Opening the door of your heart

A few days ago I had to see my doctor for vertigo. Vertigo is a condition that results from an ear imbalance. When it comes, you feel as if the world is doing a topsy turvey. So everything is spinning and you feel nauseated. I usually get it on my right side. So when I turn my head to the right I feel the spinning and the nausea. But when I keep my head turned to the left, I feel normal again.

 

When I met the doctor, she induced it, which was very uncomfortable. But she said that our discomfort and any associated feelings of confusion, fear comes from the fact that the brain is trying the figure out what is going on it. It has lost its footing and desperately looking a way to establish normalcy. She said the best thing to do is keep the head turned to the side which creates spinning and keep the eyes open. This is pretty hard because not only you feel the spinning, you also feel as if you are about to throw up. But she said that keeping the head to the direction of the spinning while feeling nauseated is the best way to allow the brain to figure out that this isn't a danger situation. This way you would allow the brain the stabilize itself on it's own.

 

I came home all drugged up. While I was dozing I realised something very important. Ajhan Brahm always talks about 'opening the door of your heart'. He says this to almost all things we experience good or bad. Irrespective his advice is to keep the door of your heart open to whatever that you are experiencing. I realised that this was similar to my doctor's advice on keeping the eyes opened and head turned to the spinning and nausea. Just like the brain needs to see and experience the discomfort to stabilize itself, the heart needs to experience all that is happening to find it's balance.

 

Isn't that incredible? While I have had this notion for sometime, it never hit me home like when I realised the similarity of 'opening the heart' to 'opening the brain'.

 

So what happens when the heart opens up? We usually have our hearts totally opened to the things we like, enjoy or are easily to handle emotionally and physically. These are things we like. Other times we have our hearts closed to things we don't like, unpleasant, difficult to handle emotionally and physically. These are things we don't like. Then there are times when we have our hearts partially opened...well we like it sometimes and other times we don't like. So it closes and then opens only to close again when things turn difficult. Whichever the way it is our hearts are like a revolving door which opens and closes. But as a result it is completely driven by what it experiences. So the heart really doesn't have a chance to settle down to find a peace long enough. Because it's constantly opening and closing. The experiences in our lives are always fleeing. When we begin to think all is working well, something goes wrong. On the other hand when we start thinking nothing could be worse, the light start to shine through. So whichever the way, it's fleeting so that the heart does not have times to settle.

 

But when we have the strength to keep the door of our heart open to what we like as well as what we don't like, it has times to settle. It does not start spinning for everything that it experiences. This is a state of clam, peace and joy.

 

But to keep the heart opened takes effort and great strength. Just like it takes effort and fearlessness to turn the head towards spinning. It's even more challenging when it comes to matters of the heart for you would start feeling a sense of being out of control...or worse being in control of others emotions. But as we slowly take that fear in by looking at it, by slowly start taking the discomfort in, there comes a moment when we start feeling less fear, less stress and if you see that you would stay longer. Then eventually, you come to peace with what's outside. Leaving only peace inside of you.

 

This is a great place to arrive and stay and at first to recognise that we can find peace irrespective of outside conditions. Then the more likely we would do that and the more peace we will find because the heart it not spinning out of control. It is slowly stabilizing itself.

 

This is the path of the Buddha and this is I believe what Ajahn keeps on saying.

 

I also realise that the more we open the door of our hearts, the less separation we will start to feel. We usually tend to associate ourselves with what we like/want but disassociate with what we don't like. This allows us to establish a sense of identity. "I don't like this" or "I like that", "I am not this" or "I am this". But when our hearts start open up, we become all that is external to us. It becomes all embracing. Then we cannot separate ourselves anymore. Or the tendency becomes less and less. Along with that we begin to feel more at ease with things. I believe eventually this leads to the complete dissolution of sense of self, leaving at its heart only peace.

 

 

Mind Support

About a week ago I injured my knee. I was put on an immobilizer to support my knee until it can work on its own. Now I can walk and bend the knee and don't need the support of the immobilizer as I used to a few days ago. This helped me realise that it works somewhat similarly in our minds.

