2022-08-05 Finding our Way (5 of 5) with Peach and Aggitation

3:08PM Aug 5, 2022

Speakers:

Gil Fronsdal

Keywords:

peace

agitation

agitated

fluidity

attachments

calm

resisting

states

hold

peaceful

activated

mindfulness

deeper

dharma practice

navigate

study

space

clinging

spaciousness

life

So in Buddhism is often associated with peace. And, in fact, the, the emotional manifestations of awakening of freedom that the Buddha points to, is most commonly associated with happiness and peace, peace and happiness. And, and the opposite of peace is maybe agitation conflict. And, and that's part of our world, we navigate a world where we get agitated, we get, we're calm, and then we're not so calm, we're maybe somewhat peaceful, but then we're not peaceful, we're agitated, and then we're less agitated. And then, so how do we fall? How do we find our way in this world of navigating and all of this? When do we emphasize peaceful peace, appreciate it value it cultivated. When do we allow ourselves to become agitated or less peaceful, or allow them to be energized in a dynamic way that doesn't feel very peaceful. And there are times for both. And there's we're living in this world, there are times when it's appropriate to put aside our peace and let ourselves kind of enter into the world of doing an activity, and not being so concerned about whether we're agitated or not, are lost or calm or not. So there's times for peace. And there's times where peace is not really the name of the game, and not really appropriate. And, and there are times when there's agitation, which is inappropriate, and really a challenge, and it makes our life much more difficult. And there's a time to allow ourselves to become agitated, or lose some of our calm. If you're, you know, there, you know, it's easy to argue that it's maybe always good to be calm. But realistically, I don't know if that's really going to happen unless we're living, you know, solitary, quiet lifestyle. If you're living someplace and your neighbor comes knocking at your door with I don't know, with a big injury and asks you to take them to the emergency. That's not the time to be excessively concerned about your calm. And as you get to the emergency, and you're, maybe your neighbor can't talk much at this point. And so you're having to explain and, and be engaged in the activity and, and I think that chances are is that that's going to be, you're not going to keep your calm, you're going to be activated in some strong way. And enough so that when your friend is finally being taken care of, you can sit quietly, you see how much activation there is your spun up. And but then that's not wrong to have that happen in the circumstances, in fact, to be holding on to the calm and the peace, and let's let's kind of make our way to the car slowly and peacefully. And, you know, and count our steps in every step is a piece, that's not really the name of the game. It's where to let go of any emphasis on peace, and just engage in what's needed. Being in the world with what's needed as part of what dharma practice is about. And so certainly, it's possible to be attached to peace, and hold on to it, it's possible to kind of pretend were peaceful or can hold ourselves kind of hold ourselves kind of contain ourselves a certain kind of way. So it's kind of like we're not agitated physically, we're not moving around a lot. Or we're kind of staying closer, something that looks like peace. But it's more attachment and manufactured and not really real.

