then I realized that the people in front of me were neighbors, and in fact the parents of my closest friend who had just gotten a new car I didn't recognize. I don't know why they were driving slow, but my reaction softened immediately upon knowing who they were. We just have to find that common ground with others.

    silverDeformedJeffreyVastmind
  • Accepting is besides the question. We have to deal with our mind state whether we accept or not. I get that you are really asking if we should try and change it when needed. I am sure that the need would be crucial or vital at certain times depending on the mind state. But if we were already well disciplined from practice and life lessons, certain mind states would not even pose any problems.

  • howhow Veteran Veteran

    @SpinyNorman said:

    @how said:> Ignorance itself first appears to me as a habituated elevation of focus on one sense gate to the detriment of my awareness of the others.

    That description could also be applied to a practice like mindfulness of breathing, so I don't understand how paying attention to one aspect of experience is a symptom of ignorance. Or do you mean being unmindfully involved in a particular aspect of experience?

    You've highlighted one sentence and somehow missed the half of it that said
    (to the detriment of my awareness of the others).

  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran
    edited June 2016

    Yes and I would say knowing what to encourage and what to let drop off is Mindfulness. That is what my teacher has said that it is. But letting things drop off is literally what it says. How does it drop off? I don't know but you don't need to theory craft about it you just have to do it and observe how it does and does not drop off.

    And it's not a Mahayana thing all together. Ayya Khema a Theravadan nun talks about how with the kleshas you literally just sit with them till they pass like an upset stomach. If they are truly kleshas then you can treat them that way but keep the middle way. Keep the middle way in that don't go out and get so sunburned you hurt for days or something. And if you do get sunburned sure use some calamine lotion.

    If you (someone) are really curious about this 'muddy water let stand idea' I am sure I can find seemingly endless book/youtube recommendations for them. It's everywhere and it ain't going away haha (ironic).

    It might clarify that you can have thoughts like karasti is doing thinking they might have some reason for whatever driving or whatever. But you don't have to have certain thoughts. If they come ok then welcome them and see their effect on your mind come.... and go....if you like some thoughts usefulness ok great let it come....wisdom come..... foolishness come....

    Glow
  • RuddyDuck9RuddyDuck9 MD, USA Veteran

    @Deformed said:

    So now, I happen to be practicing just acceptance, and I'm not sure when to move to replacing my worries. Actually, just acceptance at this point has made a difference. I've been trying to "change" my state of mind, and it has come with more suffering than I can imagine, because I will go to a short state of bliss and non-worry, but it seems to manifest deep within unmindfulness.

    I think acceptance is underrated and under utilized. How can we let go of our faults if we haven't accepted our faults for what they are? Self acceptance (to include our faults, anxieties, and mistakes big and small) is SO important for mental health. If you can't take the cloudy pool of water for what it is, then it doesn't matter how still the water becomes or how crystal clear. It will never be useful if it is not known for its true self. (I think i got a bit over excited about the metaphor...I hope you'll forgive me.)

    lobsterDeformed
  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran
    edited June 2016

    It also doesn't work if you are like "ok I can trick this dukkha (by acceptance) and tomorrow it will be sukkha". That doesn't work it seems to me. The acceptance cannot be just a sort of motion to get to that sweet sukkha. Acceptance as a 'notion' doesn't trick the system somehow I find. It's interesting though. Does acceptance have a time frame? But if we just try acceptance I don't suppose it is a bad idea.. Just when we say "hey I tried acceptance and 'it didn't work'".. In that case it is like we are trying telekinesis and frustrated the spoon is not moving or bending.

    So looking at what I said above you could say that I am like saying that you can't put this method to the test. So I could be saying that you cannot 'try acceptance' and test it like gold as the Buddha said to see if it works. But that's not what I am saying. I am saying something you can test and that something is that if 'acceptance' is just a 'trick' it won't work.

    Glow
  • DairyLamaDairyLama Veteran Veteran
    edited June 2016

    @Glow said: This is different from replacing, because it's not a case of swapping out one mind-state for another, in the moment, but rather a gradual change in your response-repertoire over time.

    Actually Right Effort includes both of these, but I do think you have made some good points about how we can respond skillfully and compassionately to mental states that arise. The sort of compassionate acceptance you describe is itself a skillfull mental state, and therefore an example of applying Right Effort.

