Tag: health

Event and Experience

YouTube: Event and Experience

A Simple Approach to Mindfulness

J Douglas Bottorff

Imagine we’re having one of our beautiful fall days. You step out your front door and are greeted by the warmth of sunshine, a cool breeze, and the beauty of fall colors. You take a moment to take in the sensations of the day. Now imagine you’ve just received some unsettling news. You step out the same door into the same fall day, but you don’t notice the sun, the breeze, or the colors. You are absorbed in the news.

In both scenarios there are two things going on: an event and an experience. The event is you stepping out your front door. The experience is what is happening within you. The first time you are carefree; you have a pleasant experience. The second time you are preoccupied with your unsettling news; your experience is completely different.

This simple illustration shows us that while events can influence our experience, our experience can also color the event. We cannot always choose what happens, but we can become aware of the inner lens through which we interpret it. This is the essence of mindfulness.

When we pause long enough to notice what is happening in us rather than to us, we step into a deeper level of awareness. The mind begins to settle. Our attention shifts from reacting to observing, from judgment to acceptance. Even a difficult event can become a teacher, revealing where our peace depends too heavily on circumstances.

We all know that life brings both calm and storm. Yet the power to choose how we meet each moment is never taken from us. By remembering the distinction between event and experience, we create space for a more conscious response. We may still prefer sunshine to rain, but we no longer feel captive to the weather.

Each moment, then, becomes an invitation to live awake. When we meet life from this inner steadiness, the event—whatever it may be—ceases to define us. We begin to taste a quiet freedom, the awareness that peace is not found in the changing scene before us but in the still presence that observes it.

Emotional Independence

Through spiritual means

YouTube: Emotional Independence Through Spiritual Means

When many of us think of self-help as a means of improving our life through changing our attitude, we may focus mainly on our thinking. As important as this is, we do well to consider our emotions and who or what is controlling them. Is it even possible to choose how we feel, or are we satisfied to let the world make this choice for us?

I have pointed out that we can change our thinking but still feel as if bad things are brewing, like being caught in an undercurrent that pulls us out into water way over our heads. We may scarcely be aware of this emotional riptide until we suddenly notice how far from shore we are. Then, it doesn’t take much to send us into a fear-based reaction to the smallest of things.

How do we gain emotional independence? The first step is to realize we can. The emotions we harbor are of our own choosing. If we do not accept this as a fundamental fact, then the world will choose our emotions for us. And we all know what that is like.

The second step is to ask ourselves how we would feel if this emotionally unsettling appearance was resolved. We allow ourselves to experience the emotional release into the serenity of feeling all is well. Freedom, peace, joy, and new creative stirrings take the place of emotionally induced stress. Maybe not instantly, but we can get there.  

When Jesus spoke of the truth that sets us free, the freedom we long for is first felt at the emotional level. We might think of it as unconditional emotion, feelings that arise, not because of a positive turn of events, but because we feel blessed to simply be alive. In this case, our emotion is prompted by an inner knowing, the stabilizing awareness that we are part of something much grander than our ever-changing surroundings.

We can gain emotional independence, first by realizing we can, and secondly by learning to feel the freedom we desire. Check yourself at the feeling level now. How would you feel if all your life’s burdens were suddenly lifted?

A Simple Way to Change Your Mind

YouTube: A Simple Way to Change Your Mind

We credit Donald Altman, former Buddhist monk and recognized mindfulness expert, with this quote: “If you truly want to change your life, you must first be willing to change your mind.” While most of us respond positively to such a statement, we also know that changing our mind in an impactful way is easier said than done. And yet Moses, in an absolute moment of crisis, offered his people a formula that works every time. He said, “Stand firm, lift up your eyes, and see the salvation of the Lord.”

If you are in a moment of crisis or uncertainty, the first step is to stand firm. What does this mean? You are to make the decision to get off the mental and emotional roller coaster and bring your full attention to your present mind action. If you are going to change your life, the only time you can do it is right now. Stand firm in this understanding. To lift up your eyes is not a command to look to the sky. It’s a command to stop looking at the problem and turn your attention elsewhere. Where do you turn your attention? See the salvation of the Lord. See your present concern resolved. You are on the other side of the Red Sea with your Egyptian hoard no longer in pursuit. Get the distinct feeling that your problem is resolved.

A technique like this is a little like an exercise machine. I have an elliptical machine, and I have to confess that I look at it more often than I actually get on it. I always feel better when I use it. Unfortunately, just looking at it does nothing for the cardiovascular system. The same is true with any spiritual technique. Reading about it is like setting the exercise machine in your room.

Make a firm decision to confront your situation. Pull your attention from the worst case scenario and turn it to the resolution of your issue. You do not need to know how things will work out, but just commit yourself to the feeling that they are. We are not seeking to change our life from this day forward. We are seeking only to change it within this now moment. This simple change of mind can make a profound change in the quality of your life.