Episode #61

[rva_jeremy]

It reminds me of something I heard to help in mindfulness meditation. When we find ourselves carried away by our thoughts instead of simply witnessing them, as mindfulness calls for, a very simple way to guide ourselves back is to ask the question, "Avoiding?"

Not necessarily to explore the answer to the question, the single-word question is a gentle guidance that really helps to soothe the self and allow our awareness to remain centered in the state of mindfulness. It's not a command, it's not forceful, it more serves as a gentle suggestion.

That's an intriguing way to handle the wandering mind.  Chödrön talks about the technique she uses of labelling.  Anytime you catch your mind wandering, you just say "thinking" and come back to stillness.  I'm wondering if there's any difference between a question that suggests and a label that judges.  While the former seems a bit gentler, it also seems to imply the need for a response.  The latter strikes me as a bit more emphatic, but she also talks about how one of her students says "thinking, good buddy" in order to soften the discipline and practice that unconditional friendliness towards the self.

I'll try the "avoiding?" method tomorrow.