 

We need mind support. I see the mind similar to the immobilizer that I used to stabilize and provide support to my knee. When we have emotions that carry us away and over power us, we need a good mind support. Without that we could break or sustain serious harm to ourselves and others.

 

What is a mind support? A mind support is having a mind that can cushion us from the strong or small emotions that we face in life. They create discomfort for us or take us on a joy ride. Either way it puts us off balance. The only way we can go through this without falling off of the line is to have a strong mind support.

 

For example, when we get angry, the mind support is love and kindness. When we are in despair and suffering the mind support will be compassion. Like that there are many mind supports that we can develop.  A strong mind will use these positive emotions to counter act against negativity and make us stable. Otherwise we could fall into depression, guilt, sadness.

 

But what happens when we are on our joy ride. Then we are thrilled that life is going the way we want and nothing can go wrong. This is foolishness. Because at the end of the thrill is a period when are adrenaline wears off and with that comes a sense of depletion. It's like when we go on holiday. Everything build up to day the day we arrive at the location. Then it's a nice dream, if we are very lucky. But then we have to come home and face daily chored which is a hit on our energy levels.

 

In the same way, when life is all smooth and colourful, a strong mind will allow you to look into the impermanence of it all. A soft knowing that would let you know that all can end. But the softness in the mind won't make you depressed. In fact it only energises you to have a good time but when the drop arrives, it holds you steady because you have known it all along.

 

So, like my knee needing an immobilizer to hold it in place and give it support, we need a strong  mind to hold it in place during the vicissitudes of life and keep it above the changing tides. If not we will be carried away by the currents and would be lost. This is what happens to most of us on a daily basis. We are either happy that things are going well or unhappy that things are not going well. Most of us would probably think that if things are going well we don't need any support. But it's when things are going well that we require the maximum amount of support because, at the end of it comes the sadness of things not going well. So in order to support oneself a mind support is essential. When things are not going according to our wishes, we need the mind support in order to keep it afloat so to speak. Otherwise we could sink into negative mind stated even more. From frying pan to the fire as they say. A strong support during tough times, can hold it in place until the good times arrive. When the good times arrive, a strong mind will hold it in place, so that it won't fall when the bad times arrive.

 

It's like a see-saw. At first it swings back and forth violently, but with time it balances off and becomes steady. This is what a strong mind support would do. It would help one stabilize oneself during good and bad times until it reaches a point of great calm. A state of contentment borne out of being in balance and not riding with the moves. Energy is preserved. A state of well being is reached. There is no tiredness in the body nor in the mind. A state of restfulness and peacefulness.

 

Just like the knee heals itself with the immobilizer, we begin to feel a sense of ease and comfort from within.

Why letting go is hard

Couple of weeks ago, I volunteered to be a steward at Birken Monastery. It's going to be in May for a month. This year I was hoping to attend a retreat anyway. When I saw the posting on the web site, I thought it would be way a better than a retreat because I get to be of service not only to myself but to those in the monastery. I have been in monasteries before and attended retreats. So I am used to being away from my home and my husband. But no sooner I signed up, I started having feelings of apprehension, almost bordering on fear.

 

I used this for my investigation. What am I being fearful of considering that I have done this sort of thing before. I felt I was feeling fear of leaving things behind - home, husband, cat and all the familiar things. The fear in another way was having to be somewhere new - a new place, new people, and a new way of operating. Something unfamiliar.

 

Then a thought came to me. Don`t I have to leave what I like and love anyway someday. At lease this time round I can come back but there is that day when I have to go for good, which is my death.

 

Dying in some way is not dissimilar. You have to leave behind what is familiar - your family, loved ones, belongings, basically the whole world as we know it to exist and above all your body. What a scary thing. I mean consider it. I am feeling a sense of apprehension just leaving behind a home, a husband and my cat for only a month and I have the choice of coming back to it. But I am taking myself with me...even when I have the most precious travelling with me, I still feel apprehension. What could possibly be my fear levels when I am dying or realise that I am going to die.

