It's not that hard, and a particularily useful thing to do. This little meditation technique can relieve you of stress.

The trick is to seperate yourself from your mind and become aware of your Being in the here and now. Start by getting into a comfortable position (crosslegged if you wish) and become aware of your breathing. Breathe deeply and slowly. Now, take an inventory of your senses. Start with touch; notice the strange feel of clothing covering your body, notice the texture of the fabric, and the way it lays on your skin. Notice the currents of air as they move about you. Now, listen. Notice the slight background sounds; like air coming from air-vents, the 60Hz hum of electrical devices, faraway conversation, or the wind in the trees outside. Finally, look closely at your surroundings. Examine the interplay of light and shadow, the organic and geometric forms of the things that surround you.

The idea here is to become intensely aware of your environment. Fear and regret come from the mind. Your fears exist in an unknown future, while your regrets exist in the past. However, you exist only in the Now. If you can truly become aware of this, your stress will vanish, and your mind will become clear.

A thousand thoughts clamouring in your head, a thousand things that ought to be done. Unable to focus on anything you just sit there and watch TV or surf around on E2. You get up and go to the kitchen, but when you arrive, you realise that you are not hungry. When you try to get something done you can't concentrate because you're constantly thinking of all the other things you should do as well. Then you catch an interesting headline on a newspaper lying around and you waste another twenty minutes reading. You're supposed to make decisions but you can't focus on the arguments. It's getting dark outside and you realise that you have wasted another day.


Sounds familiar?

So sit down in the circle and listen to the wise words of the Zarjonnen-guru:

Imagine a funnel in which there are several colored blocks of different shapes. On its own, each of the blocks fits perfectly well through the funnel. Unfortunately, the blocks keep each other from passing through. The solution to this is, obviously, to take the blocks and drop them into the funnel one after the other.

The funnel is your mind and the blocks are your thoughts. It often happens that you are trying to think of many things at once, resulting in your being unable to think clearly.

So what you have got to do is clear the funnel of the blocks.

Go outside, take a little walk alone. Look at the world and listen to it. Clear your mind of all thought, and only observe. It helps if you think the sounds you hear, your mind should sing along with the world. When a car goes by, think that whooshing sound. Do that for several minutes, until all thought is gone and you have become a pure observer.

Then let a single thought drop into your mind. Don't force yourself to think. Just watch your thoughts happen. Think it through, make a decision, then drop in the next one.

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