    Glow
  • DairyLamaDairyLama Veteran Veteran
    edited June 2016

    @how said:

    @SpinyNorman said:

    @how said:> Ignorance itself first appears to me as a habituated elevation of focus on one sense gate to the detriment of my awareness of the others.

    That description could also be applied to a practice like mindfulness of breathing, so I don't understand how paying attention to one aspect of experience is a symptom of ignorance. Or do you mean being unmindfully involved in a particular aspect of experience?

    You've highlighted one sentence and somehow missed the half of it that said
    (to the detriment of my awareness of the others).

    But focussing awareness on one aspect of experience inevitably involves less awareness on others, it's something we do all the time and it's often skilfull and appropriate. For example if we're driving our car we should focus our attention on the road ahead, that's a skillfull response.
    So I still don't see how a focussing of attention relates to ignorance, unless it's done unmindfully.

  • DairyLamaDairyLama Veteran Veteran

    @person said: An example given is like letting muddy water settle. Trying to do things to get the mud to settle only stirs up the water. So I suppose you could define that watching as doing something but I'd also say that it is a more passive something rather than active.

    Sure, but with this analogy the "effort" would be to stop the habitual moving and be still.

    Jeffrey
  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran

    But nothing more than stopping movement would be required I think. (if the concept of stillness is propogated)

  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran

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    The sea is foaming like a bottle of beer
    The wave is coming but I ain't got no fear
    I'm waxing down so that I'll go real fast
    I'm waxing down because it's really a blast
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    You take your car to work
    I'll take my board
    And when you're out of fuel
    I'm still afloat

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    They seem invincible as they surf along
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    I'll take my board
    And when you're out of fuel
    I'm still afloat

    You take your car to work
    I'll take my board
    And when you're out of fuel
    I'm still afloat

    All along the undertow
    Is strengthening it's hold
    I never thought it would come to this
    Now I can never go home

    All along the undertow
    Is strengthening it's hold
    I never thought it would come to this
    Now I can never go home

    You take your car to work
    I'll take my board
    And when you're out of fuel
    I'm still afloat

    All along the undertow (you take your car to work)
    Is strengthening it's hold (I'll take my board)
    I never thought it would come to this (and when you're out of fuel)
    Now I can never go home (I'm still afloat)

    You take your car to work
    I'll take my board
    And when you're out of fuel
    I'm still afloat

    You take your car
    I'll take my board
    You take your car
    I'll take my board
    Let's go!

  • ShoshinShoshin No one in particular Nowhere Special Veteran

    @SpinyNorman said:
    The challenge is to take that stillness off the cushion.

    Or...you can always do this have cushion will travel... :wink:

    Kundo
  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran

    franky mister shankly

    "Frankly, Mr. Shankly"

    Frankly, Mr Shankly, this position I've held
    It pays my way and it corrodes my soul
    I want to leave you will not miss me
    I want to go down in musical history

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    I've got the 21st century breathing down my neck
    I must move fast, you understand me
    I want to go down in celluloid history Mr Shankly

    Fame, fame, fatal fame
    It can play hideous tricks on the brain
    But still I rather be famous
    Than righteous or holy, any day, any day, any day

    But sometimes I'd feel more fulfilled
    Making Christmas cards with the mentally ill
    I want to live and I want to love
    I want to catch something that I might be ashamed of

    Frankly, Mr Shankly, this position I've held
    It pays my way and it corrodes my soul
    Oh, I didn't realise that you wrote poetry
    I didn't realise you wrote such bloody awful poetry Mr Shankly

    Frankly, Mr Shankly, since you ask
    You are a flatulent pain the arse
    I do not mean to be so rude
    But still, I must speak frankly, Mr Shankly, give us money

  • ShoshinShoshin No one in particular Nowhere Special Veteran

    On a more serious note, I've found that by just acknowledging it, allows it to change of its own accord...no pressure applied...

