What do meditators mean when we talk about “Clearing the Mind?
Does it mean we are taking the sword and shield of our will to do battle with the hoards of thoughts that inundate the shores of our mind?
Or does it perhaps mean something more akin to shifting our focus away from meeting our thoughts with brute force to a more receptive, non-judgment?
Mindful meditation is often misconstrued as a method to combat the anxiety and overwhelm suffered by the modern mind. Even using words like combat, stop, clear engender within us the idea that there is a battle to be had. In reality, the only “battle” we are engaged in is one with our own resistance to the world as it clearly is, pre-judgment.
Stop. Pause. Breathe
The simple act of sitting with our thoughts, much like laying on our back and watching clouds float by has long been one of the most helpful pieces of meditation advice I have ever received. Just try right now to stop your thoughts. Do what you can to put a wall up. So relaxing… isn’t it?
The practice of meditation, of being mindfully present with the moment, is about receptivity to the truth without our innate need to derive meaning.
Christopher Lee
Our perception dictates our reality for good or for ill and we are without question the masters of our perception. While we may not know it, we decide exactly which filters or lenses we view the world around us. It is this power that we learn to control through the simple act of sitting without judgment.
It is a power that is meant to give us mastery over our reactionary nature. But this is not to say that it is not difficult. It is a particular challenge for our rather squirrel like modern world. We have to make snap judgments every second because our world moves so quickly. But what if we could slow it down and view the world with a clear windshield? What if we could see through the white out snowstorm that is our day to day?
What then could we achieve by simply sitting for five minutes a day in a state of non-judgment with WHATEVER comes up?
Mindful Practice of the Day
Should is an absolutely dirty word. It is an assumption that often leads us into states of suffering through our desire to control events. We not only want to control the meaning of these events, but we want to control our environment and the people around us to provide a more amenable outcome for our own selfish “needs”.
Letting go is never easy, at least not at first.
You know that if you get in the water and have nothing to hold on to, but try to behave as you would on dry land, you will drown. But if, on the other hand, you trust yourself to the water and let go, you will float. And this is exactly the situation of faith.
Alan Watts
Our thoughts and the landscape of our minds is no different than Watts describes in the quote above. We do not have anything to hold onto, not anything tangible anyways, nothing except how we react. When we let go and trust in the process we find the power to float, or to rise above the churnings of our mind.
Today, do yourself a solid and allow yourself to meet one “Should Moment” with no judgment.
