Commitment, Balance and Intention

Short talk about the 3 types of effort - commitment, balance and intention - we need to make in meditation and creative practice.

Transcript

Hello and welcome to the Art of Mindfulness podcasts. And today I wanted to talk to you a little bit about the idea of effort, Which is something I've been thinking about quite a lot the last few days, Simply because I've had a really awful cold and my head's been really fuzzy and my concentration's been really poor. And I've been having to make quite a strong effort in my mindfulness practice, In my meditation every day, Just to stay with myself in the room. It's been really, Really hard. And it's led me to think about this idea of effort, And especially as it applies to mindfulness and to creativity, Because I think there's sort of illusion that actually we don't have to put any effort in when we practice. It's almost as if we think that we're going to sit down on some meditation cushion somewhere, And then without any effort, Our minds are just going to naturally clear and we're going to become very calm and peaceful, That sort of idealized image of the meditator. And it's going to be quite easy. And anyone who's ever done any meditation knows it's exactly the opposite of that. So it's sort of self-evident that we do have to make some kind of mental effort in order to meditate, In order to practice creative mindfulness. And the question, I guess, Is then, Well, How much and in what way do we apply effort in a way that's mindful? And I suppose the key here then is just to think about what the processes are around practicing mindfulness and around practicing creative mindfulness. And I suppose the first kind of effort we encounter is the effort we have to make to actually start a tool. It's effort as commitment, Really. So we're not going to just magically find 20 minutes in our day to meditate. We're going to have to make it. That might mean that we need to make the effort to get up a bit earlier, Or it might mean that we have to find a nice DVD for our children and say, Look, Dear, As we sit down in front of this for 20 minutes whilst they go do my meditation. Or it might be that we need to just organize our working life a little bit so that we have time in the middle of the day to do a three minute breathing space, For example. So there's a certain effort that needs to happen before we even start meditating. And it's the same with creativity. We have to make that effort to get ourselves sitting down at our easel or with our notepad and pen and for it to actually happen at all. So that's the first kind of effort. And even that in itself can be quite a big deal. And then once we've actually got ourselves sitting down for some meditation or we've got our sketchbook in front of us, Then there's other kinds of effort that come into play. And I suppose here what we're thinking about now is balanced effort. So the second type of effort is about the kind of effort that we're applying to the process. And I suppose that can kind of come in two ends of the spectrum. So at one end of the spectrum, We've got the kind of effort that's really tense. It's like we've got our brows furrowed, Our jaws are tense, Our teeth are gritted. We're trying really, Really hard to concentrate or trying really, Really hard to stay with our breath. We're putting in a lot of effort. And the truth is that that kind of effort is very tense. It's very effortful and actually it's counterproductive. And I think we've all done it. We've all been there and felt like our mind was all over the place and done this real like, Right, I'm going to concentrate really, Really, Really hard now. I'm going to do it. And what's the result been? Certainly my sort of experience of that is that I manage for about one breath and then my mind's all tense and then it kind of goes, Oh, I can't be bothered with this. And it kind of drifts off again. And that sort of very tense effort is one that we want to kind of avoid. On the other end of the spectrum is the kind of effort that's so slack that it can't really hold anything. It's that minimal amount of effort that kind of really leads us to just being very drifty and not staying with the practice. You could equate that to drawing, But holding the pen so lightly that actually can't really even make any marks on the page properly. So we've got these two ends of the spectrum, Haven't we? We've got this effort that's really tense and we've got the other end of the spectrum, Too little effort. So it's completely slack and we can't stay with the practice. And of course, What we want is to find a place on that spectrum where we can stay with the practice in an alert way so that we're awake and aware. But without making it so tense that we're creating tension in our mind and our body. At the same time, We're not letting go so much that we no longer have any control over the practice at all. Now the only way that we can really find out what the right level of effort is, Is to bring some mindfulness, To bring some mindfulness to our practice around effort. So it might be that just when you're meditating next time, You just notice, Well, How much effort am I putting in here? Okay, So I'm with my breath and actually today my mind's fairly clear and I'm not having to put in that much effort in order to stay with the in and out of my breath. On another day, You might check in and you might notice that actually you're having to put a lot of effort in, Like I have recently with my cold, A lot of effort in because your mind's drifty or dull or tired and that you're having to put a bit more effort in. So our mindfulness can show how the amount of effort we need to put in can vary from day to day. And we can also play with that too. So we could experiment mindfully just to see, Well, If I put a little bit less effort in, What does that do? Oh, Okay, Actually suddenly things become a little bit calmer, A little bit less tense. I'm still with the practice, But actually that feels good. Or it might be that we find lessening the amount of effort we're putting in just spirals us into sort of a wandering mind that goes over all the things that we need to do later in the day. But we need a little bit more effort than that. So within our practice, We can actually mindfully explore how much effort we're putting in and how much we need to put in on any given day because it will vary obviously. So we've got that sort of