Day 10. Who's This In The Shower With Me?

So,

Hello and welcome to another Daily Dose of Story.

This one is called,

Is That So?

And as usual,

I'll read the story as it appears in the book and then I'll give a short commentary and then we'll have a just a brief meditation,

Some quiet time.

There was once an old farmer who lived a simple life with his son.

One day his horse ran away.

Upon hearing the news,

His neighbours came to visit.

Such bad luck,

They said,

Feeling for the farmer.

Is that so?

The farmer replied.

The next morning the horse returned,

Bringing with it three other wild horses.

How wonderful!

The neighbours said.

Is that so?

Replied the old farmer.

The following day his son tried to ride one of the untamed horses,

Was thrown off and broke his leg.

The neighbours again came to offer their sympathy for the fall.

Is that so?

Answered the farmer.

The day after,

The military officers came to the village to draft young men into the army.

Seeing that the son's leg was broken,

They passed him by.

The neighbours congratulated the farmer on how well things had turned out.

Is that so?

Replied the farmer.

Now this is the rest of the story as it appears in the book.

Often,

When something happens,

We like to judge the incident as either good or bad.

If it is an unfortunate event,

We can easily go into,

This is it,

My life is ruined.

If we can just step back from the whole thing,

Which at first is not easy,

Then we can have a greater perspective on the events that happen in our life.

Supposing we get a call from our boss saying we are being made redundant.

Our usual reaction is to go into panic,

Blame or perhaps to feel sorry for ourselves.

I will never get another job,

We may tell ourselves.

But if we can just take that step back,

Breathe and not go into the storyline,

We just may be able to say to ourselves,

Let's see,

Is that so?

What do I really need to do here?

This is wisdom,

Because we are beginning to see one of the simplest but most profound truths of life,

Everything changes.

So,

This is now a short commentary on that.

I mean there was a commentary there.

Alongside that,

I remember some of you may have heard of Krishnamurti,

An Indian teacher,

Died in the 1980s I think.

And towards the end of his life,

One of his students asked him,

So what's your secret?

Master,

I can imagine calling him master.

And he probably said,

I'm not a master.

But anyway,

He said,

What's your secret?

He just said,

I don't care what happens.

It doesn't seem very profound,

I don't care what happens.

But it's.

.

.

See,

Let me put it another way.

Many of us spend most of our time micromanaging.

So we have the experience that we believe we should have to be happy,

In order to be happy.

It's like we try to get all our ducks in a row,

Straining,

Exerting effort,

Trying to get everything just right.

Just the right job,

Just the right feeling,

Just the right thought,

Just the right relationships,

Have everybody like me.

Whatever it is for each individual,

For ourselves.

Because we all do this in particular ways.

Something's out of order,

Let's put it right.

It's wrong,

Let's fix it.

See,

What happens is we think about thinking,

About thinking.

We're so caught up with thinking.

And it clouds our perspective.

Because what's thought doing?

It's commenting on life.

What's wrong,

What's right.

So it also tells us that we've got to have things that are right.

In the view of mind,

In the view of thoughts.

So we are obeying thoughts almost all of the time,

Trying to please the world of thought.

And it's just impossible.

It's just exhausting.

We can't do it.

It cannot be done.

So what do we do?

Another way of looking at it is that it's a curious case of mistaken identity.

At some point in our lives we began to identify with thought.

So we've moved out of our intuitive knowing,

Our innate wisdom,

Which is quiet,

Silent.

It just knows things.

Into identifying with mind.

Because we've been trained that way.

So all our attention is going to what we are identified with.

Because thought is telling us how life is and how it needs to be in order for us to be happy.

And the mind works in very fixed ways.

It's dualistic.

Like something's right or something's wrong.

Now there's variations of that obviously,

With each individual.

But basically,

Something's right or something's wrong.

Something's fixed or something's broken.

If it's broken,

We need to fix it.

If it's wrong,

We need to make it right.

And this takes up so much of our time,

So much of our energy.

There's very little left for just being.

Just glorying in presence.

Just being alive.

The world.

Just appreciating the world and each other and ourselves.

And just being alive.

Because we're trying to fix it.

We're trying to.

.

.

See,

The mind works very rigidly.

If we're very fixed,

Very fixated on mind,

Very identified with it,

We'll notice that we can be very rigid about things,

About how things should be.

And there's no room for resting there,

For relaxing with how life is.

Which is the secret of life.

Relaxing with how life is.

This is it.

But also,

When we release that fixation with mind,

With thought,

When it's more relaxed,

When we use the mind as a tool by which it was intended,

It's designed to be a tool.

When that fixation relaxes,

We actually know what needs fixing.

We actually know what's wrong and how we need to make it right.

In a more intuitive way,

Which is less rigid and neurotic.

So,

When something goes wrong,

Can we just step back?

Just,

Let's see.

This too will pass.

Can we just create a little bit of a gap,

A little bit of a distance between what's happening and our response,

Our reaction?

Probably reaction is probably a better term.

So,

There we go.

Is that so?

Maybe.

Lovely word actually in this context.

Maybe.

Maybe not.

So,

Let's have a few moments of quiet time just to absorb what's been said from the farmer.

Okay.

So,

Just taking a one or two deeper breaths and drop down into the body.

Feeling into the body.

Feeling into the breath.

A kind of relaxing into the breath,

A relaxing into the body.

Sink into it.

Sink,

Don't think.

So,

Just feel the end of the out-breath.

Notice that letting go.

And then there's a pause.

Feel that.

And then the in-breath begins.

And at some point you will notice that you've fixated on thought.

Just say to yourself,

Thinking.

And relax back into the body.

Release the thought.

Relax into the body.

Into the breath.

Keep it simple.

Not engaging the mind here.

It's to do with presence.

Being.

Notice that fixation.

Release.

Feel into the breath.

The end of the out-breath.

A period of silence here for you to feel into it.

That's it.

You may notice when you're fixated in thought there's a contraction in the body,

Like a pinch.

Thinking.

And relax into the breath.

Nothing to achieve.

Just rest in presence.

Fall in love with that.

Get to know that.

Not by thinking about it.

Feeling into it.

Any sounds happening.

It's okay.

Just part of present moment experience.

Is the mind telling you something?

Is that so?

Just checking that you're not tense.

Relax.

Wonderful.

When you're ready you can begin to little maybe start to stretch and bring this session to an end.

Have a good day.

See you tomorrow.

Bye-bye.