Oakville Zen Meditation
Breathing: your app to the calming reality of the moment
Reality is what we are experiencing concretely in the moment thru our consciousness.
It should not be confused with virtual reality that our mind is producing. Thoughts and feelings do exist but are, by definition, virtual, fictional and the fruit of our imagination.
When I am looking, touching and eating an apple I am experiencing concrete reality.
If I am thinking about an orange, I am in the virtual, fictional, imaginative world of my mind even if
my thought exist. What is existing can be real such as a sound or virtual/ immaterial such as a thought.
When our negative feelings overwhelm us, the tendency is to stay prisoner in these mind-made fictional storms.
The mind enjoys fictional and imaginative worlds and despises genuine reality of the moment.
The only way to move away from our fictional mind traps is to connect to our present reality that we can experience anytime. This is called reconnecting and breathing is a wonderful example of it.
Looking for some relaxation and calmness, we can click on the pause button called breathing.
Breathing a perfect calming app to download.
By doing so, the stress level measured by blood pressure, heart rate and stress hormones goes down immediately as proven medically over and over.
Observing and slowing down our breathing rate is a wonderful way to experience reality and to cool down our restless fictional mind. It is always here 24/7, it is free, simple to do and without side effects.
They are other easy ways to pause, reduce stress and appreciate current reality. Let me mention just few of them:
Awareness of your surrounding concrete reality by using one of your 5 senses. Sight, sounds, taste, smell and touch.
By doing so, you are forcing your brain to quit its stormy state and to focus on what you are asking him to do. No choice, since the human brain cannot deal with two thoughts at the same time.
It is only thru mindfulness -----that is paying attention or focusing w/o judgment and decision----, that we can use our natural abilities to connect to reality away from our mind-made fictional word.
When you are truly relaxed you feel a sense of peace, at least for a short period of time.
When you have found the way to put down your stress and cool down your mind, you can deal more efficiently with your negative feelings, your loved ones, friends and coworkers.
The key is to recognize being trapped in our mental fictional storm, to accept it w/o resistance and then to have the discipline to press the breathing pause button as often as possible.
We forget that temporary peacefulness of the current uneventful reality can simply be created by
1) focusing and controlling our breathing,
2) using one of our 5 senses or
3) paying attention to our body.
All of them are gateways toward reality and away from the mind-made fictional world.
Unfortunately, many of us feel stressed, anxious, afraid, sad, and frustrated or o the rush and forget to press the breathing pause button.
Focusing on reality of the moment will not bring ecstasy or even happiness but, at least, it will
force our restless mind to be less talkative, at least for a short period.
