Progress
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2018
Posts: 674
Progress
Slowly. A thing at a time.
Yesterday it was learning that the Buddha teaches there are five states of mind that separate us from the reality right in front of us:
1. Sensual desires
2. Automatic aversion responses to self, people, places, things.
3. Restlessness
4. Sloth
5. Doubt
And from there building a deeper understanding of what "responding without reacting" means.
For whatever reason, I now understand and see - at least a little more clearly - that I've spent much of my life reacting instead of responding. But now I understand that for me to respond to situations vs. react I can't be in one of the states of mind above.
I was able to put it to practice today. Was having a wonderful conversation with a friend who mentioned a topic I felt an immediate aversion to. Within a split second I recognized that I'd made my mind up about the topic before even hearing what my friend was saying about it. I'd made my mind up purely out of the negative aversion and pre-conceived ideas I had that were triggered by the very mention of the topic.
I managed to see it and stop it for a moment. I stayed open to hearing what my friend had to say. And as a result at the end I responded with something like: 'your take on this is something I hadn't considered... I'll stay open to the idea and take some time to think on it..'
Huh... So that's what it means to respond instead of react. Who knew? Maybe there's hope for me afterall.
Still have tons to learn. So many new ways to engage myself. I feel like I'm getting to know myself all over.
I am not the man I was 6 months ago. Hell, I've never really known the person I am today. And that excites me greatly.
Fever broke yesterday. I'm on the mend. Today is the first day I've felt like a human being in the past two weeks.
Best-
B
Yesterday it was learning that the Buddha teaches there are five states of mind that separate us from the reality right in front of us:
1. Sensual desires
2. Automatic aversion responses to self, people, places, things.
3. Restlessness
4. Sloth
5. Doubt
And from there building a deeper understanding of what "responding without reacting" means.
For whatever reason, I now understand and see - at least a little more clearly - that I've spent much of my life reacting instead of responding. But now I understand that for me to respond to situations vs. react I can't be in one of the states of mind above.
I was able to put it to practice today. Was having a wonderful conversation with a friend who mentioned a topic I felt an immediate aversion to. Within a split second I recognized that I'd made my mind up about the topic before even hearing what my friend was saying about it. I'd made my mind up purely out of the negative aversion and pre-conceived ideas I had that were triggered by the very mention of the topic.
I managed to see it and stop it for a moment. I stayed open to hearing what my friend had to say. And as a result at the end I responded with something like: 'your take on this is something I hadn't considered... I'll stay open to the idea and take some time to think on it..'
Huh... So that's what it means to respond instead of react. Who knew? Maybe there's hope for me afterall.
Still have tons to learn. So many new ways to engage myself. I feel like I'm getting to know myself all over.
I am not the man I was 6 months ago. Hell, I've never really known the person I am today. And that excites me greatly.
Fever broke yesterday. I'm on the mend. Today is the first day I've felt like a human being in the past two weeks.
Best-
B
Member
Join Date: Feb 2018
Posts: 572
Nevertheless B, and I’m somewhat familiar with Buddhism & intransigence, I’d much prefer debauchery to chastity, aversion to indifference, restlessness to apathy, and sloth to excessive rigor and healthy doubt & skepticism to overconfidence.
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