 

I also realise that I feel my apprehension because of what might change during my time away. Will things be the same....will my husband be distant when I come back....will things go back to where they were before I left. I feel that dying could give rise to similar fears. I mean you know for sure, things are going to change and in your absence everything is going to change for those you knew. Imagine the fear and the sense of sadness one might experience.

 

I had my uncle die of cancer earlier last year. I remember my mother saying that he was sad that he might die and that he way crying. In many ways I figure, that he might have experienced the same sadness and even fear of what I described before. Might be more that what I am experiencing right now.

 

Isn`t it funny...that we all know that we are going to die but it never makes us feel frightened! It doesn`t make us fearful that we have so much to leave behind. And that so much is going to change in our death for us as well for others. Yet we live not considering this at all. Or is it that we are fearful what might happen, should we consider this. I guess that`s a reasonable fear to have. But should that fear prevent us from getting to know what is an inevitability.

 

In life, we have trained ourselves to move away from what we don`t like, enjoy, make us happy and instead to seek what we like, brings us joy, makes us happy. As a result of it, we sometimes don`t want to face what is right in front of us, believing that if we ignore, turn away that perhaps the very thing that we want to avoid will disappear, go away and go into oblivion. But unlike all things we face in our life, we also treat death in the same way. Well some don`t even want acknowledge the existence of it. So once again we live life, hoping that in our avoidance that some how that too will go away or the fear of it will disappear. We even tell ourselves that there is no choice but to face and that  we will do so when the time comes.

 

But that again is a big fat lie. I am saying this after years of observation of myself and others.

 

I have seen mothers, who have lived without recognizing that their children will grow up and change, go way cry out of sadness and fear. But those mothers just like all realise that there children will grow and change. And they all feel they are going to be different but when the times comes they find that it`s harder than they first thought. Same with husbands and wives. While they acknowledge the loneliness they would feel in the absence of another, they do no realise how much that causes hurt, fear.

 

What I am saying it, stating something it much easier than having to face the actualities. We are all born with same emotions though we display them so differently. So a persons sense of loss is not that dissimilar to anthers though we might handle them differently. A persons fear is not dissimilar to that of another though again we will handle it differently. But yet we go through life thinking that we are so uniquely different from one another, mostly due to our individual looks. But that in itself fails to give us the opportunity to learn from one another. That one persons pain, can also be our pain, anthers sense of fear can also be our fears, a sense of loss can also be our sense of loss, hurt is also our hurt.

 

So we continue down our life towards death in the same way. We fail to learn from those who have died before us. We only see these things as events in our lives. The grandparents loss, not realising that they were parents to our and not recognising that loss, sadness. In that we fail to realise the sadness that we might encounter one day when our parents die. In the same way we don`t see or can`t recognise how a person feels at the moment of death. I haven`t personally encountered a dying moment of any person. But I would like to experience this in many people. Because some day I will face that myself.

 

Having the smallest glimpse into it, I hope, would shed some clarity. But in the event I don`t get the chance, at least I have learnt from the stories of others - like my uncles. In identifying myself with each of them, and their pain, I have come closer to death as a living being. I recognize the pain, fear, sadness that could possibly arise from it. But having recognised them, I feel more at ease with death than I have been ever before. I used to be mortified of death when I was little. It was a scary thing because people go away. When I grew up, I could at least talk about it and think about it. With the passing away of my 4 grandparents, 3 uncles, I became closer to it. But I never saw it within myself.

 

It was only a few years ago that I started doing that. Then last year one of my uncles died. I was not there to see him die. But I saw him three months before he did and heard stories afterwards.

 

There  seem to be a great letting go at the moment of death. It is that fear and sadness of letting go, not being to know what is going to happen, or have control over things that happening (be it sickness) or those things that you are going to leave behind. It arises because we have not lived a life of letting go. All of our lives we live to increase, gather and build. We have degrees, jobs, children, houses, money and we never let go of any one of these things out of our own choice. At a moment we have to we do it, because we think there is no choice.

