Wandering Mind As Addiction

It’s not a failure of will when the mind wanders. The effort that is required to break these mental patterns (this addiction to distraction) is not a contracted effort, rather it comes from connecting with the pleasure that is already present. We do this by connecting with the body in stillness, recognizing when the mind is not dispersed, and noticing just what is happening in this very moment, whether it’s pleasant, unpleasant, busy, calm, full, or empty.

Transcript

Settling once again into a comfortable clear seat Connecting with the body in its shape or posture Sitting standing walking or lying down For the formal meditation practice connecting with the body and stillness In a posture that's comfortable easy to maintain and easy to maintain in the field of alertness brightness of mind heart Connecting with body or breath in its shape or posture Connecting with body or breath as your primary anchor for attention Or whatever primary anchor you use to stabilize The instinct toward fluctuation Distraction wandering distraction Meditation itself is often talked about as a training to bring us out of a kind of addictive pattern in the heart mind We may have a very clear intention sincere even strongly held wish to steady the body the breath the mind to stay with the breath or the body or the field of awareness and to stay with the body or the body or the field of awareness We never become distracted on purpose the mind we say wanders as if it's a being a pet a thing itself leaving us somehow The truth is more like an addict turning toward the object that promises temporary cessation of longing or pain wanting Despite their best intentions not to succumb to that habit What is this process?

Sitting in meditation connecting with the breath or body How does it feel to bring a kind of fierce kind patient will to the task of staying present It's not a failure of the will when the mind wanders but it is a failure of the will of the quality of our effort the steadiness of our effort In order to maintain over time effort must be taught in a way but soft using no more of the using no more effort than needed it can't be tense or contracted or else it tires quickly For some of us the mind wanders a lot in the beginning of the sitting and then slowly settles down becoming easier to stay focused stable For others the mind concentrates quickly but then concentration weakens as the sitting goes on as the energy needed to maintain focus drains away attention becomes bored or disconnected Understand what kind of heart mind is yours And then we'll practice really recognizing when the mind is not dispersed when attention is with the breath with the body with an arising wave of feeling without spinning into story or explanation but just this in this very moment is what's happening pleasant unpleasant busy calm full empty inhaling exhaling we could make a variation of a classical metaphor for mindfulness metaphor for mindfulness using the image of the addict imagine what it might be like to be deeply addicted to in the thrall of a substance like alcohol and then to have to walk slowly through let's say a party with everyone drinking offering drinks pouring drinks celebrating drink what kind of concentration would be needed to make it from one end of the room to the other without losing your focus your vow you could replace the alcohol in that example with any substance including the pinging of our phones but the substance can also be fantasy the idea of the future the fear of the future longing for the future regret for the past nostalgia for the past judgment of past or present or future all of these are a kind of intoxicating substance mind wanders into the fantasy of a better future gets a little hit of the possible pleasure of that wants to go back for more I drag it back into the present so as we sit you might play with maintaining continuity of the object of awareness with a little extra brightness of will without tensing the shoulders without contracting through the belly or any part of the body with leaving the face off doesn't take contraction to resist the pole it takes connecting with the pleasure that's already here and the depth of the vow not to fall off the path play with bringing this energy to the process of studying the mind and meditation stay with your anchor for long enough to begin to perceive the sweet maybe just subtly blossoming through the body mind pleasure of non distraction stillness of presence

Reviews

Thank you

Sincere thanks. This is 1 of my biggest struggles in life.

Some helpful new words and ideas for me, thank you.

Beautiful meditation and teaching to help deepen the meditation practice. Thank you

Pow 💥 very powerful, thank you! The metaphor for addiction is solid, as I am literally that sober person walking through the room of drinks. It takes great spiritual rooting to stay with the light inside. This will also deeply help me in all manifestations of my mental and emotional addictions. Thank you!

🙏❤️🎧 Enjoyed immensely. Thankyou