Tomorrow will mark one year of writing this blog. One year along my journey. I have enjoyed writing about it, and hope you have enjoyed reading it. At the beginning of this blog, I set my self a target: to try living by the precepts that Buddhists live by to see if it “suited me”. And the very simple answer is a resounding yes.
I have tried to test something that the Buddha said:
“Do not believe something just because I say it is. First, test it against your own beliefs, and if it concurs, follow it.”
I have tested some of the Buddhist beliefs and found that some of them work. Take stress for example. Is stress in the mind, or is it “out there”? I think it’s fair to say that it is mainly in the mind, but that we also need some stress to work. If we didn’t have stress in out muscles, we would collapse to the floor in a heap. If we didn’t have the stress of work, we wouldn’t be motivated to move on. However, it is a bad idea to add to this ‘usefull’ stress. My wife recently turned to me saying “I won’t be able to enjoy this holiday without thinking about the washing we have to come back to”. I was so bewildered by this statement, I couldn’t answer. We were off to see my parents, and my wife was worrying about the dirty washing over a 1000 miles away! Although this isn’t the worst thing to stress about, it was one of the oddest. Why worry about something that can easily be done when we returned? To me, this mindset was baffling. Some people regularly worry about valid things, such as making ends meet, paying off credit and bringing up our children well, and that is all very well, but making it seem more urgent than it is, or just worrying too much is never a good idea. This is when the Buddhist philosophy of mindfulness comes in. Mindfulness allows us to take an objective, non judgemental look at our mind and look at what we are stressing over. Take for example the dirty washing at home. Is stressing about it going to get it done any quicker when we get home? Probably not. Will it ruin our holiday because we are continuously thinking about something we can’t control? Definitely. So why stress? Acknowledge that the washing is there, mentally kick yourself because you forgot it, accept that worrying about it over the next couple of days is useless, mentally write it on your ‘to-do’ list and forget about it. Stressing over it will just make you more tired when you get back from holiday than when you left.
Moreover, I have found that meditation is a great stress reliever. Sitting for just 10-20 minutes a day helps you to slow everything down. What’s great is that you don’t even have to sit in a quiet room with incense burning, soft music playing and an alter in front of you to do it (although, it is preferable). It can be done whilst walking, siting, standing and even going to the loo (just don’t get distracted, or you’ll have people knocking on the door asking if you’re ok). I like to do it when I’m walking, it helps me clear my mind and the walk goes quicker, which is handy when the beat is quiet.
After a whole year living the life of a Buddhist, I can’t see how I would revert back to my ‘ordinary’ lifestyle before hand, so in a way, the one year trial was almost self defeating, as it was next to inevitable that I take it further. I have therefore decided that this blog will now serve as a journal to document my efforts to complete my journey to enlightenment. I will take refuge (a sort of Buddhist confirmation) and follow the precepts to the letter. And I hope you enjoy reading about the ups and downs.
“… my efforts to complete my journey to enlightenment. I will take refuge … and follow the precepts to the letter.”
Abandon Attachment.