Mind Set Go

Every now and then, you and I may see a tree we never really noticed before.  But there it stands, almost reveling in its own glory.  How have we never noticed it before?  And there we are, awestruck and amazed.  Moved. 

I saw one yesterday.  A maple tucked neatly next to an old farm house with leaves beginning to turn color; the thing was giant and stately and, seemingly, of perfect shape: a glory to behold.  My mind left the wonder to wander momentarily? to decide (for myself as if it were somehow about me and my imaginings) whether this particular tree might one day fall on the house next to it.  Not a great thought—not after being so taken with the shape and size, the grandiose stature, of that living, breathing thing.   I looked to discover which direction it was leaning before my vehicle tore by and the sight was soon forgotten.  The magic I recognized and felt was already lost when my mind strayed. However, the magic is still there, deep within me and within (and without) the tree.

Suzanne Simard’s book, Finding the Mother Tree, discloses one aspect of mystery and connectivity existing in nature amongst trees.  Well, perhaps we appreciate that that sort of connectivity exists between animals.  But amongst trees, with the mother tree bonded with nearby seedlings (often of differing species) offering protection and nourishment?   Yes. 

You and I can only grapple at the surface of awareness of connections between each other and within, too, our own bodies—what with the myriad of nerves connecting physical centers of mind, heart and gut like massive highways.  The mind, not only often misunderstood, is often lost in primitive thoughts that trick us into thinking we understand and can judge ourselves and others… as if all other things revolve around us and our paradigm.

Mystery is not new.  Miracles, documented in the Bible so long ago, often confound present-day believers.  Paramahansa Yogananda’s Autobiography of a Yogi, first published in 1946, might also “blow you away” by the energy described therein.  Yogananda, from India, was moved/called/chosen to expose Hinduism to the western world.  The miraculous comings and goings documented in this autobiography remind searchers that miracles are not something from long, long ago.  They have happened much more recently and happen today.

Calming the mind’s agenda often, seemingly, comes easy for me.  But lately, I have found myself filled with thoughts that don’t belong there, where ever “there” is, if, in fact it is “somewhere” at all.  But rather than casting blame, a wandering mind always offers opportunities to begin anew and to recognize that what seemed so easy in the past may have been based on ignorance than on actual experience.

Noticing that the human body “wants” to heal seems evident.  In James Nestor’s book entitled “Breath” he describes the evolution of our bodies and how and why we have developed as we have, complete with smaller noses and thinner bones in our skulls to make room for our enlarging brains.  I am particularly interested in his research.  He describes not just a progression as many presume evolution to be, but a digression of which we might be totally unaware.

I have been breathing diaphragmatically since the end of the last century.  I also taught others to breathe that way for almost two decades of the three and a half decades I taught.  I’ll never forget a female high school student who ran cross country saying, “I can’t believe what I can do now.  Because you taught me how to breathe, now when I run, I can talk to other people.  I’m not out of breath.”  You may find that unusual.  Teaching someone how to breathe?  Isn’t that something that is just natural, you might ask.

I used to think that I needed an operation to fix a deviated septum (or something!) so that I could freely breathe through my nose;  through diaphragmatic breathing and shifting from mouth to (more often) nose breathing, my life has changed.  It is fascinating reading about Nestor’s descriptions of chemical changes your body will go through, through switching from mouth breathing to nose breathing!  No more snoring for you.  Sleep apnea can disappear.  Even waking to urinate at night can come to an end.  He explains why and how this can happen in this amazing read that is based on science, although this is not presented as a simple how-to, self-fix book.

People who meditate often focus on breath.  The idea is that in doing so, you are able to more readily be in, and can actually stay in, the present moment.  While it is often said that just 3 deep breaths can reset or change your bodily functioning, (and studies document this) what I am referring to does not involve tasking, but doing.  There is a difference in using our minds to task us to do something and the praxis of being in that moment wholly, without conscious decision.

Like the vision of the tree moving us to awe, something is present that we think we can be aware of in our daily lives. That’s that momentary sensation you may have, of beauty, of awe.  But are we missing it?  Just how much are we missing?  Are the moments of experience fleeting?  

I often say that we have everything we need.  And that may be true.  But do we have to behold “it” first.  We don’t know what we are looking for and the looking negates the possibility of finding.  Beholding it may not come from how-to manuals, or by doing things for a positive outcome based on egoic logic.  It may not cost any money or ever be out of our reach.  Letting go of the mind clutter we, ourselves, generate is confusing to most of us, for it isn’t something we do, and it isn’t even something we don’t do.  Those are both active elements.  We think of letting go as something we need to do; yet letting go is inactive, and we don’t act to generate inactivity. 

