When you read this, the election will be just a few days away. As we know, we likely won’t know the outcome for some time. And as we also know, the outcome could lead to even more tumultuous times, for those of us living in the US, than we are experiencing now.
How can we care for the world without being overburdened and incapacitated? How can we, “look after the world with ease?” How can we keep our sense of inner balance and steadiness come what may?
Well, one thing to keep in mind is how helpful sitting practice can be. Some people only sit when life is difficult. Others only sit when life is easy. When feeling a lot of anxiety and worry, it’s not easy to sit down and be quiet, because it’s not as peaceful as we would like. We may appear serene to others, but we may be yelling at someone in our minds.
To sit quietly means feeling what we are experiencing rather than distracting ourselves. It means being with emotional and bodily discomfort. If we can accompany ourselves by sitting and facing discomfort, the discomfort will eventually transform itself into greater ease. It’s not so easy to believe this when we are in the middle of the discomfort, but if we gently persevere, that which is covering our natural radiance of heart can resolve and dissolve though loving attentiveness.
Of course, sometimes it feels too challenging to sit, so we may choose to try meditating while walking instead. The practice just to walk. Walking meditation is a way to handle strong energies. Because walking is active, it has the potential to absorb the energies rather than resisting them. We often find ourselves at the end of a walking session feeling refreshed and at ease.
I would also like to encourage experimenting with an imaginative practice, which is to throw whatever troubling mental state is occurring out in front of you on your walking path and then to walk through it. This practice allows us to quite naturally see into the empty nature of the mental state instead of fighting and struggling with it while sitting. Also, working with mental states while walking allows us to see their impermanent nature. By the end of your walking path, are you feeling exactly the same way? Ok, it’s possible that you may be feeling even worse. But if so, at least you are reminded that everything is always changing.
One more suggestion: I speak all the time to practitioners who have experienced great benefit from metta practice, and who forget that it’s an option when they really need it. So, I am reminding you of how helpful, powerful, and steadying the phrases of metta can be. If you do metta practice to defend, avoid, or repress, its power will be limited. But if you practice with an open heart, metta can be the protection the Buddha prescribed and thus be deeply calming and clarifying.
I hope one of these three suggestions will be helpful during this time. It’s good to be with sangha right now. You are always welcome to drop into Dharma in Daily Life which is an opportunity to be with each other in community.