 

A life lived that way can only have ending. The same dilemmas we have faced in life. So we die, because that is our only choice. But I realise that it does not have to be. We don`t have to die because we have no choice. It would be sad to do that. We should die because we choose to. Then when it happens, no matter when, we have chosen to die. as a result we could adjust our lives to some amount of letting go. Just like we would prepare months in advance for a wedding, a baby being born, for an exam, we can prepare ourselves to die. When we do that well, we have the choice to have a death. With the choice we can chose an easy one or a difficult one.

 

So, coming back to my start, I realise this time away as my death. Leaving something behind that I cannot have and having to experience something I don`t know. Coming to a peaceful state with that makes things easier. Just as I hope that it would be in my death as well.

 

 

 

 

Agony of anger

I have an angry personality. That means my tendency for the most part is  to get into pushing things away/rejecting things. That creates resentments, anger, frustration, ill-will, sadness, depression....the kind of negative moods that we in the Westerns world call in Psychology. I am prone to those.

In my meditations and my daily observations over the last five years I have noticed that when I allow my thoughts wonder and linger in anything for too long without proper attention to them, that they create a chain of thoughts that will ultimately take me to any one of the negative moods. It  may start as a positive one and the spin will for a while even be good and positive but it tends to fall in to a negative grove propelled by negative memories and fears for future. This is a pattern that I have recognised over  the years.

 

At first, I never used to even notice these things. I remember many years ago, I used to indulge in my negative thoughts. They gave me a 'rush'. It's almost a righteous feel that comes with it as if I am fighting the bad in the world kind of feel. And that would fuel me on. It would be for the most part based on memories of wrong things done and said by people that I thought I didn't deserve at all. For the most part I didn't deserve them at the time I encountered them. So, in my thoughts I would wage my acts of "my right to free myself from your unfair acts". These new thoughts that would be in response to something that happened in the past and something to which I could not respond, would be effective responses. But they are being conjured up now because I didn't have the chance to do them before. Almost a sense of I should  have done this or I should have done that. Then the other part is based on the future. If I foresee any future encounters with these people, I would envision things that might happen with them and things that would be said, and how I would respond effectively at a future time.

 

They all give me a sense of purpose. So I used entertain them with vigor. But as I used to not dwell too much in my past, my thoughts of what I should have done have disappeared. I don't remember having such thoughts or indulging myself in the wrongs that happened in the past like I used to. They may come and go but I don't get trapped in them in a manner that I cannot step out of them.

 

But what I get trapped in them now are my future fears. Like before they give me the same rush. But now I don't enjoy them. In fact I feel a massive drain of energy after a short burst of a 'rush'. I almost feel as if I am watching myself going through this process and being helpless to stop it. It's pretty frustrating. It's frustrating because I can see it but I cannot do anything about it. It is also frustrating because I know it's not going to take me to a good place but I am missing something to get myself out of it. I still feel as if with all the knowing that I want to give into it, even when I know that I am going to end up in a bad place. I know that it's going to make my so hot in the body that I can literally can feel the heat coming off of my own body, I can feel the pounding in my head, I feel giddy and yet I persist. God, hell must feel like this.

 

Does it even make sense? I mean how can I want to take myself to a bad place? It sounds crazy and stupid but I really do this to myself.

 

I am at a loss. I feel like I don't know what to do? Even if I knew what to do and don't have enough energy/will power or whatever you want to call it to put it into action so that I can stop this process from happening.

 

I was told once that I need to show compassion to myself for the pain that  I am experiencing because of this so that I may get out of. I also know that I have to put all my effort at the begging when I have the 'rush" when I feel good to get out of it before it snowballs into something that I have no control over whatsoever.

 

I feel like I become a black hole. A ball of negative energy and it sucks everything around it into it. Every thought, every experience, every encounter, every mood, every moment is sucked into the black hole and broken into pieces into that oblivion. It's darkness all over. It's sad to even write it down but I need to do it so I can get it out of myself. I can't be the only person in the world who feels this way right? I mean not that I wish to create a group of people like myself or associate people like that, because I don't. Not because I hate them, because I don't wish for anyone to experience the kind of darkness I talk about even for a moment because it feel as if you are breaking into thousand pieces all at once. Then into oblivion. Then again the rush, then the breaking and again the oblivion. It's a total roller coaster ride one I wish to step out of and one I wish no one would take a ride on.

