Do you have an inner voice that makes you feel lousy or anxious? Learn to catch yourself before reacting to preprogrammed, unconscious reactions spurred on by invasive, destructive thoughts. In this podcast, I relate some concepts I’ve uncovered to help recognize and combat the unconscious mind’s ability to affect our emotions. I like to call it, “The Great Pause.” The great pause is where you’ve caught yourself, you’ve paused before being swept away by dark thoughts and feelings.
This podcast is about Tonglen (Tong lin) meditation. I talk about how I use the practice to relieve anxiety, stress, anger, and frustration. This isn’t about by-passing reality or having wishy thinking, this is about inviting in the pain and suffering of all beings and seeing it transformed into love, light, and healing. The world seems like it’s unbalanced, unfair, and brutal at times and this practice helps me to change my thinking and cultivate a space of compassion and empathy. I encourage you to look up Tonglen for yourself, my practice is only loosely based on an ancient and complicated practice. The book I mention is Thomas E. Mails, “Fools Crow Wisdom and Power,” the teachings of Frank Fools Crow, ceremonial chief of the Teton Sioux.
How to deal with anxiety and suffering using compassion and empathy. [ 30:46 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | DownloadPLAY PODCAST>>>
After almost thirty years of meditation here are four things I wish I’d known sooner.
1. Sitting without any gaining idea is priceless not trying to become anything not trying to add anything but just sitting in silent observance of all things as they come and go. Rest in your immediate experience. Through zazen, we are not gaining anything, but we are revealing our natural state, which is balanced and free from duality
2. Meditation won’t solve all your problems, it wasn’t designed to make you a more productive cog in the wheel, as a matter of fact, meditation might turn your whole world upside down. Meditation teaches us to slow down and notice our state of mind and being. Meditation may reveal that we’re not happy with our current position
3. Drop the mystical. Stop trying to have powerful mystical Visions it’s not the point most Zen folks will tell you that there is no point to meditation and that’s the point.
4. It’s never about what you think it’s about knowing that you don’t know and have a beginner’s mind and that beginner’s mind is Limitless
Here’s a link to my first podcast called Acceptance: http://www.aquietmind.com/?s=acceptance
Here’s the link to Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/aquietmind
Here’s the link to TikTok link: https://www.tiktok.com/@a_quiet_mind