application to balanced effort within meditation practice, But that also goes for our creative mindfulness, Our creative practice too. A really good example of this that I've been aware of recently is around mindful seeing when we're drawing or even when we're taking photographs too. Mindful seeing requires quite a bit of effort to really stay with something when we're drawing it, To really see it clearly, All the details, The lines, The textures, The shadows and everything that's around the thing we're drawing to requires effort. And what often happens when we're drawing is we don't quite put enough effort in with the seeing. And what that means is we sort of have a generalized drawing. We kind of half see what's there and then we make some marks. And then when we look at our drawing, We're a little bit surprised. Actually, It's not really looking that like the thing that we were drawing. Now, Obviously the purpose of creative mindfulness and mindful drawing is not to create perfect drawings and it might not even be to create recognizable likenesses. Nevertheless, The mindful seeing aspect of mindful drawing is really crucial because it's that that puts us in touch with the world around us. And when we're not putting enough effort in, Our drawings can get really sort of lax, You know, Really sloppy. They're not really bringing us into contact with the world around us. And likewise, We could put too much effort in. We could think, Oh, I've got to concentrate so hard with the seeing. I'm going to see every single little detail. That actually in doing that, We don't see the broader picture of what we're looking at. We see tiny, Minute little dots on the underside of a leaf, But then we fail to see the outline too. So again, Even within a creative practice, There are levels of effort. And when we still need to be just noticing, Where are we on that spectrum of balanced effort? Are we focusing and concentrating too hard so that it's all becoming tense or are we putting too little effort in and our drawings becoming a bit mechanical and not very present? So that's another really useful way to think about this aspect of effort. And again, We can play around with the amount of effort we're putting in with our drawing, With other activities too. For example, If we're mindful writing and we're tuning into our senses and what we can experience of the world around us and we're writing that down, We can just notice, Well, Am I drifting off when I'm listening to sounds or am I staying present? How much effort do I need to put in when I'm writing on the page? How much effort do I need to put into holding the pencil? How much effort do I need to put into really staying with my chain of thought or am I going to let it go? And there, That comes with another interesting aspect of effort in creative practice, That sort of spectrum between going with the creative impulse and just seeing where it takes us or are we going to begin to have a sense of where we want that creative process to end? Maybe we think, Actually, Yeah, I want to do this series of photographic portraits of shells on the beach. And even though now I'm getting really excited about stones, I'm going to stay with the shells idea for now. That's the sort of effort that we might be applying to sort of direct the creative process while still allowing it to unfold. So another aspect of effort that I've been thinking about, I guess, Is around intention. It's the third area that I sort of think efforts were thinking about. Recently, I read a short extract from a letter by a Tibetan Buddhist Lama who died in the late 20th century. He was called Lama Yeshe. And I'm going to read you a little bit of an extract from a letter that he wrote when he was really quite ill, Way worse than my pathetic little cold this week, That he wrote when he was really unwell and in hospital. And bearing in mind, This was a man who had extraordinary powers of mindfulness, But in this instance, Found that it was really very difficult. So this is what he wrote. Never have I known the experiences and sufferings which attended my stay in intensive care. Due to powerful medicines, Unending injections and oxygen tubes just to breathe, My mind was overcome with pain and confusion. As my ability to recite prayers and meditations degenerated, After many days I considered what to do. I did stabilizing meditation with strong mindfulness through great effort. And this was of much benefit. Gradually again, I have developed immeasurable joy and happiness in my mind. The strength of my mind has increased and my problems lessened and ceased. And I found that really inspiring when I read that because of what he said about meditating with strong mindfulness through great effort. And for me, That was important because I think it brings again to mind this idea that we have some power over our minds and the situations in our lives. So even if things are really difficult for us, Even if our minds are all over the place, We can have an intention to make that effort. We can have that intention for strong mindfulness. And so that last area of effort is about intention. It's about really making a strong commitment to practice and having that strong intention to have strong mindfulness. So we can really have, Even before we sit down on the cushion to meditate, Even before we pick up our pen to draw, That intention that we are going to apply ourselves. And then after that, We can see how much effort is needed on that any particular day. But overall, This sort of aspect of effort has the possibility for us through being balanced and skillful in how we apply it to really transform our experience of meditation and allow us to integrate it even more into our practice every day of our lives.

Reviews

Great information, thank you!

I was recently thinking about how I wished they had a meditation series that Incorporated art, particularly drawing!!... When I saw your series, I was just so excited about it. I will be sure to listen to the other offerings you have! Thank you so much for your help! I try to meditate as I work, using the Binaural beats, just experimenting, but I have not seen any specific meditations such as yours, concerning art! Rambling...lol... thanks again!!

As ever, your insights are invaluable. Thank you, Wendy.

I could really relate to this. Very informative talk with some good tips. Thank you. 🙏

Powerful, tactical reminders on the synergy of effort and ease