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Mind Weeds
Jerry Kuhlman - Highland Yoga Co-Founder - 6/30/2005
Time and again I talk
to people who are frazzled by life, at wit’s end. I recently read that
the average American gets hit by over 2000 sales pitches daily. I
don’t know if that’s true, as it could have been another sales pitch, but,
no doubt, we’re under a constant barrage. As a culture, while we enjoy
our freedoms, others are using the same freedoms to enter our space.
As if that weren’t enough, we must deal with our own inner turmoil.
Thoughts come from nowhere, popping up in the gardens of our minds like
weeds, when what we really wanted was strawberries or roses. Often the
seeds that produce those thoughts are of unknown origin. We become
confused and conflicted by the sheer mass of what the brain’s processing.
One thing goes wrong, then another, and in this confused state, the mind
flips a switch, dark thoughts ensue, depression, maybe meltdown….
Backup. Rewind. Take a
vacation without taking a vacation. By wiping the mind’s slate clean on a
regular basis, we can learn to deal with life’s dramas. Yep, meditation’s
what I’m talking about…..
“Uh-oh, meditation”,
says the small mind. “Can’t do that. My thoughts are running away like
wild horses over the hills. No way I could ever stop them?”
“Not necessary”, says
Big Mind. “You’ll never stop your thoughts anyway. As humans, we were
designed to think thoughts. Tigers gotta hunt. Birds gotta fly.
Monkeys gotta eat banannas. Humans gotta think. The best we can hope for is to slow those thoughts down. You
might think of it (but not too long) as your thoughts slowing down long
enough for there to be a sort of micro-moment between them. Let’s call it a
gap of absolute nothingness. But keep in mind, small mind, this gap could
be as quick as lightening, though long enough to get those feelings of
‘ah-ha, that’s how it is’. Let’s call it insight.”
“That’s a little hard
for me to get a grip on”, says small mind, “but never mind, Big Mind, it
sounds kinda interesting. Let me ask you this, though. I’m a Southwestern
Orthodox Protagonist and my minister says that it’s against my religion.”
“Not so”, says Big
Mind, “I’ve been around since the sun was as big as a baseball, and there
was no moon. And I’ve seen Catholic monks, Jewish rabbis, Native Americans,
and Sufi Muslims, to name a few, all use meditation to their benefit. Mix
it with any religion or no religion, and it makes everything better.
Meditation’s what you might call an equal opportunity practice. The longer
I’m around, the more I see meditators wiping out the pigeonholes and
divisions of religion. They walk in several worlds and operate on many
planes. You might call ‘em spiritual multi-taskers.”
“OK, maybe I can get
around that”, says small mind, “but I have a wife, and 13 kids, a low-paying
job at the dental floss factory, a 19-cylinder, left-wheel drive, 123ZY
Himalaya RV that I have to make payments on, my wife wants to buy some new 7092
thread-count primo polyester sheets, and I don’t think I can really feel
complete ‘til I get that four-story desk with the matching Big Shot Chairman
swivel chair. I got responsibilities and desires, and no time.”
“All the more reason to
drop into that deep internal hush”, says Big Mind. “After practicing
awhile, you just might find that you CAN live without some of that stuff.
As far as the 13 kids, well, you just find better ways to deal with them.
It just seems to happen. You start making better decisions. You
intuitively lose your attachments for things that aren’t good for you.
Understand?”
“Somewhat”, says small
mind, “But do I have to give up my chili-pepper-licorice GumDogs.”
“Not necessary to give
up anything”, says Big Mind, “But I’m telling you that you will slowly start
doing what’s best for you. Imagine funding, producing, writing, directing,
and starring in your own movie. You begin to stand back and observe, even
as you’re performing. After awhile, you don’t get away with anything. You
walk the razor’s edge. One catch, though, small….you’ve gotta be ready for
this stuff. You can have the whole enchilada, but you’ve gotta have the
courage to step up, reach out for those divine secrets, and take ‘em. This
is not for the faint of heart.”
“Hmm, very Zen. But,
what’ll my friends say? They think it’s weird”, says small.
“Weird? Is it weird to
be a little more present in life, front and center, instead of wandering
around in a fog?” asks Big. “Weird to be liberated from some of those
attachments and limited sense of little bitty self? Weird to be happy?
Let’s see….life, liberty, happiness. Sounds pretty damn
American to me.”
“OK, OK, you don’t have
to get snippy.” snips small mind. “So, let’s just say I might wanna give
this a try, how would I get started?”
“Decide that you’re
going to set a little time aside each day, and just do it. There’s lots of
wisdom in those Nike commercials”, says Big. “Remember, though. This is
not easy stuff. If you’re having trouble with it, that’s perfect. Don’t
beat yourself up. Handle yourself, small mind, like you’re house-training a
puppy. If you’re cruising with no bumps, that’s perfect, too. The key is
that your present circumstance is the perfect ground for meditation. If
you’re angry, sit on it. If your dog dies, sit on it. If you look out in
your backyard and everything’s comin’ up roses, sit on that, too. Every
circumstance is an opportunity to pluck another weed from the garden of your
mind. And sometimes the roses are weeds, too, but I’ll leave that one for
another time.”
“You talk in circles
sometimes, Big, but tell me, do I have to go live in a cave for awhile?”,
asks small. “Or find a guru?”
“The cave that they
always talk about, small….that’s in your mind. So is the guru.” says Big.
“Matter of fact, it’s all in your mind. With our thoughts we make the
world. That’s pretty catchy….I should copyright that.”
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