Awakening To Tranquility In The Here And Now

Tranquility isn’t the first thing I think of when I think of practicing law. The intensity of practice, the issue-spotting mind, perfectionism, living surrounded by conflict? The “Four Perils” of the law don’t seem like they make a lot of space for tranquility.

But think of that moment in the courtroom or conference room or classroom when you feel mindful when things are in flow; when you're absolutely focused on what's in front of you.

Think of the energy – the, “I’ve got this!” sensation.

Transcript

Hey everyone it's Judy Cohen and this is Wake Up Call 390. Let's keep exploring the seven factors of awakening which are mindfulness, Investigation, Energy, Joy, Tranquility, Concentration, And equanimity. And we've explored mindfulness, Investigation, Energy, And joy. So let's check out tranquility today. When I started looking at tranquility my first thought was I don't have much and then I felt this dismay because I thought that's as far as I'm going to get with these seven factors. You know I can't talk about something I haven't experienced and tranquility isn't something that I've experienced very much. And remember the differences between borrowed wisdom which is wisdom from reading or listening you know good wisdom but it's hard to share with someone else right. And then intellectual wisdom which is when we have borrowed wisdom and then we spend some time reflecting on it and come to an understanding which is great. You know that level of wisdom was was often what I was looking for when I was practicing law. I would read and research and take some time to reflect and really understand and then I could write or even sometimes teach from that level of wisdom. And then the third level which is embodied wisdom which is from direct experience. And so embodied wisdom is that that wisdom where I can say like I know that, I understand it, I've lived it. You know it could be the felt experience of mindful listening in a negotiation and really getting how powerful that is deep in the bones. You know if you've been on a long retreat or done some intensive practice in some other way could be the felt experience of say impermanence of actually sensing and seeing things arising and passing away right. So anyway I didn't feel like I had much to share about tranquility from my direct experience from an embodied wisdom perspective right. And then I remembered what I've been reminding all of us for several weeks and you know so much of mindfulness is remembering to remember right. And that is that the seven factors of awakening are already present. If we're practicing and maybe even if we're not and we're just starting out to practice but we can see we have the ability to see look for what's there we already have all seven. You know we might not feel like we do like I didn't feel like I had much tranquility. But if we start with mindfulness and begin to investigate and bring some energy and joy into the process then we can see that they're there right. I mean I think of them like beach glass you know we might not see it at first and then we sift through the sand maybe the sand of the mind and see mindfulness and see investigation and energy and joy and tranquility and concentration and equanimity and they're right there. You know they're shining they're humble like beach glass but they're so beautiful. So remember the tricycle magazine post I was talking about on the last wake-up call about the seven factors and it's defining each of the factors and and when it gets to tranquility it says tranquility comes from the confidence gained from the work put into earlier efforts. Tranquility comes from the confidence gained from the work put into earlier efforts. And I really love that you know so we remember to be mindful we remember to investigate to be energetic in our practice to lift up joy and then tranquility shows up comes tranquility comes from the confidence gained from the work put into earlier efforts. And all of that was borrowed wisdom for me and then last week tranquility arose as this direct embodied experience for me and I realized at that time I realized I'd seen it before. So last Friday I had a minor medical procedure and I was anxious about it beforehand but I didn't have a plan of how to be there in terms of my practice. I didn't even think to do that I just went to the procedure and I had a lot of worry you know would it hurt would everybody be kind would it take long would there be a reaction you know the usual worries. And of course restlessness and worry those are one in the same one is the body one is the mind and they're they're hindrances to practice. So when my body is restless or or my mind is worried it's it's hard to be mindful of anything other than the worry or you know the story I'm telling myself the topic of the worry you know it's hard to bring investigation into the mix and I I notice I don't have as much energy for practice and joy might not be available. And I don't know about you but you know I've had plenty of worry when I was practicing law you know I would discover some information or there was something I'd missed or someone on my team had missed and and worry would emerge and kind of like a whoosh you know and I could feel it almost solid kind of intense interruptive captivating and from worry a story might emerge like we're gonna lose