Category Archives: The Mind

Problems? More Than One Way

No problem can stand the assault of sustained thinking.
— Voltaire

What do you think of that approach? In your life have you solved all problems by sheer sustained thinking? Me either. And I suspect that, perhaps later in life, Voltaire ran into a few problems that did not yield to thinking of any kind.

In the realm of energetic healing our experience is that every single person we meet, though physically made up of the same atoms, molecules, and tissues, and almost identical DNA, is in fact utterly unique. And one size never fits all.

We respect the tools that science and modern medicine utilize to rule out and diagnose diseases and maladies. Diagnosing is not our purview. Finding ways to bring healing to a particularly unique individual is what we are moved to pursue.

There is nothing wrong with sustained thinking. It is just not the whole ballgame for us. Here is another approach.
My master teacher once said, “The guru does not solve problems. The guru dissolves the state in which problems exist.”

I’ve been chewing on that one ever since having a direct experience of a problem dissolving as my state changed. Now that happens almost daily. And has for about 34 years.

How is that possible? I have replaced assaulting problems with entering an altered state through meditation, or sometimes dance, or singing. It is almost the opposite of thinking. One could call it ‘allowing’, or ‘letting go’, or ‘stilling the mind’. This is not New Age stuff, it is an ancient science and technology of the mind that has been handed down for ages.

Learning to trust the inner spaciousness as a remedy for even modern problems has helped me become a better person, a more reliable friend, and a stronger support for others.

— Helen

For one of the best books on meditation look for
Meditation for the Love of It
by Sally Kempton.

Sally says, “The meditation that will work is the meditation that you will do.”

So don’t over think it, just do it.

A Walk in the Mist and the Mystery

 

Yesterday (uncharacteristically) we decided to take a hike before breakfast. The ‘uncharacteristic’ part I refer to was ‘before breakfast.’ Up near the Canadian border we often go hiking on a familiar trail with our dog leading the way. Rama is an excellent trail dog, unless other dogs or people are around. Then he is a run-away, nut job, ever up for a romp with others, a friendly chat, or simply to follow anyone while leaving the ones who feed him behind. 

The day was set to be very hot, so getting out ahead of the heat was what drove us up the hill before taking in sustenance. And being out so early meant we also succeeded in avoiding people and doggies, a complete win.

While hiking I noticed how often my mind, just like my dog, runs off with me. Then in a moment my attention is captured by the way the morning light is touching and illuminating the broken trunk of a tree that has upended itself into the river below. The beauty of it touches me wordlessly. I resolve to be still, a wordless observer of the woods, but before long I am planning a project like this one. I will write about “Forest Bathing”, and hold forth with data about how the aromas given off by trees are as healthy for us as the oxygen they produce in such abundance. Ah, the mind – so quick. 

At the next lookout spot over our beloved river we note to one another the milky-white color of the water, and tussle with each other about the look and definition of run-off, and snow-melt. The sandy beach below has become more rocky than last we saw it, my hand-carved wooden offerings are still in place, someone has chain-sawed off a small piece of a downed tree. 

In this way my mind creates a world, populated by ideas, beliefs, musings, projects, and I become identified with it. ‘I am’ becomes, I am the hiker, the dog-lover, the carver, the notice-er, the river viewer, the one who comes and goes.

All the while a stillness is present and in brief glimpses I apprehend it, and even fall under its sway now and then. I am caught in stillness, even as my ears hear the river, caught in illumination even as the morning light touches the mossy tree ahead, held in the mystery even while swimming in the mist of the mind.