 

This is the agony of anger. I am in agony when I am in anger. I don't care about the momentary rush anymore because I am in agony after. And it's painful - physically and mentally - exhausting, tiring, draining -  it is painful. May this be my lesson and hopefully I won't have to revisit this blog ever again for I will remember this and will be able to over come my anger when it arises from here on end.

 

 

 

 

Finding the beauty within

November of 2012, my husband and I travelled to the Grand Canyon. It was our first time there. We stayed inside a park hotel. The next morning we were having breakfast in their dining lounge just in front of the canyon. We had a great view of it. From where we sat we could see may layers of colours and shades of the rocks. We also could see people walking on the sidewalk, taking pictures even though it was a cold morning.

 

It was then that I realised that as human beings we travel farthest and withstand great challenges to see the wonders produced by nature. But only a very few of us take that same passion, commitment and effort to travel to see the great wonders of our inner world. I told this to my husband and he nodded in agreement.

 

It's an irony to me that we spend so much money, physical effort to travel and see beautiful places and have relaxing time. Without such times, we would be totally stressed with the demands of life and would probably feel drained. So, from time to time individuals plan to do away, typically to some scenic place, beach, forest or whatever that may be of joy and comfort to them. Some of course do more challenging things. They climb the Everest or the Kilimanjaro or go Benji jumping, diving, white water rafting and many other adventure challenges. But all in all, we go away to escape the demands and mental stresses of life so that it would bring a sense of rejuvenation. Yet only a very few would dare jump into the crevices of our minds. Enjoy the hues and colours that surround it. Enjoy the beauty and the immense tranquility and sense of peace brought by being one with oneself.

 

I love to travel and see new places. It brings me a great sense of joy, comfort and a time to gather myself. It also allows me to appreciate all that I have and is in front of me - gifts to be grateful for. But I also enjoy being with myself. Enjoy it's quietness like that of an evening sunset, it's ups and downs like the valleys and peaks of a great mountain, the flow of thoughts like that of a great gushing river, the waves of emotions like that of an ocean and the stillness of a great lake undisturbed by the winds.

 

But most of us don't even know that such things exist and are not observers of it. We are rather passive bunch of passengers in a bus. I wondered why this was so.

 

We are salves of our sense world. Our ears, nose, eyes, taste, touch and ultimately our thinking. Everything that our make up, is a preparation for us to take everything outside of ourselves. From our early days, we are taught to recognise our parents, loved ones, learn to read and develop friendships. Of course without these we will struggle to survive in the world to some degree. But as we grow older, we forget that apart from what is given to us by our physical senses, there is a totally new world lying, waiting to be uncovered. No one trains us to do that. Our schools don't teach us that it's important to get in touch with our innermost selves.

 

Some of us are more tuned in rather than out. So, some of us become observers to some degree of the ever changing mental world and it's challenges than others. Such people will gather some understanding of their mental world, and see the beauty and even touch the deep levels of tranquility that lie. Those who don't will continue to battle with what the six senses have presented, basically with the world and know and feel the world only through those senses.

 

As I was watching the people walking on the side way, looking at the canyon, I saw those who would see with their eyes the layers of colourful rock formations, hear the wind flapping around their ears, feel the early morning cold and the warmth of the sun but would probably at the same time think unhappy thoughts or thoughts of great plans for the future, worry about the people back home who they have left to come on their holiday, not being satisfied with the breakfast provided by the hotel, unhappy with the beds, or wanting to see more beautiful parts of the canyon and many more. Their minds would have held the same hues of colours, the warmth generated by yearnings for future plans and dissatisfaction for what has happened, winds of moods, layers of hidden emotions, fears, wants and likes. But because they were so engrossed in the world around them, I wondered how many would noticed what was going in the world inside them?

