Have you ever noticed the wave of pleasure that arises when someone appreciates what you're saying? That wave is likely to be more intense when a teacher or a supervisor asks a question and you give the right answer. This need to know is very powerful. In fact we can get "addicted" to the pleasure that knowing triggers.
Have you noticed the wave of discomfort that arises when someone doesn't appreciate what you're saying or when you give your supervisor the wrong answer? Falling into not knowing while trying to get things right can trigger confusion, which is a kind of psychic pain.
Try exploring what happens when, with awareness, you allow yourself not to know. Being neither right nor wrong is like taking a vacation. It frees us from craving the pleasure that comes with knowing and the pain that comes with failing to know
6/25/2007
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The Psychotherapist's Corner
A meditation-inspired psychotherapy offers people a way of understanding their problems as well as a way of healing them... This full day retreat offers an opportunity to engage in learning mindfulness psychotherapy.
"The approach to working with others that I advocate is one in which spontaneity and humanness is extended to others."
---Chogyam Trungpa Rimposhe
Confusion, though uncomfortable, is a healthy state of mind. That's because it creates a great need for calm and clarity.
Psychotherapists can teach depressed people to become aware of their internal talk. This leads to the insight that thoughts are simply thoughts - nothing more. It also teaches that the person is bigger than his or her thoughts or the depression that comes with them. The result is a greater capacity to cope.
Meditation is a method for moving beyond the isolating tendency of the thinking mind.
Whether in a psychotherapy office or sitting on a cushion, we are practicing awareness. In the psychotherapy office our awareness is trained on the past and on the future. In meditation it is trained on the experience of awareness itself.
Narcissism is a double-edged sword; individuals suffering from narcissism either idealize or devalue themselves and others. Buddhist psychology blunts both sides of this sword by declaring that there is no solid and lasting self. Meditative exercises allow individuals to personally discover that they are ever changing, impermanent, and in the flow of life.
Meditation increases the psychotherapist's capacity for single pointed awareness. Relating in this way to a person who comes for help is an act of deep caring. It heals.
Strange how people come into our offices feeling guilty for trouble that is well beyond human control.
Letting go is a skill that can be taught.
"The approach to working with others that I advocate is one in which spontaneity and humanness is extended to others."
---Chogyam Trungpa Rimposhe
Confusion, though uncomfortable, is a healthy state of mind. That's because it creates a great need for calm and clarity.
Psychotherapists can teach depressed people to become aware of their internal talk. This leads to the insight that thoughts are simply thoughts - nothing more. It also teaches that the person is bigger than his or her thoughts or the depression that comes with them. The result is a greater capacity to cope.
Meditation is a method for moving beyond the isolating tendency of the thinking mind.
Whether in a psychotherapy office or sitting on a cushion, we are practicing awareness. In the psychotherapy office our awareness is trained on the past and on the future. In meditation it is trained on the experience of awareness itself.
Narcissism is a double-edged sword; individuals suffering from narcissism either idealize or devalue themselves and others. Buddhist psychology blunts both sides of this sword by declaring that there is no solid and lasting self. Meditative exercises allow individuals to personally discover that they are ever changing, impermanent, and in the flow of life.
Meditation increases the psychotherapist's capacity for single pointed awareness. Relating in this way to a person who comes for help is an act of deep caring. It heals.
Strange how people come into our offices feeling guilty for trouble that is well beyond human control.
Letting go is a skill that can be taught.
6 comments:
this is an interesting notion to ponder in daily meditation. "knowing" comes in various forms for me, thus separating out what i really do know vs. what other's expect me to know. when i'm spiritually aligned and practicing humility, i am open and teachable to accept that i don't know it all and even what i think i know is subject to revision.
i'd like to explore the separation of someone appreciating what we're saying vs. knowing. there is a universal connection when i'm open and actively listening, thus increasing my appreciation for the viewpoint of another-even if i tend to disagree.
i will continue my reflection.
I appreciate your interest in the different kinds of knowing -- and the importance of being open to different perspectives.
This path leads us to experience a knowing that is of a different sort.It is called "not knowing", the experience of the oneness of the larger whole. This oneness is beyond all the distictions we make in ordinary life -- beyond "you and I", beyond "right and wrong."
just a note on my meditation experience in general, i am doing a 'metta' practice for the last month or so...i find it difficult to move on..i do the body scan..and then the metta...i was believing this is where i need to be?? or am i stuck...
To answer your question I need to ask you a few questions:
How long have you been meditating?
Do you have a daily meditation practice?
Is your practice solely Vipassana and Metta?
Do you have a teacher?
Has your meditation had an impact on your life?
..to ans. your questions: i have been meditating for about 2 years. yes, i do it daily. i do the meditations that you teach[or i try to] as you are my teacher. thank you...see you saturday.
Metta is a very valuable path toward enlightenment. It actually increases the capacity for deep and prolonged states of concentration. However, many people find themselves "spacing out" as they do it. And that doesn't lead anywhere except to the enjoyment of space.
My own preference is to use Vipassana as well as Metta to discover impermanence and emptiness -- which is the Buddhist path
To do that you need to follow the 4 Noble Truths... more on Saturday.
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