Personally, I sit in Zazen daily. I've been doing that for 33 years. Why? Because the mind can be so busy... and I'm powerless over that... that's Step one for me. We admitted that we're powerless over thoughts darting around the mind... and when those thoughts hypnotize me, shit can get really unmanageable.
I've experienced thoughts relitigating missteps... I could have done this better... I should have done that... why did it have to happen like that... I'm so embarrassed! I know everyone hates me now... shit! WTF, are you kidding me? I'm so canceled! I fucked that one up good.
On the other end of the stick, it's future tripping... what's going to happen tomorrow... when I talk to them tomorrow... they're gonna say ___, and then I'm gonna say ___, and then I'm gonna tell them to fuck themselves, and I quit!
The mind can be a real chatterbox that distracts us from reality... our life... and our present-time experiences. We can call it meditation practice... we could call it paying attention to only what's happening right now practice... we could call it not picking at ourselves or others like a scab practice... we could call it I'm not going for crazy ass rides with thought practice.
No matter what we call it... we're just rooting ourselves physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually to one thing, refusing to go anywhere else... not being dragged by thoughts the mind is creating, wrapped around the axel of thought.
If you're in the bathroom, just pay attention to taking a shit without being on the cell phone. If you're eating food, only eat the food without being on the cell phone. If you're having coffee with friends, be with your friends without being on the cell phone or sitting around in fantasy. If you're in a meeting, leave the phone in the car... and really, really, really be in the meeting... it's only 40 minutes to an hour if you subtract the time of the readings and giving of tags. If your sitting in meditation, give attention to the spine in your back and breathe through it, from the top to the bottom and bottom to the top. Release the attention from trying to multitask. Unify rather than divide attention.
That kind of intentionality allows us to be human instead of a dog, chasing after every stick and thought the mind throws. That alone, in my experience, can allow for contentment and serenity.
一We Are the Practice Itself
Calligraphy: my representation of the Japanese expression... Jikijitsu (直日)... remaining straight all day, no matter what occurs.
Comments