Letting go is the inactivity that is in your wheelhouse.  It isn’t really letting go, but rather opening to a different state.  Not a state of thought, but a state of peace.  And that seems to be where miracles abound.  Not “in” the mind, but “of” the mind.  The catch seems to be that if you are doing something for a specific outcome, the praxis of doing negates the openness of what spirit really is.  It’s not physical.  Not mental.  It’s spiritual.  It’s not something you are doing when you are doing it, it’s something you feel and experience.  There’s the magic.  That tingly feeling you have all over.  The presence of something far greater than you will ever understand, strive as you might.  It’s in the striving that changes the focal point, which was rather blurry and nondescript.  Misunderstood… through the stiving to understand.  Perhaps this isn’t making much sense, and that’s okay. 

It has taken being bullied for me to accept that my mind constantly plays tricks on me.  It isn’t fun to be hurt by someone.  Many adults have not experienced bullying since they were children.  I was thinking that I was in 8^th grade, when I last experienced it.  But it happened again in college where I was chided, and yes, bullied for my accent and where I was from.  It happens in churches and workplaces.  And yes, amongst volunteers.  For me, recently, it was particularly shocking.  I wasn’t understanding what I was experiencing until it was right there in front of my face, too glaring to deny.  But it had actually gone on for almost years where I wasn’t valued and wasn’t allowed to be myself and contribute.  Stopbullying.gov describes bullying as “unwanted, aggressive behavior among school aged children that involves a real or perceived power imbalance.” In the UK, the anti-bullying Alliance describes bullying as “the repetitive, intentional hurting of one person or group by another person or group, where the relationship involves an imbalance of power.  Bullying can be physical, verbal or psychological.”  Was what I experienced intentional?  

The trouble I’m experiencing with bullying is that it has a tendency to generate a bully within our own beings.  And that’s the bully that is left as the most difficult to combat if we are so lucky as to be able to remove ourselves from the “actual” bullies.   That’s where kindness needs to abound.  Where there is love and kindness, that’s where miracles can and do happen.  If you are not allowed to be yourself and valued for you being you, then you, too, may be in the presence of bullying in its purist form.  You cannot run away from all of the bullying if you, yourself, become your own bully, reliving versions of the past your mind holds on to and morphs into repetitive scenarios, created by yours truly.  Not perpetuated by others.  And if the mind continues on that path, discussing amongst itself what you should do or could do in the future, you won’t heal and won’t discover the magic that is so there for you to find.  And what of illness? What might our minds believe and perpetuate there?

Your body may begin to heal in ways that may be miraculous and unimaginable when you (simply) practice loving kindness toward yourself and others, and even toward that which inflicts you.  Is it so simple, however? What you are presently perceiving is quite different than what you experienced and might be experiencing.  And perhaps you have been wronged and hurt.  Perhaps you are told that you cannot become well and you are beginning to believe it.

Reality is not what we create in our own minds, not how you believe you were treated, not about what you have been told, but about you now. Are you, perhaps subconsciously or consciously keeping yourself from healing, from tapping into your inner resources, unable to open to spirituality, to Godliness, and images of that purity beheld not only in you and every cell you have, good and bad, but the same in others?

Those facing diagnoses often live in the past wondering what they did, how their bodies were led astray, asking why, how, and why me.  Embracing your whole being can be experienced in meditation.  It can be found in gratitude, in awareness in pure simple joy.  I believe focusing the energy of the mind on specific areas of own body is a powerful tool as is focusing our attention on others’. 

Become the mother tree.  Stand tall and proud, not with haughty arrogance or entitlement.  Nuture one another.  If it means withdrawing to take time to heal yourself, then, by all means, do that.  Others may call you disingenuous for being positive and helpful, but let them.  They, too, are worthy and good and pure in the Eye of much more than you can ever attempt to realize and know.  But don’t hide in that withdrawal. Heal. And reemerge. Reengage.

Truly embrace today.  I believe it was Thich Nahn Hanh, who said, “Breathe in peace; breathe out happy.”  Feel that energy and be alive.  It isn’t there for you to find.  This isn’t about you.  It’s about us, united, connected and whole; and, it is ever present.  It is love and kindness. Be the Mother Tree. Be the Seedling. Now.