Oakville Zen Meditation
“What a dreadful day!”
"We said that once a while without realizing that the cause i.e. weather, event, situation, people, not getting what you want, getting what you don’t or whatever zillion of other external triggers you react against, are usually not…………so dreadful.
They are as they are, whether we like it or not.
What is dreadful is, in fact, our perception, our inner reaction and resistance to it, followed by the negative emotion that is created from it. This negative emotion can be anything such as anger, anxiety, stress, guilt, regret, fear, disappointment, etc…
So: What to do ?
There is a solution:
Being able to dissociate the initial external trigger from your prime emotional response is of paramount importance if one is expecting to experience serenity, and …..maybe Awakening.
In other words: moving our focus from the external cause to the internal effect. Why is that?
Simply because we have absolutely no control of the external world and its triggers, whereas we do have potential control of our emotions as long as we learn the know-how.
Once you are able to dissociate yourself from the cause, you will be able to pay attention, in a mindful way to your emotional reaction that is to accept it ,and let it go. In other words: this is control.
Is it easy? With practice: not too hard ; w/o practice impossible.
This is obvious,pragmatic, and makes sense …..the Zen way
