Take a nice couple of deep breaths please.
Pay attention to your body.
Feet on the floor,
Backside in the chair.
Connect to the earth through your body.
It is a part of the earth after all.
Extension of the earth.
And as you take another couple of nice deep breaths,
Come to me today on a journey to letting go of the chainsaw of the mind.
What do we mean by chainsaw in this context?
Perhaps what we mean is the insistent,
Consistent push,
Push,
Push where we're thinking,
Thinking,
Thinking driven by our will.
Driven by hidden assumptions.
But the way we're supposed to be in the world,
The way we're supposed to do things.
And someone has likened this to having a chainsaw or always having a chainsaw.
Of course in truth if you've lived in the countryside you occasionally need a chainsaw.
Not always.
So just imagine now that you're holding a chainsaw and you haven't already started and you're pulling the cord and it's revving up.
Makes a lot of noise,
A lot of vibration,
It takes a lot of attention.
And you're weaving this chainsaw in front of you in the air,
Not for any particular reason except that's what you're used to doing.
There isn't a log to cut.
Nothing in your way.
There's no firewood needed.
But damn it,
You got your chainsaw and that's what you're used to.
And your grip on it is a death grip.
And of course the problem is that with the death grip on the chainsaw,
You're trying to make everything a log.
Right?
If you only have a hammer everything looks like a nail.
You've heard that expression I'm sure.
If you only have a chainsaw everything looks like a log.
What if you didn't have to have a death grip on your chainsaw?
What if you just right now in your mind's eye took the chainsaw,
Turned it off,
Put it gently on the ground?
In other words,
You just let go of the incessant need to be thinking off all the time.
If you just don't have a chainsaw until you need one,
If you ever need one.
What if you were standing on the edge of the forest,
The chainsaw is off and on the ground,
And perhaps for the first time you hear the forest?
Moments of quiet,
Birds,
Small animals shuffling,
The wind in the trees.
Perhaps sounds you've never heard before where you were so busy weaving your chainsaw.
And this may be a good analogy for how we live our lives with our minds and our thoughts and our will pushing from behind the death grip on the chainsaw.
And of course if you have a chainsaw you think you're a chainsaw guy or gal.
A lumberjack or whatever.
So you not only have a chainsaw you don't need except rarely,
But you define yourself as the one who's busy swinging that chainsaw.
Imagine instead as a complete alternative,
The quiet of standing or sitting on the edge of the forest,
The wind on your face.
You don't need the tension of your muscles in your chest to hold the chainsaw.
You don't need to be looking out for injury or sharp edges.
You just need to be relaxed with your arms at your side or on your lap.
Breathing.
What if life was meant to be breathed rather than a chainsaw?
Life was meant to be absorbed and felt,
Dare I say enjoyed.
Just soak in to the quiet of the edge of the forest for a moment now.
If you do that enough you might find that you're forgetting about the chainsaw.
Don't worry it's right there,
It's right by your foot.
If you desperately urgently need it you can pick it up again.
Perhaps the longer you're just sitting at the edge of the forest,
The more you realize you don't need your chainsaw hardly ever.
Maybe the memory of it begins to fade or maybe even the chainsaw begins to fade,
Melts into the forest floor.
And you're just there,
Whole and complete.
Oxygen,
Carbon dioxide,
One with the forest and the air,
The birds and the animals.
In a way,
Chainsaw less.
Naked in a way,
Vulnerable,
Open,
Present.
The opposite of chainsawing may be,
To simply be quietly present.
And perhaps there's something eternal or not.
Take a moment.
Just enjoy your quiet presence.
And what if this were your birthright rather than the chainsaw and the death grip?
What if this was your right and your privilege and your responsibility,
Not the chainsaw?
Well,
We can think through anything anytime we want,
When we need to.
But when we surrender into the quiet of the forest and our own being,
So to speak,
We've come a long way from the chainsaw.
A long way.
From the noise and the disruption and the angst and the pressure and the tension to the quiet and the release.
And the quiet enjoyment.
Imagine living your life without the chainsaw.
No,
Quiet.
And when you're ready,
Give thanks,
Go back into the room,
And have a wonderful day.
