So.
As I said in the beginning,
It's restlessness and anxiety are the two main words we use to describe this hindrance,
But worry and remorse are also included.
Whichever words feel most appropriate.
However you would name it when it shows up,
That's That's fine.
I don't think we get stuck on the word.
But it's interesting in researching some of the suttas that talk about this.
The idea of the monkey mind is really attached to this hindrance.
We talk about the monkey mind a lot in our regular meditation that we notice the thoughts arise and it goes from one thing to the next to the next.
But when we're feeling restless,
It's really doing that.
It's really busy.
It's barely holding on one branch before it grabs into the next and just going,
Going,
Going.
And it kind of can feed itself.
We can get into a frenzy if we're really kind of out of control on a subject.
And what leads us into this,
If you really look carefully.
Is that we find fault with the state of being in the moment.
In the actual experience or in the mind.
That we're not satisfied with things as they are.
You know,
I could think like my mother,
But she's going to have a party or something,
Right?
Everything's got to be just so and as it gets closer.
Her anxiousness about the plates out,
And the food ready,
And this and that.
This person hasn't called yet.
Whatever it is,
It's just one thing to the next.
And not satisfied with how it is,
Not accepting that right now it's just like this,
And it's going to be okay one way or another.
Whoever shows up will show up.
Whatever food is here will be here,
Etc.
But if we're not accepting what's going on in the present moment,
That gets more and more and more.
And that connects us directly to the.
Second Noble Truth.
That we have this craving for things to be how we want them.
I want more of this.
I want less of that.
I want it just this way.
I want it to change.
I don't want it to change.
All those things,
Ultimately the same thing,
Is I want it this way.
And when it's not this way.
I get uptight.
And what my emotions.
For uptight are could be different than yours.
Some people get angry,
Some people get quiet,
Some people get sad.
It's all different.
The point is that the source is the same,
Is that I want to be in control.
And I'm not in control.
And so I'm.
Experiencing suffering,
Do good.
When we don't have the ability to calm the mind.
To intentionally notice a busy mind.
An agitated mind,
A restless mind,
An angry mind.
Notice it.
Be mindful of that right now the mind's like this.
And then say,
OK,
This isn't skillful in this moment.
This doesn't feel good in this moment.
It's not helpful.
I'm going to take it down a couple notches.
When we don't have that ability,
Then it does what it does,
Which is usually go the other direction,
Increase instead of relax.
And that's how the restlessness and anxiety build.
They just keep growing.
Well,
They can.
They don't necessarily.
Sometimes we have a low level of anxiety that just kind of stays.
It doesn't necessarily take us off the deep end,
But it can.
It can.
I think part of it depends on a personality.
Part of it depends on the setting and the situation.
And if we're home on the couch in our pajamas and we feel a little nervous about something,
We probably don't care.
Or not necessarily get really taken off the deep end.
But if we're in some other stressful situation,
We're already feeling that.
It can add to it much easier.
And that's why having the skills that we learned on the cushion.
And I'll get to the tools we use.
They're all useful,
And we have ones that will be most comfortable.
For our own self.
Some people just having their feet on the floor and awareness that their feet are on the floor is really grounding,
I mean,
Emotionally,
Mentally,
As well as being physically grounded.
Some people that doesn't do anything for.
Yep,
I'm standing,
I feel my feet,
So what?
It doesn't make me feel anything.
Being with the breath,
Turning towards the breath,
And just taking some slow,
Intentional breaths.
Has a lot of those qualities of calming the mind,
Relaxing the body when we're in tense situations.
Moments,
And it doesn't have to be anxious moments.
They could be angry moments.
They can be sad moments.
I think these tools actually work across the hindrances.
Quite.
Similar.
So here's something the Buddha said.
About restlessness and remorse.
There is unrest of mind.
Frequently giving unwise attention to it.
That is the nourishment for the arising of restlessness and remorse that have not yet arisen.
And for the increase and strengthening of restlessness and remorse that have already arisen.
So if we're already in the middle of it and we feed it,
It gets bigger,
Stronger,
More intense.
If we notice that there's some subject,
Some object,
Some thing,
But if I turn towards it and start to contemplate it,
It's going to bring me there.
And then I turn towards it,
Or I turn on the news,
Or I start doing scrolling,
Or I do something that I know will lead me there.
That's nourishing it,
Feeding it.
So it can start where it's not really there,
But you know where to get it.
And you add to it and you,
You cause it to arise or it's already arisen and you add to it and it gets,
Those are the two.
