Embracing change....

jae · December 2013

Hi all....I bought a zen guided meditation cd at the start ot this month and have used it at least once a day since...on the 9th I gave up alcohol and have abstained since...on the 12th I joined this site and started researching Buddhism..... I feel better than I have in years, my mother lives with me and my family and our relationship is better than ever...as is my relationship with my children, work colleagues and more importantly myself.

I read the article in the link below...I'm not intellectual genius..never been to uni etc etc..so alot of it I did not understand .....but it made me think regarding 'my' recent changes...

Which one triggered my mental shift?

Your thoughts would be appreciated.

http://www.frontiersin.org/consciousness_research/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00870/full

Steve_B · December 2013

I doubt anything in that article triggered your shift. I suspect you woke up, looked around, decided you were due for a course correction, and set about doing it. Impressively well, I must say.

The article appears to be (this is not my field) advocating a more formalized method of studying the physiological markers. You'd be one of the people thy'd like to study. This is a fairly common perspective in the life sciences. They're not advocating a change, they're not leaders in the mindfulness movement (or any other movement, religion, etc). They look at naturally occurring phenomena (mindfulness, altruism, alcoholism) and study the associated physiology.

jae · December 2013

Thanks for your kind and encoraging words.

I feel like I want to shout it from the rooftops as all the factors have kept me on the narrow path/middle road(I think thars what that means?)

I know its early days but i agree with the 'waking up' ....its been a long time coming. Have a great evening...thanks for posting

Invincible_summer · December 2013

I don't think it really matters what caused your shift, so long as the shift happened. Utilitarian, but I think it's more helpful to go along with this positive momentum than stop it and figure out the causes, especially at the beginning of a spiritual practice.

Hamsaka · December 2013

Good for you, Jae

I too quit alcohol (for the second time) near on to a year ago. I wanted to quit drinking LOOOOONG before I did quit, you know how that goes.

When I look back to see if I can identify what it was, or when that moment was that turned me away from that futile (and deadly the way I can drink) path to the one I am on . . . I'm at a loss. Considering how much I yearned to quit drinking and how long before I did, it seems as though the moment or 'what' was not something *I* did, this little self 'me', that is.

My Buddadharma is quite unadorned with traditions from other cultures or 'religious' leanings . . . with one exception. There most certainly is, as I have experienced, a force or being transcendent to this little self 'me'. It has it's own impeccable timing.

The only 'thing' I can come up with is that I INTENDED to quit drinking and set off in a better direction. I grew up in Alcoholics Anonymous (my father being whom I inherited the blasted genes from), and while craving the donuts and forbidden coffee when Mom wasn't looking, I sat at many conventions and inadvertently absorbed much 12 Step wisdom. "All you have to do is be willing to be willing", I remembered.

The Buddha had much to say about intention, as well, in pretty much the same vein.

So I guess we first must be willing, and stay willing. And then sit in surrender, patiently.

Gassho

jae · December 2013

Sound advice .....

It was heart warming for me to read that research was being carried out looking into other ways to deal with addiction. I feel passionate and thankful 'something' has reached me.

For all I know its not a new thing as my head has been drowning in sand for so long....anyway onwards and upwards....I think I may really understand the serenity prayer now...is there a Buddhist equivalent of this just out of interest...could make an interesting thread?

David · December 2013

Invincible_summer said:
Utilitarian, but I think it's more helpful to go along with this positive momentum than stop it and figure out the causes, especially at the beginning of a spiritual practice.

That was good. Pull out that arrow!

jae · December 2013

@Hamsaka.....thank you for sharing that... its incredibly reassuring chatting to others that have 'walked in the same shoes'

lobster · December 2013

Which one triggered my mental shift?

Can you know or find the cause? It is a unique set of conditions. It is almost like a survival mechanism. Enough already with the dukkha.

Many are not ready to stop playing with their pain. Again this may be an evolutionary/animal thing. Doing crazy, destructive, painful, useless things sometimes brings the species forward, so is hard wired in some genetic way . . .

In terms of dharma, real happiness and the path to freedom, such unskilful tendencies have to be retired, transcended or allowed to dissipate as a natural consequence and long term inevitable result of practice.

Keep inspiring us.

Shift happens

PS. Great article. Brought to mind earlier research of this nature.
:clap:

jae · December 2013

@lobster....thank you for always being positve (not just with my posts) oh and also making me smile

footiam · December 2013

Invincible_summer said:
I don't think it really matters what caused your shift, so long as the shift happened. Utilitarian, but I think it's more helpful to go along with this positive momentum than stop it and figure out the causes, especially at the beginning of a spiritual practice.

It is the results that matter.

jae · December 2013

@ourself I dont understand what you meant by 'pull out that arrow'(prob just remenants of paranioa from my addled brain) however not wanting to project my thoughts or dwell on them can you explain please?

David · December 2013

@Jae;

I just pulled this from wiki to save myself time. You will probably hear some of us talk about the parable of the arrow from time to time.

Sorry, sometimes I assume everyone knows what I'm thinking. Didn't mean to be too abstract though sometimes I do.

"It's just as if a man were wounded with an arrow thickly smeared with poison. His friends & companions, kinsmen & relatives would provide him with a surgeon, and the man would say, 'I won't have this arrow removed until I know whether the man who wounded me was a noble warrior, a priest, a merchant, or a worker.' He would say, 'I won't have this arrow removed until I know the given name & clan name of the man who wounded me... until I know whether he was tall, medium, or short... until I know whether he was dark, ruddy-brown, or golden-colored... until I know his home village, town, or city... until I know whether the bow with which I was wounded was a long bow or a crossbow... until I know whether the bowstring with which I was wounded was fiber, bamboo threads, sinew, hemp, or bark... until I know whether the shaft with which I was wounded was wild or cultivated... until I know whether the feathers of the shaft with which I was wounded were those of a vulture, a stork, a hawk, a peacock, or another bird... until I know whether the shaft with which I was wounded was bound with the sinew of an ox, a water buffalo, a langur, or a monkey.' He would say, 'I won't have this arrow removed until I know whether the shaft with which I was wounded was that of a common arrow, a curved arrow, a barbed, a calf-toothed, or an oleander arrow.' The man would die and those things would still remain unknown to him."

— Cula-Malunkyovada Sutta: The Shorter Instructions to Malunkya" (MN 63), Majjhima Nikaya

Instead of worrying about why the arrow has hit us, it is best to focus on pulling it out before the poison takes too strong a hold.

jae · December 2013

@ourself...Ahh I see said the blind man....understood...paranoia a bay

David · December 2013

@jae;

No worries. The parable is usually used to get out from under the negative but it works for getting over positives as well.

I'm very happy about your shift in awareness... I just don't want you to miss it while trying to figure it out.

jae · December 2013

Thanks....niether do I @ourself ...one day at a time..slowly, slowly catchy monkey

Dennis1 · December 2013

How excellent for you and your loved ones. Good going.

lobster · December 2013

..slowly, slowly catchy monkey

I knew I was doing this Buddhism all wrong . . . again . . .

monkey caught.

The problem is what to do with a sitting resident monkey?

. . . oh he's off again . . . :rolleyes:

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