There are many ways that being aware is critical to walking the Buddhist or any spiritual path. Basically, if you are not aware of what is happening—within you, not around you—you have no chance to stop your habitual, conditioned reflex response based on your life experiences, your emotions, etc. Which is to say you have no chance to stop your suffering,
And nowhere is this awareness more critical than when you are starting to go to a very dark space where you lose all control of yourself. Let's say something occurs that pushes a major button for you. And rather than recognizing that your button is being pushed and stopping, you react emotionally to the button and start a downward spiral that becomes an inescapable vortex. I often say that once that horse is out of the gate, you cannot stop it until you fall exhausted, totally depleted and defeated. That is not something that you want to experience.
In order to stop this from occurring, you need to 1) have the awareness that your button has been pushed and you are in a moment of danger, and 2) you must have the intent to stop your ego-mind's conditioned, emotional reaction and turn to your spiritual practice and to the Buddha/God/the Universe for guidance.
The challenge in accomplishing this cannot be overstated. Why is it so hard? The main reason is that our conditioning is so deep that it's in our bones; when a really deep button is pushed, we react like we are fighting for our lives. There is literally only a moment—a second—for us to stop our descent; for us to say, "no," and instead focus on a relevant mantra or prayer, allowing it to lift you out of the negative space into a positive one.
For example, say someone does something that really irritates you in a way you've had to deal with your whole life. Your choice is either to blow up, or to say, "No, this is just the way it is; I'm ok and I'm not going to give John the power to disturb my peace."
But you have to have this awareness and make this choice before starting the descent into darkness. Because once you've started down that road, there is really no turning back until the episode and its impact is over, which often lasts until you wake up the next morning.
So how to make that split-second choice? That choice, that intent has to be part of your daily mantra/prayer. For example, I say every day, "Lord, please support me in my intent to experience all things with dispassion, free of emotion and fear." Practicing The Heart's Embrace (see my post of that name) is an essential practice to not being offended by things that happen; not being offended is key to not having your peace be disturbed. And it is only after saying this mantra/prayer every day over the course of months or perhaps years, that it will finally supplant the old synapse in your brain with a new one, and so you will be able to be aware and say, "no."
And nowhere is this awareness more critical than when you are starting to go to a very dark space where you lose all control of yourself. Let's say something occurs that pushes a major button for you. And rather than recognizing that your button is being pushed and stopping, you react emotionally to the button and start a downward spiral that becomes an inescapable vortex. I often say that once that horse is out of the gate, you cannot stop it until you fall exhausted, totally depleted and defeated. That is not something that you want to experience.
In order to stop this from occurring, you need to 1) have the awareness that your button has been pushed and you are in a moment of danger, and 2) you must have the intent to stop your ego-mind's conditioned, emotional reaction and turn to your spiritual practice and to the Buddha/God/the Universe for guidance.
The challenge in accomplishing this cannot be overstated. Why is it so hard? The main reason is that our conditioning is so deep that it's in our bones; when a really deep button is pushed, we react like we are fighting for our lives. There is literally only a moment—a second—for us to stop our descent; for us to say, "no," and instead focus on a relevant mantra or prayer, allowing it to lift you out of the negative space into a positive one.
For example, say someone does something that really irritates you in a way you've had to deal with your whole life. Your choice is either to blow up, or to say, "No, this is just the way it is; I'm ok and I'm not going to give John the power to disturb my peace."
But you have to have this awareness and make this choice before starting the descent into darkness. Because once you've started down that road, there is really no turning back until the episode and its impact is over, which often lasts until you wake up the next morning.
So how to make that split-second choice? That choice, that intent has to be part of your daily mantra/prayer. For example, I say every day, "Lord, please support me in my intent to experience all things with dispassion, free of emotion and fear." Practicing The Heart's Embrace (see my post of that name) is an essential practice to not being offended by things that happen; not being offended is key to not having your peace be disturbed. And it is only after saying this mantra/prayer every day over the course of months or perhaps years, that it will finally supplant the old synapse in your brain with a new one, and so you will be able to be aware and say, "no."
RSS Feed