Kind of ways that it really shows up.
So,
So much of what we do in meditation is.
.
.
About developing serenity.
Contentment.
Both physical and mental.
And emotional.
When the mind is calm.
The experience of samadhi.
Where it's just peaceful.
That type of contentment.
When we're in those places,
There isn't the opportunity for fault finding.
For getting involved in those issues that cause.
These sensations to show up or to grow.
And so.
The meditation practice is about developing those sensations.
And if we sit regularly and we work on that,
And we get used to how that feels,
And we know how to arrive there generally,
Our mind is more often in those places.
It's used to it.
It knows how to get there.
It knows what it feels like.
And so when the other stuff shows up.
You can turn towards the contentment,
Those.
.
.
More peaceful sensations.
If we don't have,
If we're not skilled in that yet.
Or we're beginning.
What happens when any of the hindrances.
And we all have some of them.
Some of us have more of one and less of another.
But when they show up,
They get to a certain level or they're at a certain level.
And if the opposite isn't yet at that level,
The hindrance kind of overwhelms it.
We don't yet have the skill or the strength for the opposite one to get to raise us up and to get kind of balance the situation and then take us away from the hindrance.
But when we have the strength.
Of practice.
It's not that the hindrance never arrive,
But they don't overwhelm us.
Because they don't have the strength,
The balance.
This is not about having an even level of contentment and resentment or anger or any of the other instances.
It's about having more contentment and having that be stronger.
So even when those things show up,
We can notice them.
If there's something to deal with,
We can deal with them skillfully,
But they don't overtake us.
That's really.
A big part of what practice is about,
It's that equanimity aspect,
That we can notice the unpleasant,
The difficult,
But that we have this equal strength to stay put.
We don't get moved so easily by things that are unpleasant.
This is not something that comes quickly.
This is,
You know,
Like anything,
This takes practice.
But what I find so important about study.
Is that if we don't understand necessarily how it works.
.
.
We won't know when we're.
In the right track or the wrong track.
We might not know what to turn to when something shows up.
But when we're given these tools,
The next time they show up,
We can certainly try them and find out,
Oh,
If I go towards that,
And then it lessens this,
What happens is confidence.
Not because you read it,
Not because you heard it,
But because you tried it and it worked.
Direct experience.
The Buddha talked about all the time.
Hey,
He possible.
Come and see.
Yeah,
Hear what I have to say.
But don't take my word for it.
Try it.
Find out for yourself if this is valid when you do it.
Because,
You know,
He could speak all day long and if it didn't work for you,
It actually doesn't matter what he had to say.
What matters is when you try it,
What's the result?
With yourself.
You know,
One of the things about this particular hindrance,
It really connects with doubt.
Really strong.
Who are worried about something.
We're doubting that the outcome is going to be the way we want it.
If we have confidence that this is gonna happen as we wish,
And we don't worry about it,
Like,
Yeah,
That's gonna happen,
That'll be fine,
Then you don't have worry,
Right?
But we worry often,
Not always,
But often because we doubt.
So when we have confidence in the practice,
Doubt is weaker,
Generally weaker,
Because we have direct experience knowing that when this happens,
I know what to do.
I know how to handle myself when things are difficult.
When I can't find my glasses.
Because things are going to go,
They're going to be difficult.
That's just our experience.
There's really no way around that.
That's samsara.
That's life as a sentient being.
We can either.
.
.
Let that wear us down.
Or we can realize that this is the opportunity to meet it how it is.
That right now it's like this.
And sometimes like this is really pleasant.
And enjoyable and fun.
And other times it sucks,
Right?
Other times it's really unpleasant.
And we wish it were different.
But if we understand the teachings,
And this is that confidence.
That there's impermanence.
That this shit won't last forever.
Whatever that happens to be,
Whether it's a cold,
Or a lousy meal,
Or traffic,
Or a pain,
Anything.
All right?
If we think,
Ah,
This traffic is terrible,
And then we get this,
It's called the pancha,
Where,
Okay,
I'm in traffic,
And now I'm gonna be late,
I'm gonna run out of gas,
And then we go through all the things on our head.
And before we know it,
We're just overwhelmed,
And it was just a red light.
That was it.
You know,
And in two minutes we're moving and everything's fine.
But we just lost it in our minds because we didn't see things as they were.
We took it days,
Weeks,
Months out when we were just right here.
And that takes us right back.
This is so many things that we do in our meditation.
