Do you ever get tired of your thoughts??
Sometimes it randomly strikes me how predictable my thoughts are. Day in day out. Same old crap. Reminiscing the past. Planning the future. Reprimanding the present.
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| teaching parents yoga. pup prefers savasana. |
Sunday morning I took an ashtanga class in DC (for my first experience of ashtanga yoga click here). Halfway through the class I started to feel frustrated with how my thoughts were not allowing me to enjoy this precious time on my mat. I I told myself ENOUGH ALREADY. For once can I please just have a peaceful practice without thoughts getting in the way. I mean seriously!
The more further I delve into Buddhist teachings and take yoga classes, the more I notice how interruptive thoughts are. They truly get in the way of actually experiencing life. In fact, everything you internalize is simply a projection of what you want to see. How crazy is that?? We hardly ever see the situation for what it is. Rather, we see the situation the way we want to view the situation. And the worse part is, most of the time this skewing is completely unconscious.
Don’t get me wrong, thoughts are great. We have been blessed with fantastic brains that enable us to solve complex problems and invent awesome things. But you gotta admit, most of the time we are not using our brains productively. We are thinking of the past (which we can’t change), or stressing about the future (which we can’t predict). Back to my ashtanga class; thinking about my plans for the day or regretting what I ate the prior day is not going to help me attain the benefits of the practice. Rather, it’s simply going to further distract me from my body and the happenings in the room.
Being out of the body can be quite dangerous sometimes. Losing your keys, locking yourself out, tripping; those are a few examples of the consequence of not paying attention to the moment. But even more than that, living in your head and your thoughts does not allow you to fully engage in this very second. Life flies by us whilst we’re caught up thinking the same things day in and day out. It’s unreal!
There is a time and a place for everything. A time and a place to plan for the future. A time and place to learn from the past so it doesn’t happen again. But I’d say 95% of the time, the time we should be living in is this one, the place is right where you are. I say this because I’ve been noticing that most of the times my thoughts truly aren’t helpful. We tend to give our thoughts way more power than we should.
So what does one do to finally get some peace in life and start becoming aware of the body and the moment? Meditate of course!
Anyone that has tried meditation can vouch for how difficult it is to not allow our thoughts to carry us around the world. But this practice is SO essential for our well being. Or else we will literally drive ourselves crazy. I don’t know about you, but on my deathbed i want to remember living my life, not thinking my life.
Namaste.
November 21st, 2011 at 8:35 pm
So true! I used to make excuses for my clumsiness (tripping, chipping dishes in the sink), but truthfully I'm not so much clumsy as I am distracted! Thanks for the reminder to live in the present – my stubbed toes and broken plates will thank you
November 22nd, 2011 at 6:31 am
This really resonates with me. I've written several posts about this just this month. One of my central goals is to stay present and fully engaged in the NOW