A monk decides to meditate alone, away from his monastery. He takes his boat out to the middle of the lake, moors it there, closes his eyes and begins his meditation. After a few hours of undisturbed silence, he suddenly feels the bump of another boat colliding with his own. With his eyes still closed, he senses his anger rising, and by the time he opens his eyes, he is ready to scream at the boatman who dared to disturb his meditation. But when he opens his eyes, he sees it’s an empty boat that had probably got untethered and floated to the middle of the lake. At that moment, the monk achieves self-realization, and understands that the anger is within him; it merely needs the bump of an external object to provoke it out of him. From then on, whenever he comes across someone who irritates him or provokes him to anger, he reminds himself, “The other person is merely an empty boat. The anger is within me.”
“The empty Boat” is a famous zen story and a metaphorical representation of how our mind wanders even when you want it to be single-pointed. Therefore, being mindful needs much discipline and practice. One needs to follow these 7 principles to inculcate mindfulness deeply:
“The empty Boat” is a famous zen story and a metaphorical representation of how our mind wanders even when you want it to be single-pointed. Therefore, being mindful needs much discipline and practice. One needs to follow these 7 principles to inculcate mindfulness deeply:
- Letting Go
- Faith
- Perseverance
- Acceptance
- Surrender
- Non- Judgemental
- Curiosity
Practicing these principles taught me to be an observer , being patient and not live in the world of instant gratification. Keeping curiosity alive in little things of life helped me in boosting my learning skills. Being fully present and accepting things as it is further allowed me to free myself to go with the flow.
In fact , my first successful experience with being mindful was 20 years back in my management school where every morning we did a simple practice of progressive relaxation for 2 years. I built in much perseverance and although being a science student topped my MBA which required to excel in commerce subjects. I came to a conclusion that being mindful has many benefits. I am sharing a few:
- Improving focus and concentration
- Balancing physical and emotional facets of life.
- Improving immunity and thereby enhancing health .
- Managing mood swings
- Improving relationships
- Better Sleep
- Building Self esteem
So are you aware of your present? Reflect upon these questions:
- Who am I?
- Who inspires me?
- What can I do to make a mark?
- If this is the last day of my life, what would I do?
- What matters most in my life?
I would like to conclude with a simple practice: Just Observe yourself and your surroundings. Acknowledge your thoughts. Do this for 3 minutes and see how many times you are able to come back from your wandering thoughts to your breath.
So just BREATHE…………..
-Sangeeta Dasgupta
Life Coach and Clinical Hypnotherapist
Founder of “The Healing Oshun” and Co-founder of “Iris”
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