Good morning,
Guys.
Good afternoon,
Good evening.
I'm going to read a little something.
Again,
It's from Charlotte Joko Beck,
Who's been a big influence on my own practice.
The heart of Joko's teaching,
And indeed the Zen approach,
Is that life is the teacher.
She taught that the universe is constantly sending us custom-designed lessons,
Perfectly tailored to reveal our own unconscious patterns and core beliefs.
We've talked about core beliefs before.
No,
I'm not good enough.
Life's hard.
He doesn't like me.
Whatever.
These lessons do not arrive in the form of a holy vision or a mystical whisper.
They arrive in the form of everyday experiences that we so often dismiss as annoyances or obstacles.
The person who cuts you off in traffic is your teacher,
Showing you the raw physical reality of your own anger.
The sink full of dirty dishes is your teacher,
Revealing your patterns of procrastination and resistance.
The difficult,
Repetitive argument with your spouse or your work colleague.
A living koan that points directly to your deepest fears and attachments.
The problem,
She explains,
Is that we fail to recognise these events as teachings.
We see them as problems to be solved or irritations to be endured.
We spend our energy blaming,
And this is the essence really.
We blame other people or we blame the situation.
And the universe is sending us messages,
Teachings.
This is why you're stuck.
And it's the same with that internal It might be upset.
It might be feeling lonely.
It's a problem,
Isn't it?
Well,
Let's get rid of this and I'll be all right.
That's the teacher.
That's it.
That's the work.
Just this.
But not to analyse it,
Not to go into the story.
Just to feel what's actually here.
That's how we allow it to follow its course,
Which is to pass through our experience.
Like the perfume,
The experience.
Because we are the space in which it arises.
I know that sounds odd,
But there you go.
But we don't realise our peacefulness,
Our spaciousness,
Our natural ease of being if we're battling with the world and ourselves.
We're battling with this feeling of frustration.
Feeling of sadness.
That idiot driver.
I hate doing the dishes.
Instead of turning our attention inward to examine the reaction that has been triggered within us.
And when you say examine,
All she's talking about is what's this?
That's just to turn the attention.
What's this?
Full stop.
What's going on?
Like a chest pounding or a tight jaw.
Just stay with that.
The physicality of it,
Not the story.
That for me,
And I still do it whenever I remember.
I still do that.
It was a relief because I thought I had to work through it all.
I had to work it all out.
You don't.
That's a distraction.
That's an avoidance from this perspective.
Let awareness do the heavy lifting.
You don't have to do it.
That's the mistake a lot of us make.
Just feel what's here.
So it's Wednesday.
We're going to turn towards our present moment experience.
What do we find?
Do we find a sadness?
Do we find some existential anxiety?
Do we find a heaviness?
Tightness?
Do we find a sense of ease?
And a restfulness from sleep?
Or having a good day?
Hello?
Just feel what's here.
Nothing can hurt us.
No sensation or feeling can hurt us.
So relax.
What does it feel like?
Feel the texture of whatever you're giving attention to.
Whatever arises.
Just relax into it.
Around it.
Where are you now?
Still here?
Breath by breath.
Relax into what's here.
Turn your attention to sounds if you wish.
It doesn't really matter.
Where's your attention?
Okay.
Have a little stretch.
Thank you guys.
Thank you.
Tomorrow.
Tomorrow.
Bye bye.
Bye.
Thank you.