 

I feel that this is a great tragedy. We have precious little time in this world. The first 10-15 years or so in our lives are used for growing up and getting familiar with what is around us. The last 10-15 years, if we are lucky, we will have flailing senses, breaking down bodies. So, we are left with about 20 -30 years so, little time to do all that we do in life - getting a higher education, finding a job, getting married and having kids, getting a car and a house and going on trips to see the world. In that window of time, if we fail to take notice of what is within us, I feel that we have wasted a good portion of who we are in order to fit into a world that we would never have and never be fully part of.

 

People talk of legacy and I think it's a way we come to terms with our need to continue live. No one who is dead can appreciate their legacy. No one who is dying will want to think of the legacy that they will leave behind. Even at the time of death we will all cling to a one more moment of life not our legacy in death no matter how appealing that would be. So, when we dedicate our lives solely to making a life on this earth we waste a precious opportunity to take with us a legacy that we can be with from time to time.

 

That legacy is the oneness of ourselves. Each time we become one within us, that is a legacy that no one will see, or will be able to put in a plaque, but it is something that you will experience for every moment that you live, those who are around you will experience. But to have that we need to take a trip inwards. A lonely trip. Not one where we have the whole family and our friends joining in. Where we cook our food, sit down and have a drink and have a gossip about things that won't make much of a difference to ourselves or themselves. A trip that only you would undertake. A quite one which requires enormous time, sacrifice and effort. But unlike any trip that you would take in like or scenery you would see in life, this trip will grant you incredible understanding of the world, of people borne by an understanding of your own self. It will fill you with wonder that thousand Grand Canyons will not be able to do. It will give you peace and tranquility like thousand sunsets and sunrises. But we have to take that journey within. It's a rocky road. Very bumpy to start with but as you go in, like the deep oceans that don't carry waves, you will find solid footing.

 

 

So as I was sitting at my breakfast table, I wished this for those who were walking. I firmed up my determination to continue on the path. To me the Canyon showed that life is to be uncovered on layer at a time. Just as the Canyon dug itself to the bottom of the Earth, so it asked me to continue to do deeper in to my inner world. As it's beauty was opened to the world with each layer carving into earth, it reminded me that our greatest beauty lies within. The Colorado River as it flowed to the Ocean was a symbol of our great flow of life and how we all flow towards one thing and in that that we are all connected to one another.

 

Understanding Dukka and Letting Go

This whole blog is based on a chat I had with my mother who is in Sri Lanka. I am appreciative of the opportunity that she gave me to bring into my own mind some of my own understandings of Dhamma.

Dukkha or many of us here in the West call 'Suffering' is one of the Four Noble Truths taught by the Buddha. Dukkha appears in many forms. It could be as heavy as loss of a loved one, having a terminal illness or as simple as a mosquito bite. Either way, we cannot escape from Dukkha. It appears from time to time in all of our lives and for some it may appear as a constant condition. While in the West it many be called suffering, over the years I have realised that while Dukkha may be present, we don't necessarily have to suffer. So, for me suffering is something entirely optional.

Most of our lives we live trying to avoid this phenomena called 'dukkha'. When we encounter it at one point or another our typical emotional responses can range from sheer denial to wallowing in it. Neither it healthy because they create emotional 'dents' and effect our long-term well being. It took me many readings of the 'Turning of the Wheel of the Dhamma' the first sermon of the Buddha to even see that he specifically said in the sutta that dukkha had to be understood. It was almost two years ago that I noticed it for myself. All that time I had heard it from many monks and nuns, read it many times but never made that kind of impact. From that day onwards, I have lived trying to understand Dukkha than denying it or wallowing in it.

Understanding Dukkha has given me new perspectives. I realise that when I see Dukkha for what it is, that I have many options other than denial, running away from it or wallowing in it. For example, I have migraines and they can be pretty unpleasant. When I have a migraine headache, I notice my dukkha. I stay with my dukkha. I don't try to deny it and get on with things nor do I try to get depressed that I have constant headaches and that I cannot do anything about it. Instead I stay with it watching it with as much kindness as I can. This is something I have learnt from Ajahn Brahm. He always says to 'Open the door of your heart" to things no matter what it is and to be gentle, kind and make peace with things. So I as much as possible do this with my migraines. I realise that my migraines don't bother me as much or give me grief.

