Observation. . .
Consider how you react when you don’t think you are good at something: say solving brain teasers. When you are presented with a brain teaser, what do you do? Do you tell yourself, “I am not good at this,” or “I am going to look stupid”? Does this distract you from paying attention to working on the puzzle?
How it might be different if you had an open attitude with no concern or judgment about performance, just a curiosity about how working on the brain teaser might be? What if you directly experienced the process as it unfolded—the challenges, anxieties, insights, accomplishments—acknowledging each thought or feeling and accepting it without needing to figure it out or explore it further.
If you do this with some regularity, you start to see the habitual patterns that lead you to react automatically in negative or unhelpful ways and create stress. By observing instead of reacting, you develop a broader perspective and can choose a more effective response to the many small things that arise each day moment by moment.
Peace and Love, Jim
#observation #thedailybuddha
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