my client will freak out I'm letting everybody down I should have done better you know what I mean if you've ever heard those voices and my body would also get into the act and then instead of reading slowly and carefully I'd speed read and I'd be restlessly scanning for whatever I needed or I'd make my way to the kitchen for chocolate you know anything to to ease my worried mind as Eric Clapton sings so beautifully. And by the way did you know that that song Layla was inspired by a this 12th century Persian poem about an ancient Arabic legend so the poem is the 12th century the legend is much earlier called Layla and Majnun where a young man falls in love with his cousin but isn't allowed to marry her and goes mad. And for me worry is is just like that I feel mad I feel overcome unable to concentrate you know I get afraid of some doomsday scenario future and I can't be present and I can't be courageous and graceful and I can't let go of wishing things were other than they are. In those in those lawyering moments right sometimes I would have to lasso my mind back down to the present moment but sometimes and this is where I'm coming back to tranquility mindfulness would arise and it would remind me to take a breath the practice would be right there and it would remind me to take a breath and then investigation would arise and energy and joy and I would experience one of those beautifully tranquil moments in a conference room in a courtroom in a classroom and so fast forward to the procedure which is what helped me to remember all of that everybody was kind so there was one condition that I'm sure helped and then when it began I realized mindfulness was right there my attention it just naturally went to the breath and it pretty much stayed there and when it wandered off the wandering was brief and then it returned and there was an ease to it like being in a longer practice period or even on a retreat and there were no there were no instructions needed you know and just noticing that I felt a lot of gratitude for what we do here together you know what we each do on our own the practice and then it was so interesting because investigation began to happen investigation of the breath short breath long breath easeful breath hitched breath and there was plenty of energy maybe because of all of that there was plenty of joy too and it wasn't fun and I remember plenty of not fun moments practicing law but the joy wasn't about fun it was about this amazing practice we have and the way that it really does make it possible at least for me to just be with whatever life tosses our way you know whatever twists and turns whatever clients whatever procedures and then there was tranquility there it was you know the body just relaxed the mind relaxed just like being in the flow of a depo or a direct or a cross or a negotiation you know when you can feel at your core you're you're just in that flow right and actually there was so much tranquility that at one point the the doc said all good there you're not saying much you know and I had a moment of like irritation flash because I was like hey you're interrupting my practice right he was doing something I was doing something so the embodied sense of tranquility and maybe that's always what true tranquility is that embodied sense and we know it because we see it arise and we feel it we feel it in our bones yeah that's what I want to say about tranquility okay so let's sit so finding your your posture whatever is most supportive for you today in this moment settling in sensing the body sitting in the chair or standing or lying down or walking whatever posture you're in hopefully some stillness for you just for a few moments and really beginning to attend to the present moment mindfulness of the breath or of the sound in your environment attending as the breath arises and passes away flows in and out as the sound arises and passes away comes towards the ears and then recedes and really beginning to investigate that object that you've chosen the breath or sound without any stories just listening or just sensing and if the mind is wobbly or wandering just take a moment to remember that you are here you decided to be here just for these few few minutes and so bring some energy to it really like that energy of yeah this is what I'm doing just for the next what five minutes and the joy of that too right like the ability to choose to take this time to practice the practice itself that supports hopefully is supporting you in practicing the community that's here practicing together so sweet to be here together and is there a sense of settling of ease of tranquility not because of anything you've heard or because it should be there or because you want it to be there if you do but just is it showing up relaxation ease tranquility maybe tranquility and joy go hand in hand the joy of a of a tranquil moment and the the ease of just feeling that joy I don't know see what's true for you and just an invitation to you the practice after the bell continue with mindfulness continue with investigation and energy and joy and keep looking for those moments of tranquility throughout your day thanks everyone for being on the wake-up call today take good care have a have a safe thursday if you're in the bay area enjoy the sunshine anywhere you are enjoy enjoy whatever you have talk to you soon see you next week