    lobsterRuddyDuck9
  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran

    There Is a Light That Never Goes Out
    The Smiths
    Take me out tonight
    Where there's music and there's people
    Who are young and alive
    Driving in your car
    I never never want to go home
    Because I haven't got one anymore
    Take me out tonight
    Because I want to see people
    And I want to see life
    Driving in your car
    Oh please don't drop me home
    Because it's not my home, it's their home
    And I'm welcome no more
    And if a double-decker bus
    Crashes in to us
    To die by your side
    Is such a heavenly way to die
    And if a ten ton truck
    Kills the both of us
    To die by your side
    Well the pleasure, the privilege is mine
    Take me out tonight
    Take me anywhere, I don't care
    I don't care, I don't care
    And in the darkened underpass
    I thought Oh God, my chance has come at last
    But then a strange fear gripped me
    And I just couldn't ask
    Take me… Full lyrics on Google Play

  • IchLiebteIchLiebte US Veteran

    @SpinyNorman said:
    Yes, and the redirecting of focus is one way of looking at Right Effort.

    Then I guess I do both. :)

  • RuddyDuck9RuddyDuck9 MD, USA Veteran

    @SpinyNorman I agree completely. I try to keep a list of the 8 somewhere in my line of vision at work so that I can remind myself to think on them in my most tested state of mind.

    Shoshin
  • @lobster said:

    Buddha Nature mind surrounded by for example a grotesque ego (talking of myself as usual) is going to provide an 'obscured light' at best ...

    Sometimes my overwhelming anxiety grows directly out of my grotesque ego. If my mind isn't chewing on something, it'll tend to sniff out all kinds of things that are connected to the ego. It's tiring.

    I went through a period of anxiety last year by fearing moving. Once that subsided, I began having anxiety over fear of death. Once that subsided, my anxiety moved to ego-based things, like "self"-perception, and perception by "others." It's been a pretty lame ride recently.

  • BreathingSince72BreathingSince72 Vacaville, CA USA New

    I think this is a terrific question. Do we accept what is going on in our minds, release it, go through it, go around it or grow through it? I am personally going through a time when I feel I am questioning my spirituality and feel anxious about its direction. I have been heavily involved in earthy shamanistic processes, hardcore Christian ministry, Reiki, and at varying times, a host of other things. What I am getting is that Jesus was not a Christian and Buddha was not a Buddhist. Each had to find their own way to the center and I will find my way too. When it comes down to it, it's not about me anyway. :awesome: I suspect the goal of meditation is just to rest in the now, let all that other stuff go, and learn to just be. But hey, I'm the new kid here.

    I would appreciate your thoughts folks.

    RuddyDuck9
  • lobsterlobster Crusty Veteran

    @BreathingSince72 said:
    I would appreciate your thoughts folks.

    I am sure you have enough of your own, without my overstuffed mind meandering ... ;)

    @Shoshin said:
    On a more serious note, I've found that by just acknowledging it, allows it to change of its own accord...no pressure applied...

    Well said.
    There it is in meditation, in all its gory glory - a mind fit for Nothing and certainly good for nothing in my case ...

    Just watching it wriggle, wiggle, wobble, duck and dive ... and in time, strangest of all settle and become tame ... like a wild bull ...

    http://www.buddhanet.net/oxherd1.htm

    A mind. Your mind, you have one? Not so, the mind has you - by the short and curlies ...

    A Mind is not what you think

    OM MANI PEME HUM

    • as the Bodhi said to the Bishop ...
    BreathingSince72Kundo
  • KundoKundo Sydney, Australia Veteran

    I used to think if I couldn't accept my current state of mind and deal with it then I was somehow a bad Buddhist. But now sometimes I think that to not change it is a bad thing. It all depends on what my state of mind is. Currently it's probably not one to just accept (as shown in another thread :pleased: ) Today I've posted in my current mindset and not only am I a bad Buddhist, I'm a complete bitch :-1:

    Oh well.

    lobsterDairyLama
  • lobsterlobster Crusty Veteran

    ^^^ I likes you @dhammachick

    We can be sith-bitch-Buddhists? o:)

    KundoRuddyDuck9
  • DairyLamaDairyLama Veteran Veteran

    @Deformed said:> I went through a period of anxiety last year by fearing moving. Once that subsided, I began having anxiety over fear of death. Once that subsided, my anxiety moved to ego-based things, like "self"-perception, and perception by "others." It's been a pretty lame ride recently.

    I know, it can be exhausting, like there is always anxiety in the back-ground waiting to latch onto something. It's called "free-floating" anxiety I believe.
    In the end you just have to smile at it and carry on anyway. =)

    lobsterDeformed
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