I was on a trip to the Grand Canyon recently. On my way to the flight I pulled my back. It was so bad that I could barely walk. I was on my own. My husband was playing golf in Arizona. All I did was notice my incredible pain and the need for me to complain about it and everything else around me. But because I was paying attention to my pain and being with it, I could not go ahead and make all the other conversations that I knew I so desperately wanted. My mind could do one thing and I had given it the object of watching my pain instead of complaining.

My training in the past of being with something paid off. My entire trip, I had a severe back pain and I could barely walk but I had enormous fun and so did my husband. Of course I also took plenty of medication and the rubs that I could to reduce the pain.

To me this was a great example of understanding of dukka and not living in denial or running away from it.

We always have choices with whatever we are presented with. Be it good or bad. We need to be clear of what is presented or in front of us and then when we see it, instead of getting totally involved or running away from it, we use the options we have to respond to it. It's a wonderful tool.

Now how does this help in letting go. I have noticed that the more I expose myself to seeing dukkha the more my mind releases it's grip on things. It's almost as if it learns that 'Oh here is dukkha again, let's just leave it alone". Previously in my life I didn't know how to do it or what to do with things. But now I feel a sense of "oh yeah here comes dukkha, let it come and let it go". I find that so exhilarating. I used to be scared of dukkha and I would always try to look for a way out. This would create more dukkha  for myself and those around me. But now that I have realised that dukkha needs to be understood, I can stay with it for much longer periods than I ever thought I could. Because of that my need to run away from things or to wallow in them have reduced greatly and I feel more at peace.

Also because I can stay with dukkha, I realise that the mind eventually drops things. It's like a bubble rises to the top and then bursts and disappears. Dukkha is the same. It rises to the top, gives dukkha and then disappears. I have learnt that if I could stay with it during that period of time, them at the  end of it is the total release from it. It's gratifying to feel the release. So now I want to stay with the dukkha. Of course this does not work all of the time and neither is it possible to stay with all kinds of dukkha all of the time. But since I have learnt that it's possible with some of the things, I find myself wanting try doing it with some of the so called 'difficult' ones. It takes longer times, and sometimes I do suffer a little but when  I see the release it feel great.

This is the conversation I had with my mother, telling her to understand dukkha no matter how small. Especially if they are small. Because I have found that it's easier to get started with small dukkhas than with larger ones. Ones I feel comfortable with the little ones then I will move to next stage. Until then, I have kept the difficult ones at bay. I also told her that exposing the mind to dukkha is important because it is through that the mind begins to realise the need to 'let go'. At ones point when the mind realises the release of letting go of dukkha, then it seeks that release. It's like promising a child an ice cream if they finish all of their homework. But in the mind you don't have to do the work, you just have to wait with it.

I hope anyone who reads this would begin to understand the dukkha for what it is and learnt to let it go. For in that letting go, is an incredible release which is better than any kind of pleasure we experience in life.

Being needy and dealing with being needy

We have all kinds of needs: need for food, clothes, a roof over our heads, need for a job, money, entertainment and many more external needs. Internally we need to be desired, loved, cared for, we have a need to maintain a sense of who we are and again many more internal needs. They all wary from one person to another. But all of us have a deep desire to be needed whether we want to believe that or not.

 

In  the absence of 'being' needed we will feel a sense of uselessness, a sense of not being worthy even. Some people even go to the extent of calling this "not being loved".

 

Having certain amount of basic needs and having them fulfilled is required for the mental and physical well-being of a human being. But no one can and should condone wanting to be needed/being needy and trying to have that void filled. This is dangerous: to ones own well-being and the well-being of those who are around them to start off with.

 

So, let me investigate what it means to be "needy". This is a state of mental ill-being. We become needy, when we lack something within ourselves and we aspire to have that filled with something. It could be something external like food (eating excessively or binge eating or being a shopaholic or workaholic) or something like having a child, a pet or a garden. However, most of us don't see it this way. We don't see it for what it is, because we don't posses clarity to own selves and our intentions. Who will see that they have a void to be filled. No one!

