by Alan Briskin | I Heard It Like This..., Self Awareness, Spirituality
I Heard it Like This…
Reflections of an inspired talk by Buddhist teacher Joan Halifax.
HDR photography by Alan Briskin
TEN STEPS ON THE PATH OF SELF AWARENESS
There are ten steps we all can take to enlarge our self awareness. These steps are like strings on an instrument or notes on a piano. We can practice them separately but when played together, we can make beautiful music.
(if you prefer to listen & meditate – there is approx. 30 seconds of silence after the bell, before Alan speaks again; but you can fast-forward if you don’t wish to meditate)
The seventh step along the path of self awareness involves KNOWLEDGE. What kind of knowledge? The knowledge of impermanence? This is the knowledge that awareness of mental and material phenomenon are continually changing, continually in flux. We may wish to cling to an idea such as happiness but if we notice what is happening inside us, happiness is not something solid, not something we can lock down. If we become aware of pain, even physical pain, that too is not something we can know with certainty. It shifts, ebbs, moves around, is felt slightly differently in slightly different places. The knowledge of impermanence allows us to liberate ourselves from clinging to fixed thoughts, emotions, and especially rigid ideas of self.
What is it about the nature of impermanence that is so important to self awareness? Self awareness is strengthened whenever habitual patterns of thought and fixed ideas are surrendered. We become more agile in facing ambiguity. We become more skillful at seeking clarity without the obstacles of existing prejudices. We become aware of the self that both creates and clings to form. We are better able to develop positive habits of letting go and letting come a new awareness.
by Alan Briskin | Empathy, I Heard It Like This..., Self Awareness, Spirituality
I Heard it Like This…
Reflections of an inspired talk by Buddhist teacher Joan Halifax.
HDR photography by Alan Briskin
TEN STEPS ON THE PATH OF SELF AWARENESS
There are ten steps we all can take to enlarge our self awareness. These steps are like strings on an instrument or notes on a piano. We can practice them separately but when played together, we can make beautiful music.
(if you prefer to listen & meditate – there is approx. 30 seconds of silence after the bell, before Alan speaks again; but you can fast-forward if you don’t wish to meditate)
The sixth step is the ability to DISTINGUISH. What are we distinguishing? We are distinguishing self from others. We are becoming more fully aware of our boundaries, how we are separate from others yet deeply interconnected. By distinguishing well, we develop a capacity to moderate excessive distancing from others without collapsing into some form of false merger with them. We become aware of the differences between distancing behavior, empathic over arousal, and compassion.
The Dali Lama tells the story of a man, walking in the forest, who comes upon a person trapped under a huge boulder. The man trapped under the boulder is beginning to panic and has trouble breathing. A response of empathic over arousal would mean that the man not trapped by the boulder also begins to panic and have trouble breathing, leaving him unable to help. Alternately, a person distancing themselves from the situation might avoid it entirely and keep walking on. Compassion would mean helping to remove the boulder. Compassion suggests a degree of distance, close enough to connect us to the suffering but not so close that we mistake ourselves for the person suffering or so distant that we become numb or uncaring.
by Alan Briskin | I Heard It Like This..., Self Awareness, Spirituality
I Heard it Like This…
Reflections of an inspired talk by Buddhist teacher Joan Halifax.
HDR photography by Alan Briskin
TEN STEPS ON THE PATH OF SELF AWARENESS
There are ten steps we all can take to enlarge our self awareness. These steps are like strings on an instrument or notes on a piano. We can practice them separately but when played together, we can make beautiful music.
(if you prefer to listen & meditate – there is approx. 30 seconds of silence after the bell, before Alan speaks again; but you can fast-forward if you don’t wish to meditate)
The fifth step on the path of self awareness is WITNESSING. What are we witnessing? We are witnessing, in the role of disciplined observer, our interior thoughts and reactions. We are observing how our mind functions in response to others and our particular circumstances. When we seek harmony, do we find ourselves more irritated? When we wish to assert ourselves, do we notice feelings arise of aggression or competition? When we are praised, do we become shy or inflated? A disciplined observer does not judge but rather, over time, sees patterns of behavior.