The ability to navigate between kind of activated states and peaceful states is a lot easier if you're, we're fluid to go between them. And this fluidity if we can't if we resist one or hold on to one, then we're not fluid. And then it's not easy to go back and forth between them. In fact, one of the principles of dharma practice that I value a lot is not that we have any we attain any particular state, as if that's the state that we're supposed to be and there's all kinds of mental states embodied states that we can experience And, and to be free is to have fluidity to be able to move between them and back and forth. And if we have that fluidity, then we can can navigate this world of all the differences much quicker and more easy. If we don't have that fluidity, we become fragile, we're holding on, we're resisting, we are threatened double, and work because what we're holding on to is threatened or what we're afraid is going to happen, will come and overwhelm us. But if we're kind of can, can serve with that kind of navigate and, and with, flooded with ease with relaxation, not holding on to anything and not resisting much enlisting in the inner life. It's much easier to let go, it's much easier to not be troubled by things. So there's activated states in life, and there's peaceful states, calm states. And sometimes it's healthy just to move between them with fluidity and it's okay to be activated. It's okay to kind of lose our calm sometimes. And sometimes it's not, sometimes we lose our calm and we make mistakes, and we make the whole thing worse and agitation can create a lot of stress and exhaustion. And so navigating between this is part of this. And, and it's the it's much harder if we're, as I'm saying we're clinging, clinging, grasping, holding on resisting, all those create more agitation, and less peace, non clinging, non attachment, create more fluidity, less attachment, more appropriate peace, and a greater capacity to flow out of that peace when something else is needed, and was no longer needed flowing back to a calm state or be centered. So so finding our way with peace, and activation, peace and agitation. Some of this has to do with becoming kind of sewers have both not just become experts on peace, but become experts on agitation itself. That mindfulness is really to see and understand how our life works. What's really like these things we go through. And so spend time and when you're agitated, when and where the question, what is this agitation? How am I experiencing it? What's being triggered? Where does it live in me? What's my relationship to this agitation? Do I believe it? Do I go headlong into it? Am I resisting it? Am I judging it? Am I critical of myself or being agitated? There's all these things to study and become much more aware of. And we can study it, we can bring a peaceful mindfulness to that a non conflict of mindfulness or this is how it is, this is how it is. And equally well, we want to study peace, we want to get to understand and become connoisseurs and recognize it, even the small hints of it, even when it's very minor peace, be able to recognize when it's available. Peace is much more available than most people realize. Most situations we're in have more peace of mind somewhere in the center them in the corner of them, then the busy activated mind allows ourselves to tune into. So to study these things, get to know them more. And that brings us into the capacity to recognize when we cling when we resist where our attachments are.

And as the practice deepens, there's a process of letting go or relaxing or softening our attachments, it goes deeper and deeper and deeper, more and more to a core of who we are. And we start letting go of small things. That's a training to let go of the deeper attachments and the deeper attachments. And and then we don't want to become attached to letting go and don't want to be attached to these deeper states of well being and peace that might be there. That is a recipe for agitation again, unhealthy agitation. And then and then to drop down deeper and deeper to to some of the deepest places we can let go to and so the deepest piece is what's called Release, release his piece. The deepest piece comes from a profound release, where we're no longer in the world of polarities between peace and agitation where we're centered in such a way A, that kind of a peace goes with us a calm goes with us, even when we're busy and activated and doing things is not far away. That the deeper the letting go can be, the more thorough it can be. A psychic creates a space of absence of space where there's kind of spaciousness in our mind and our hearts in our body someplace. And that spaciousness can feel calm can feel open. And that kind of it because it's like more like space. Things can happen to us, and they go right through that space. If they if we are peaceful, but peaceful is kind of like we're holding yourself peaceful, or it's very palpable, a kind of state of peace, that is a kind of feeling. That's wonderful. But that also is not the empty space of freedom, where things can just go through or there's space to hold everything. And so it's letting go is what creates this inner space, which provides a qualitatively different kinds of peace, different kinds of calm, different kinds of well being, and, and room for all of ourselves. So, to navigate this world of ours, with the idea that we want to make room for all of who we are, in this way, this particular wave, where there's no attachments, no clinging, and on the way there, we have to make room for our attachments and get to know them as well. So it's a wonderful journey to finding our way. And I'd like to end this little series on finding your way with these different states that one of the lessons of trying to get across is don't have a categorical, right and wrong for almost any state that you have any way that you are. Take time to look at it. And sometimes almost, there's almost a time for everything. And, and certainly a time to study it and get to know it. And that finding our way navigating this world of ours, when you were a mindfulness practitioner, has a lot to do with bringing mindfulness and space, right right mindfulness and room to how we are, so we can learn to find the most the wisest way, and the freest way to navigate this life of ours. So thank you for participating in this and maybe for this weekend. It can be a theme for your your home homework, home practice, to study your relationship to agitation and peace, agitation and calm or tranquilly whatever you like. And to see how you there's a pendulum that swings between them. Do you prefer them? Do you hold on to them? What can you what happens if you spend time with each studying them or getting to know them? becoming more familiar with them? Become the connoisseur of your agitation and of your peace. Thank you