Notes on noting
Since Friday I been wanting to submit a blog note but have been stuck until today. Over the past week Sharon’s instructions on noting have proven the most helpful to me. In the past I have tried – often not successfully – to merely let any thoughts and emotions move on. With noting I am beginning to discern the attachments behind those thoughts and emotions.
With time I believe I will learn, as Sharon suggests, which thoughts and emotions to nurture. Without some deeper understanding of what lies below the surface of what we think and feel how can we know what is healthy and what is not. I feel I knew this but to have a practice tool that supports a deeper exploration is invaluable.
For the last week my inspirational reading has been Letters from Seneca – the stoic philosopher. In a series of letters to a younger friend he discusses a number of themes, including friendship, freedom, social responsibility, in ways that sound remarkably Buddhist.
In one letter he writes about how we might approach the death of a friend. The choices being one of pain and grief with the alternative being a celebration of that friendship. He appears to come down on the latter approach.
“Thinking of departed friends is to me something sweet and mellow. For when I had them with me it was with the feeling that I was going to lose them, and now that I have lost them I keep the feeling that I have them with me still.”
For me, choosing how we react to the impermanence of life is the core of the practice. And I believe noting is going to be a very useful ally in making those choices.
Rene R