The purpose and the practice of meditation is to be in the present moment,
Unless we're doing another practice like we did tonight,
Where we were specifically looking at something that wasn't in the present moment and bringing it into our practice and working with it.
Most practices paying attention to what's happening right now.
Is it the breath?
Is it the body?
Is it sound?
It's coming in one of the sense gates.
And we're just noticing it.
And we're not getting attached to it.
We're not trying to change it.
We're just being,
It's like this now.
And then it's like that.
And then it's something else.
And then it's back to the first one.
And it's just changing,
Just like the traffic or anything else.
When we learn these things,
We sit with them and we get to see them for ourselves.
We get to experience them for ourselves.
That brings the confidence that strengthens you to to deal with any of the hindrances that show up.
Because if you have confidence in what you know of practice.
That if I meet it this way,
My mind is calm.
If it gets upset,
I can bring it back.
I can relax it.
I can grab myself in whatever way is comfortable.
But through the truth that I've learned on the cushion and through the teachings,
That we'll be fine.
We'll be fine.
I think being one of the most important lessons I've learned,
And I talked about it probably a couple weeks ago,
About going to this.
.
.
Detox Center I used to take a meditation group to,
And it was a locked facility,
And I used to get really riled up.
I would go in there and they didn't know why.
And it took me a lot of investigation,
Months of investigation to figure out what was causing me to feel so unpleasant.
There we go in there.
And I used the breath practice to ground me and it worked,
But it still felt terrible every time I went there.
Until I got to the bottom of it.
And I understood why I felt that way.
And then through that investigation,
No longer.
Did it,
But it took work.
If I hadn't had the ability to ground myself,
I would have just left.
I would have never went again.
And I would never have gotten to the bottom of what was causing me that reaction,
That response to being in that situation.
When I would get there and start to feel that and turn towards the breath and take a minute or two of just slow,
Relaxed,
Focused awareness of my breath,
It would fade away.
It would go from high anxiety to just OK,
In a minute or two.
There was a stark difference that I could notice.
So no one was doing anything for me.
It was my own turning towards the practice and direct experience of,
It's working.
There's no doubt.
If it didn't work,
I would have just left.
It would buzz me out.
I'm going home.
And I would not have stayed.
And that's one of many experiences I've had where I saw the practice work for me.
Not because I listened to anybody,
Not because someone told me to do it.
I did it.
And I had the results.
I think the last thing I want to mention is earlier I talked about how the Buddha described nourishing the hindrances.
And that's what will take us into a,
It could bring us into a negative spiral if we feed them.
We can also do the opposite.
We can starve the entrances.
And that's by putting effort into the parts of the practice that strengthen us.
If we're not practicing enough.
Our practice won't be strong enough.
If we practice regularly,
And we're experiencing the benefits of practice.
Our confidence is high.
If it's just something we do,
Yeah,
You know,
It's not that important.
I don't put that much effort in,
You know,
When I get around to it.
You're allowed to do that.
You can do anything you want.
But the truth is,
If we want the benefits,
We need to put in the effort.
We need to put in the effort.
And when we put in the effort,
We start developing the awakening factors.
Which begins with mindfulness.
And the mindfulness piece is the strongest part in the beginning for dealing with the hindrances,
Because if you're mindful,
You notice they've shown up.
If you don't know that they've shown up,
You could be caught in a spiral of them.
Like doom scrolling is a perfect example.
We don't pick up the phone with the intention to doom scroll.
If we're not mindful,
You could be an hour in and just,
You know,
And really be,
You know,
Depending what is coming up in your feed,
Really be spun out.
Negativity or whatever it is,
Right?
You could order a new blender.
All kinds of things could happen.
But if you're mindful,
You know,
After the fourth or fifth one.
You're like,
Wait a minute,
What am I doing?
Because you're paying attention,
Right?
That mindfulness,
Where does that come from?
You developed it on the cushion.
We'll get to the awakening factors.
After the hindrances,
So I'm not going to go deeper into them,
But learning to not feed them.
And he says,
And I'll end with this,
De-nourishing is the term that.
Was used here.
There's a quietude of mind.
Frequently giving wise attention to it.
That is the de-nourishing of the arising of restlessness and remorse that have not yet arisen.
And the increase and strengthening of restlessness and remorse that have already arisen.
So when we denourish it.
The mind is,
We de-nourish it by the quietude of mind.
And if we have that quietness,
Quietude of mind,
That's not a word I use that often.
We have strength in relation to stuff that has arisen.
We have that peace of mind.
Just a little bit strips in there.
