Meditation And Stress
I often wish that I was blessed with the ability to communicate clearly and accurately. Unfortunately my mind jumps around much too quickly for my mouth to keep up.
Likewise when I start to write just a short response, my mind jumps in with more questions and more gaps in what I have written and so eventually a couple of lines turns into a page. I was starting to reply to Ruth’s comments on the Problem of Living Up to Our Ideals when I realised that I should make this into a post of it’s own.
Meditation And Stress
Probably the most popular stress management technique recommended is to meditate. Now I think that’s an excellent tool to manage stress. But as Tim pointed out, techniques are only a temporary expedient to the end result. This is the problem I see with most stress management advice. That it is based on an assumption that the world is a hostile, dangerous place, that is too treacherous to cope with without putting your life on hold while you deal with it.
Imagine you are settled in front of your TV to watch a gripping thriller. As the plot unfolds your heart pumps faster with every twist and turn. You fidget to mimic the character’s actions. As you identify with the characters and get more involved with the storyline you feel the emotions that they feel. Then the phone rings and you have to pause the film. Still you are caught up in the emotions caused by the film. But as you respond to the mundane details on the phone call your emotional state returns to a more normal level.
Were you to now stop and consider the film plot in great detail, it would not have nearly as tight a grip of your emotions. Some of the scenes might seem unbelievable. In fact if you did this long enough, you might not want to see the end of the film because without being on the rollercoaster of scenes and emotions, it’s just not that exciting.
photo credit: Soulrider222
Meditation is like the phone call in the middle of the film. It’s a temporary state of sanctuary, putting the events of life on hold, calming the emotional state and then looking at the events without the raging emotions. When your emotional response is too intense and so far from your (seeming) control, then obviously meditation is a great tool.
Ultimately though, you want the rollercoaster ride from the negative into the positive. Doesn’t a good thriller rescue victory from the depths of despair? And would that victory be as thrilling when all is calm?
If you ever play video or computer or arcade games aren’t the best ones, those with the most dramatic scenarios?
They put you in the middle of World War 2 or fighting off killer Zombies or rescuing the world. The deeper the dips, the more exhilarating the ride.
Life is the ultimate video game. The events around you are the context of the game, designed to be enthralling, frightening and even desperate. But you have the controls to manouevre through the scenes and ultimately your decisions and actions determine whether you end up devoured by the game or triumphing over all.
Dealing with stress is a little like changing gear from reverse to first in your car. At first you might go from reverse to neutral. But with time as you become more skilled as a Driver, you can then switch direct from reverse to first. It saves you time and speeds up your experience of life. And the key to life is really about how much we experience. That’s really the goal of being here that drives everything we do, wanting to experience as much as we can.
So to meditate is great whilst stuff seems too much to handle. But just like driving the key is really how quickly we can move from A to B. Instead we are moving from very negative emotions to less negative emotions and then to positive and onwards to more and more positive emotions.
Everything in life has value in it’s place. For a full life. you need to have the full range of emotional experiences. Depression, anger, frustration and all the others are necessary for a happy and fulfilled life.
The key is how quickly you move through them. Get stuck in any of them and life seems to suck, but move through all of them quickly as an experienced Driver can move through the gears and life will flow for you.
Very motivational New Years posts Rob!
"Life is the ultimate video game."
BINGO! ;-D
Hi Rob.
"But you have the controls to manouevre through the scenes and ultimately your decisions and actions determine whether you end up devoured by the game or triumphing over all."
I would say that if possible, a "Meta Position" is a better option. Being able to view the game in a detached manner is, paradoxically a position of "control". Again a paradox – "control" only comes when we have surrendered any hope of controlling things! "Going with the flow" comes close to describing that.
For a full life, you need to not be at the affect of "the full range of emotional experiences" – again, witnessing or detachment is key.
Again I expect we're saying pretty much the same thing in different ways. I too need to allow time for my typing fingers to catch up with my mind
I meditate a bit, but I also read A LOT. What I have learned about positive interactions and thoughts, I've gleamed mostly from my reading, though I feel this is reinforced through meditation. I feel additionally Rob, the twist is to be able to realize that the "life" video game is one in which remaining in a meditative spirit is necessary. Realize that just as in dreaming, our life is a dream from which we need to wake.
Let me summarize my understanding from the previous two posts and the respective comments.
It is important to have the following:
- Knowing clearly the desired outcome ( A to B)
- Persistent desire for the end state (B)
- +ve attention : Knowing and believing that you can tackle the issue/problems along the way
When were "playing" our life in pursuit of the above journey, we would inevitably experience the whole spectrum of emotions (+ve and -ve). Our ability to live a full and happy life (experience more of life, in Rob's defn) is our ability to move through quickly these various emotions without getting stuck in any of them (+ve & -ve included)..
Meditation is a way of stepping aside and witnessing the "play" without getting attached to the outcomes.. It is simply a state of being where we see and acknowledge that "it is just a play going on".. It is taking a higher perspective..It is just not being a spectator (not like soccer fans fighting) , but being an unattached spectator..
to be cont..
cont from previous comment..
While meditating, you consciously choose to identify with the higher self (which is unattached and indifferent and just is), and step out of the ego identity.. Which, as Rob says in his phone call metaphor, reduces the emotional intensity..
While meditating you are choosing to be happy rather than right. In practical life it is a good idea to meditate regularly to gain this higher perspective.. We don't have to fall back on mediattaion only while feeing overwhelmed..
I get the feeling that Rob's idea is to maintain this higher identity as we are palying the game.. While the play is going on, as we hit strong emotions that slows down the journey, take a quick peek (flash meditation) at our true identity and that would help us progress in the journey.. maybe we may reverse or take a different route or maybe even choose a different destination, but the journey and experience flows.
Really interesting. Meditation is a tool I feel Rob that has helped me develop the skill to get from A to B quicker when something stressful comes up – its like if you practice something then you will be able to do it more easily when required to do it under pressure – meditation is the practice and clearer thinking is the result under pressure instead of panic/stress thinking.
[...] reading the comments on meditation and stress I saw that I needed to make a slight clarification. All the comments showed that people were [...]