I love that this week’s theme is “Letting Go of Burdens”. By getting in tune with my body through mindfulness, I have this opportunity to better see the ways I automatically add on to experiences which in turn can create burdens.
Sharon reminds us that we naturally categorize our thinking and things we take in with our senses as one of pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral. But wait… pleasant can be a burden? Well, yes…
Here’s a simple example: When I was a student in university, I lived in a west-facing apartment. I would see the most spectacular sunsets. (Saskatchewan has the motto “land of the living skies” for good reason!) Pleasant, right? But there was a burden there: I would take picture-after-picture of sunsets (and this was in the pre-digital camera era too), in a hopeless attempt to hold on to that elusive beauty.
Sharon says, “Mindfulness allows us to enjoy pleasant experiences without that extra thing we do, which is grasp at the pleasure in an attempt to keep it from changing.” So that aspect of clinging to a pleasant experience adds a burden to it. I couldn’t fully enjoy the sunsets because I had this sub-conscious yearning to make the transient stay.
Sharon says,
When we can’t let the moment in front of us be what it is (because we’re afraid that if it’s good, it will end too soon; if it’s bad, it’ll go on forever; and if it’s neutral, it’ll bore us to tears), we’re out of balance. Mindfulness restores that balance; we catch our habitual reactions of clinging, condemning, and zoning out, and let them go.
Now, when I see a beautiful sunset, I can see it, catch that habitual clinging and let go of that burden. Then I can more deeply appreciate the pleasant experience, by being in tune and in balance, through mindfulness.
With best wishes for week two,
Andrea G