Can sitting still change your life?
The age of consciousness and mindfulness has (apparently) begun. Meditation retreats, mindfulness camps and self-help guru’s are suddenly cool…again. I am not sure when it happened but meditation and yoga have turned into a fashion statement, something that people instagram and facebook about. There are now stores that sell specially made cushions to meditate on and mats to do all the hip “asana’s”. Though I wonder what certain sages and saints of India and China would wonder if they met up with some of these hipster, new-aged so-called “monks”, I feel there is some merit in how readily accessible the benefits of meditation and mindfulness training has become. The age of consciousness has come at the right time.
The mental stress, the need to always be “online and connected” and the unconscious urge to not be alone has never been bigger.
The bitter medicine
I felt plugged in. I felt that this constant stream of information we envelop our self’s in daily makes us forget who we are deep down. I wanted to “go off-grid” so to speak, letting go of everything and anything that was non-essential. I was stressed. Not because there was an imminent threat of unemployment, bankruptcy or death but from simply being too involved and connected. As I browsed through a river of unusable knowledge, my consciousness almost gave up as if to say “I have had enough” and like any modern 21st century intelligent and sane man would, I had a break down.
Upon my search for ways to reduce stress and anxiety I came across a wonderful website called Zenhabits. In a world where not being busy was associated with being worthless, Leo Babuto of Zenhabits took me down a minimalistic path where doing less was ideal. I remember reading this from Leo -
Breathe BY LEO BABAUTA
Breathe.
If you feel overwhelmed, breathe. It will calm you and release the tensions.
If you are worried about something coming up, or caught up in something that already happened, breathe. It will bring you back to the present.
If you are moving too fast, breathe. It will remind you to slow down, and enjoy life more.
Breathe, and enjoy each moment of this life. They’re too fleeting and few to waste.
I wondered if…this will work?
How will being still reduce my mental and physical stress?
How can thinking less make me more focused?
How am I meant to quieten my mind if all it wants to do is think?
Will meditation work for me?
These are all questions I asked myself two year ago as I realised that I was an addict. My drug of choice was thought. “Thought” or this urge of always wanting to think comes from the 21st century phenomena of wanting to always be busy. The endless cycle of continuously “doing” in order to feel important, connected and not alone. As my sister put it, Fear Of Missing Out is a serious condition.
Like any addiction, quitting was going to be difficult, the medicine — bitter.
Becoming an übermensch
I was so entangled in my life that sitting still and thoughtless for 10 min a day was like paradise. This alone changed me. But, and it’s a big but, meditation has the power to transform me into a superhuman allowing me to create space between myself and my thoughts. The world becomes a little slower, not in the sense that you have smoked a joint of fresh marijuana but slow because now I have control over how I react to my thoughts. I changed, from being a rabbit who continuously is running around trying to cling to any thought that comes towards it into an eagle who is able to observe from distance and act accordingly. There is more. I was able to control my heart rate and hence control my response to any type of stress. Going to a big presentation in front of a thousand people becomes a breeze as I managed to stay calm yet alert.
As I came across these wonderful discoveries, the biggest change occurred when I was able to understand my own emotions better. It’s challenging even now after two years of practicing mindfulness everyday to control emotions as they have such a powerful response to all parts of my body. I have learned however, how amazing all the different emotions are and am coming to understand how much in need our mind and body is for the whole spectrum rather than a select few. Depending on who we are, where we come from etc. we are told often to ignore and often shut off to certain types of emotions. Brene Brown in her book “Daring Greatly” mentioned that the path to creativity, success and essentially a better life is through the vulnerability of emotions.
An übermensch, a concept from Fredrick Nietzsche’s book “Thus spoke Zarathustra”, is someone who is in touch with his or her deep down values. As Jordan Bates from high existence put it, the übermensch is someone who “has superseded the bondage of the human condition and reached a liberated state — one of free play and creativity.”
Is this achievable?
Originally published at theubermensch.org on December 28, 2015.