 

Of course that does not mean that those who have a child, a pet or a garden have those in order to fill a need. Of course not. But in the surest way to know whether any of these things fill a void or not is to see our own behaviour toward these things.

 

The moment we have something because we have to fill our neediness, we will become over protective of that very thing. That is because of our fear of loss. We fear that if the that thing is lost or taken away from us, we will no longer feel "full" or "complete".

 

We will also recognise it as more important that anything else in the world and lose perspective. If it's our pet cat or dog, then no matter how destructive it is, there is no better cat/dog in the world. Some might even be cruel to other cats or dogs that might show aggression  towards your own pet because one has failed to recognize the reality of the way the animals behave towards one another. Or if it is a child, then the mother or father can get so defensive about their own child that they would not even notice the bad behaviours of their own children and harm they cause others. As a result fail to recognise a development opportunity of their own children and fail to address them at the appropriate time.

 

We also tend to use it to build more and more of our own sense of self. So, if it is a child then we are more likely to demand things out of it. In a situation where the child doesn't live accordingly or doesn't fill our wishes we will feel sense of being 'let down'. The typical outcome would be resentment from the child and distancing. While this is the exact opposite of what the parent or the person who is being needy wants, they are unable to stop themselves, because their first priority is to "fill a void" within themselves. So, even at the cost of harm all around they might tend to keep at the harmful behaviours.

 

Another sign of your own neediness, is showing that you are the victim, in the absence of love, affection and security from the other person. This is a natural behaviour of someone who is needy. Their perception will for the most part be of that of a victim. Because they fail to recognise their own emotional black hole, they will have the tendencies to feel lack of self esteem, frequent episodes of sadness, depressive thoughts and they will think that it is the lack of love, affection from others that make them feel that way. The behaviour that would come out from such people would be to say things that make the other feel bad and responsible for their lack of well-being.

 

What I have also come to see is that people who are needy, are also comfortable around those who are needy. Because it fuels and sustains one another. A person who is needy will not feel too comfortable around someone who is self sustainable because that person will not have a need for another: emotionally or physically. Therefore, the other person will feel a sense of "I am not needed" and that would not make them feel good. People who are needy want others to be needy so that they can be readily available to "HELP". While this looks like a great act of generosity, it  is NOT because in reality is a downward spiral. Both drags the other down in the mutual, comforting interactions.

 

So, being needy is not good. We not only need to recognise it in our own selves but also in others. But the start has be in our selves for without that recognition we cannot begin to see that of the other.

 

The recognition of it is the start point of coming to a closure. We are all needy to some degree or the other. But that does not mean that we can measure it and say "Oh I am not that needy". It can get out of control at anytime. Human carving is so bad that we can topple either way with the right or wrong situations or associations.

 

Once recognised, we need to consciously wean ourselves off. What I have done over the years are with simple things. I don't try to start off with difficult things. I start things like food, TV, or need to buy or need NOT to exercise or meditate. I ensure that that if it is food that I have a need for, that their is reduction in the amount and the number of times I consume it in a week. If it is something I don't want to do, then I increase it. I do that until it become part of my routine. As I start these external things, I move inward.

 

I look at my emotional neediness. The things that I feel I had a need to sustain my emotional needs. I have mental notes of the most important things: not more than 3-5 things. I work on reducing  my need on them and associate feelings of "I don't feel loved" or "I am not wanted" or "Oh shit the world is going to fall apart". Slowly but gradually the hold on these things on your own emotional well-being come to cease a bit by bit. Along with that the sting of your "neediness" to tend to dissipate.

 

When I need people who are needy, I do exactly what I do with myself. I don't give into them bit by bit. Depending on how much interaction I am required or their level of importance and the level of neediness I might remove my "giving in" all of a sudden or gradually. If I have low interaction and their status in my life is low, then I remove my "giving in" gradually. This is because their is little threat from them to my own well-being. But if their interaction can be very high and their status is also very high, then I remove my "giving in" very quickly because, they can be like leeches. Before you know it, life it sucked out of you. And the rest is in between.

 

So these are my thoughts and I have found them to be very useful so far.