Learning is uncomfortable

Learning is uncomfortable, growth is uncomfortable. Personal and emotional growth nearly always requires facing an uncomfortable feeling or emotion provoked by a perceived difficult situation. Unfortunately, when such uncomfortable emotions arise, our “autopilot” reaction is “get me out of here”. We might avoid feeling uncomfortable in the moment, but the long-term price or consequence include stunted emotional growth, unhappiness, difficulty in relationships, anxiety, panic attacks and even depression. Over time this instinctive aversion becomes automatic and occurs so quickly that we don’t even know it has happened. It becomes an invisible force driving our actions. We find ourselves repeatedly in an undesirable situation (eg toxic relationship, wrong job, same arguments…

What you resist, persists

Perception is everything. Perception creates a feeling and we act out of that feeling. How is an attractive woman perceived? To her lover she is perceived as a delight; to the monk she is a distraction and to the bear she is simply lunch! Based on these perceptions, the lover runs towards her with open arms, the monk looks away and the bear eats her up. Our perception determines our behaviour. An event arises in our field of consciousness; we perceive it in a certain way, which in turn creates a feeling, and we act out of that feeling. When I first came to meditation, I spent my time trying…

Your Path

Man has a yearning for meaning:  Why am I here? What is my purpose? Is there more than just this one life? Religion and spiritual searching are manifestations of this yearning.  The blessing and curse of the rational mind is that we are intelligent enough to frame the question but perhaps not intelligent enough to find the answer.  Tolstoy took a fairly despairing view on it all: “The only absolute knowledge attainable by man is that life is pointless.”   The meaning and the purpose of your life is the meaning and purpose that you choose to give it, even if you ascribe the choice to some outside/divine force. At…