"If you think that something is missing in your life, you probably are." ~ Robert Holden
Most people would agree that too much thinking can cost you your peace, your happiness maybe – but your life? That is certainly a bit of an exaggeration.
I'll explain it with a story.
I remember taking my daughter to the park one day when she was about three years old. Like all children of this age, she was enthusiastic and fascinated by her surroundings – the insect crawled over the blade of grass, the ducks screeched in the pond, the dog chased the Frisbee nearby.
She was fully occupied with life around her – fully present at the moment.
Suddenly she pointed to the sky and shouted: "Plane!"
Your shrill voice tore me from my daydreams and when I looked up at the plane high above us, I became aware of my surroundings for the first time.
I noticed that we actually got to the park. Even though my body had been there for a few minutes, I had just arrived.
Before that I was a million miles away, deep in thought about something, without knowing my surroundings.
Life always happens now, but, distracted by our thinking mind, we do not notice it.
Your body is here – where are you?
As soon as we wake up every morning, the Mind TV switches on automatically and begins broadcasting our known programs.
And out of habit we give it our full attention. We find the content of the mind much more convincing than the life around us.
My days went something like this. Maybe you can tell something?
I'd swallow breakfast and think about my to-do list for the day, or how traffic would be on the way to work. The next thing I knew, I was staring at the empty cereal bowl in front of me without remembering having eaten it.
I had totally missed the wonderful taste and texture of the food in my mouth, not to mention the warm sun streaming in through the window and the beautiful song of the lark outside.
The body then drove to work while I repeated the conversation I had with my sister the night before and missed the clouds, trees and beautiful sky along the route.
Next, I would drive into the parking lot at work without reminding myself that I went there.
The corpse would then be sitting at her desk, but I was somewhere else again – counting the days until the weekend or making plans for our next vacation.
Robert Holden, director of the Happiness Project, sums it up wonderfully with the following words:
"If you think something is missing in your life, you probably are."
Past and future have no life of their own
Getting lost in past and future thought films draws our attention away from the present moment, away from life, away from reality.
Past and future have no reality of their own. What happened yesterday or what can happen tomorrow only exists as an idea in your head.
The moment is always fresh and alive. The films that play in our heads are old and stale. You are without life.
Thinking too much costs your life.
If we spend too much time in our thinking heads – rushing from one appointment to the next – the life that is always happening now flashes up unnoticed.
The days, the weeks, the months, the years blur into one, since the preciousness of every living moment is lost due to a lack of presence.
We wonder where all the time has passed and why we feel so dissatisfied, unfulfilled and disconnected.
Taking the time to pay attention to each new moment is the key to greater peace, connection and aliveness, no matter what is going on in your life or what you think it should be.
When we are immersed in the present moment, satisfaction happens by itself. We don't have to look for it. It's a by-product of presence.
From your head and into your life
How do you get out of your head and back into your life?
Awareness of the present moment is the key. This is where life depends!
And the good news is that you don't have to actively try to stop thinking as the mind can only be in one place at a time. Bring your attention to the present moment and thinking automatically stops.
In my opinion, mindfulness practice is the easiest and most effective way to achieve this.
Although I had practiced and taught other forms of meditation for many years, I became curious to learn more about the mindfulness approach and enrolled in an eight-week course.
During the course there was a certain exercise, "Walking Meditation", which made a lasting impression on me.
As we walked slowly and quietly through the lush gardens of the retreat center, we were invited to pay attention to the present moment – to feel the ground beneath our feet and closely observe every little movement and sensation in the body. as we carefully placed one foot at a time.
We were instructed to devote our full attention to each of the senses in turn.
I wrote that later in my diary:
“Since the spider pays attention to the complicated patterns and colors of the leaves, it works on its web, feels the texture of the grass under the soles of the feet and the gentle breeze on the skin and smells the ground herbs, the fragrant moss, the soft The crackling of the twigs underfoot and the rustling of the wind in the trees – transformed what at first glance seemed like a beautiful garden into Narnia, the magical kingdom! "
It is both amazing and humiliating to really notice the enormity of what is going on around us and within us at any given moment – if you pay attention.
The miraculous transformation of the garden happened solely through a shift in attention. Outwardly, nothing new or different appeared. Everything was exactly as before.
And we can bring this quality into every aspect of our life.
We are usually so distracted from the thinking mind that we do not notice the immense wealth that is everywhere. When, as children, one pays attention to the abundance of what every moment contains, a feeling of wonder and joy naturally arises.
Our true home is the present moment
I will conclude with these beautiful words about the walking meditation of the Buddhist mindfulness teacher Thich Nhat Hahn:
“Mindful walking brings us peace and joy and makes our life real by enjoying peace with every step in every moment. No need to fight. Enjoy every step.
When we practice walking meditation, we arrive at every moment.
Our true home is in the present moment. As we step deep into the present moment, our regrets and worries go away and we discover life with all its wonders.
When we breathe in we say to ourselves: "I have arrived." When we breathe out we say: "I am home." When we do this, we overcome the distraction and live peacefully in the present moment, which is the only moment for us to be alive. "
When the mind is calm, like children we can deal directly with life. If we really pay attention to the riches of the present moment, like children, we become fascinated with life.
Too much thinking costs your life.
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