Meditation of the week: 2 Half Living Is Easy

[Guest guest]

Meditation of the week from cybermonks

http://www.interluderetreat.com/

 

Half Living Is Easy

 

We learn so well, we humans. Our minds are so malleable. At birth, our

brains come with the potential to speak any language, to balance us on

a tightrope, or to learn to play any instrument, or to invent new

technologies. We can learn to write and type and program computers. We

can learn to sing, dance, ride a horse, raise a baby, grow plants, do

geometry, thread a needle, design buildings or blow them up. It is

amazing what we can learn to do. Our brains want to learn. It's what

they do. They learn that some things give good feelings and some give

bad feelings. We tend to repeat the behaviors that give us good

feelings or help us avoid discomfort. Our brain cells connect up in

patterns that make those behaviors easier to remember. When those

connections are strong and deep, we can do those things with little or

no effort of thought at all.

 

Once we connect the stimulus and our response in a well-established

habit, our consciousness of the event is no longer required. As the

years pass, our lives take on a routine that makes it possible to do

complicated behavioral patterns without much consciousness: Turn off

the alarm clock, get out of bed, shower, get the newspaper, make

coffee, read the paper, eat breakfast, get dressed, drive the car, and

hope to be awake before you get to work.

 

It is a good thing to be able to perform without awareness. We wouldn't

want to have to try to figure out how to tie our shoes every morning.

We just do it and there is no apparent stress involved. We are so good

at avoiding stress or adapting to it, though that eventually our lives

have accommodated large amounts of stress and we haven't even noticed.

It's just what we do. We know how to do it and we don't really know how

not to do it. Absorbing the news about war, crime and terrorism becomes

what we do, and we don't notice the toll it takes on our nervous

system. Drinking the coffee. It's just what we do. Driving in rush hour

traffic. It's what we do. Dealing with problems at work all day or at

home with the kids. We do that. It's what we do. What else are we going

to do? We hardly notice the strain it puts on our emotions. Our

emotional neural circuits have formed up as nicely as the ones that

formed our cognitive habits. Being a little tense or withdrawn or angry

or sad, hey, that's just who we are, we tell ourselves. It's our

personality. It's how we do our emotions without having to think or

make any effort at all.

 

The way our brain/body performs our emotional behaviors may be refined

to perfection. But that doesn't mean those behaviors always work well

for us. We have to engage with the world that exists outside of our

heads, and there may be friction. Our mental, behavioral and emotional

habits create ease when all is routine, but when we have to adjust to

novel circumstances, we need to be able to slip out of our habits and

respond adaptively.

 

This is where self-awareness comes in. We have the benefit of forming

habits to make life easier, but we must be awake enough to know when to

choose something other than our routine responses. Life requires

adaptation, and if we merely do what we have always done we will be

maladapted.

 

Practice:

 

Pay more attention to your habits and routines. Notice when you are on

autopilot.

 

Practice doing things you do every day with more awareness. Slow down

and notice how you brush your teeth or put on your clothes. Pay

attention as you put bread in the toaster or wipe the counter. When you

walk, notice that you are walking. Feel the experience. Notice the many

movements, balance adjustments and sensations that go with taking a

step.

 

Sit very quietly and observe your breath.

Observe your heartbeat.

Observe the level of tension in your muscles.

Feel the vibration of your nervous system. How tightly wound are you

these days?

Notice emotions as they come up. How habitual are they? Can you put

them aside? If they persist, just sit with them. Watch them and see

what happens.