These patterns become part of a meta cognitive perspective, an ability to see beyond isolated behaviors to a web of relationships. This witnessing capacity functions as a kind of lubrication for consciousness, loosening our attachment to particular thought patterns or reflexive ways of defending a particular view of ourselves. We become more at ease with a “self that watches over” the mind’s activities.
by Alan Briskin | I Heard It Like This..., Self Awareness, Spirituality
I Heard it Like This…
Reflections of an inspired talk by Buddhist teacher Joan Halifax.
HDR photography by Alan Briskin
TEN STEPS ON THE PATH OF SELF AWARENESS
There are ten steps we all can take to enlarge our self awareness. These steps are like strings on an instrument or notes on a piano. We can practice them separately but when played together, we can make beautiful music.
(if you prefer to listen & meditate – there is approx. 30 seconds of silence after the bell, before Alan speaks again; but you can fast-forward if you don’t wish to meditate)
The fourth step is CULTIVATION. What are we cultivating? We are cultivating the capacity for moral sensitivity and judgment. Self awareness is advanced when we recognize that right action is not prescribed for us; it is a personal act of conscience grounded in understanding.
When we cultivate moral judgment, we are going beneath the surface of things to understand the interconnectedness of life. We are seeing beyond appearances or the simple duality of this or that. Moral sensitivity leads us to continually ask how we are being affected by others and how others are being affected by our thoughts and actions. By practicing this form of careful discernment, we become more decisive in our actions and better able to articulate the basis for our decisions.
by Alan Briskin | I Heard It Like This..., Self Awareness, Spirituality
I Heard it Like This…
Reflections of an inspired talk by Buddhist teacher Joan Halifax.
HDR photography by Alan Briskin
TEN STEPS ON THE PATH OF SELF AWARENESS
There are ten steps we all can take to enlarge our self awareness. These steps are like strings on an instrument or notes on a piano. We can practice them separately but when played together, we can make beautiful music.
(if you prefer to listen & meditate – there is approx. 30 seconds of silence after the bell, before Alan speaks again; but you can fast-forward if you don’t wish to meditate)
The third step is INTENTION. What kind of intention? Intention that has a high regard for unselfishness. Often, we are unconscious of our own motives, going through our day reacting to people and events with habitual behavior. We smile at what amuses us and frown at what frustrates or annoys us. Certainly we pay attention to others, but not with any particular intention to listen, comfort, or care for them.
When we set our intention to be considerate of others, remarkable things can happen. Possibly it is in small steps, like letting someone go ahead of us in line or preparing a meal for a friend who is ill. Sometimes it can have larger consequences. I know a business executive who said his life was changed when he approached his staff with a “generosity of intent.” Setting an intention for unselfishness creates a tension, balancing our own needs and perspectives with the needs and perspectives of others. This tension makes us wake up to a higher purpose in life and becomes the ground from which we continue down the path of learning.
by Alan Briskin | I Heard It Like This..., Self Awareness, Spirituality
I Heard it Like This…
Reflections of an inspired talk by Buddhist teacher Joan Halifax.
HDR photography by Alan Briskin
TEN STEPS ON THE PATH OF SELF AWARENESS
There are ten steps we all can take to enlarge our self awareness. These steps are like strings on an instrument or notes on a piano. We can practice them separately but when played together, we can make beautiful music.
(if you prefer to listen & meditate – there is approx. 30 seconds of silence after the bell, before Alan speaks again; but you can fast-forward if you don’t wish to meditate)
The second step is AFFECT. What kind of affect? Affect that has a bias toward pro social emotions such as kindness, understanding, joy, and curiosity. These are the positive emotions that warm us in pleasurable feelings and attract similar energies in others. These are not false or forced feelings, though they can be. Self awareness allows for choice and the choice to be curious, kind, understanding and joyful in the face of rigid certainty, meanness, confusion, and hatred is one of the most difficult we can make.
A choice for these positive emotions does not make us delusional or oppressively cheerful. Rather it deepens our self awareness and becomes a deliberate practice. When we practice putting forward pro social emotions in the face of pessimism or hostility or demonstrate curiosity and kindness facing head winds of destructive sentiment, then we are truly on a path toward wisdom.
