West Park Mindfulness

I’ve learned through my practice of meditation that joy and inner peace are usually wrapped up in the simplest things and we have a choice.

Sometimes we get caught up in the spirit of wanting to our detriment. We think that if we’d just hit the lottery, for example, we would find joy and peace. Having come from humble beginnings, I know money is a necessity but it’s not everything. I’ve seen great suffering in people with money in the form of pain, loneliness and self-loathing. I think we can get lost in wanting when we don’t know who we are or we know but don’t allow ourselves to be.

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, the renowned psychiatrist who dedicated her life to the study of death and dying believed that deep down, at our core, there are only two emotions that drive everything: love and fear. I tend to agree. I would also add that fear breeds when there is lack of loving. Where there is loving, there is happiness and peace. Where there is fear, there is lack and suffering.

I’ve been thinking a lot about these two scoundrel emotions that we often feel cheat us out of a quiet life. I’ve been wondering how we can make decisions that lead us to joy and peace. In other words, how can we choose love over suffering?

Let me share an anecdote to elucidate my thinking. I woke up this morning and my knee was hurting. I had been running hard on it for weeks. I immediately tensed up and felt worried. Running is an activity that makes me feel happy and anxiety-free. My mind raced. What would I do if my leg stopped working?

I decided to sit and ice it. I put my leg up and chose to embrace the moment as an opportunity to focus on my inner world and breathing. Within moments, I slipped into a casual meditation. I became aware of my thoughts and realized that my tension was fear of losing control of my physical body and simply, getting old. Running for years had made me happy and anxiety free because it makes me feel strong, carefree and my appearance pleasing. I was scared that if I stopped running I would lose all these things which would lead me to feeling weak, trapped and unlovable. Who will want to be with me when I’m old and useless?

Now, I understood the pain in my knee to be insight. It was showing me my self and my self was showing me the condition of the human being. After all, we live in a society that values youthfulness, beauty and utility. We are all susceptible to this thinking. So what to do with this? What does one do when it’s time to stop running?

As I allowed these insights to sit with me, I began to appreciate how vulnerable I am and how vulnerable we all are. I appreciated how important it is to feel loved and useful. We are all growing old and dying is part of the human experience. Everyone loses vitality until we perish. So, what to do? What to do with this knowledge?

Then, I thought about love. The antithesis to fear. I thought about how powerful and precious love really is. What does it look like and feel like to shower love upon yourself at a vulnerable moment? What type of relationship characterizes your love experience? What simple pleasure can we offer ourselves, even in adverse conditions? And, how can we find the courage to be with the lover who makes us feel valued and delicious?

After the meditation, I got up from the couch and walked to my office, slowly and gentle on my knee. I knew I couldn’t run but I could sit and write with ease. It was the most loving thing I could think about doing for myself and for you my dear reader. To share this news. We are indeed getting older with each passing day and sometimes your years on your body will be hurting… but you can be mindful of that simple pleasure, like what writing means to me. You can choose to wrap your arms around your lover, whoever they may be or you can love yourself, in the best way you know how. Simply, choose. Choose the next loving thing and decide only upon those things that will bring you closer to love.