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mr_anderson
USA
734 Posts |
 Posted - Jun 25 2009 : 04:27:39 AM
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Hi.
After 6 months of emotional hell, I've slipped back into a sort of "present moment awareness" which feels like I'm all day bathing in peace.
I've begun doing Byron Katie's "The Work". This basically leads you into freedom from all your attachments and aversions, so you permanently abide in an unreactive state of mind.
It doesn't matter what is taking place in your life, you feel pretty joyful. Life no longer has to do what you want it to for you to be happy, you are just content with what is.
Here is where I ask for your advice:
Who here has had practical experience of this?
I realise the only reason I've been struggling to perform in a hyper competitive and very difficult job is because I felt I needed to get rich to be happy, and I simultaneously felt I would be unhappy without the respect that successful people get from others.
It's like someone has taken an axe to my attachment to this job. It's beautiful to taste the world when you are not bound to it by fear and desparation. However, I now have no motivation to continue doing this job.
I know being "present" and simultaneously "considering what I should do next" conflict. But I believe in practical wisdom even when you are spiritually connected.
Has anyone experienced anything like this, and has any advice about how I should (or shouldn't) make any changes to my life? |
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Shanti
USA
4854 Posts |
Posted - Jun 25 2009 : 08:24:23 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by mr_anderson
This basically leads you into freedom from all your attachments and aversions, so you permanently abide in an unreactive state of mind.
It doesn't matter what is taking place in your life, you feel pretty joyful. Life no longer has to do what you want it to for you to be happy, you are just content with what is.
Sounds beautiful.
quote:
Originally posted by mr_anderson
However, I now have no motivation to continue doing this job.
any advice about how I should (or shouldn't) make any changes to my life?
This too is a phase and this too shall pass. This too is mind driven. "No Motivation" will happen because the mind is judging your work. Just ride through this phase too. If after a few months you still have this feeling, take it with you into silence (like samyama). Let the answers come from within. If there is discomfort in you, your mind is trying to make things happen. When you do need to take an action, it will happen as a flow, no mind and hence no discomfort.
See if this topic helps: From attachment and aversion be free.. |
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mr_anderson
USA
734 Posts |
Posted - Jun 25 2009 : 08:45:00 AM
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Shanti - the perfect answer to the extent that it feels like your answer came from inside me.
thank you :) |
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CarsonZi
Canada
3189 Posts |
Posted - Jun 25 2009 : 12:01:42 PM
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Hi Mr. Anderson....
I have had a little experience with this....
First, I have read and have implemented Byron Katie's "The Work" in my daily life and I find it a remarkable and life changing system just as you have. Absolutely freeing isn't it.
Secondly, I have been in the situation where I do not want to continue in the line of work I am in. I work for GE Transportation (locomotives) and for a long time after starting AYP I had a real desire to leave this job for a more spiritual one...one that didn't conflict with my values as much (I have problems working for a multi-national corp, and I have issues with some of the areas GE is researching and manufacturing in...mostly weapons). It was right around this time that I was given the opportunity to take a part time job at a homeless shelter. I still had my day job, but in the evenings I was working with the homeless and it made me feel really good about myself (first clue that this was not meant to last long term). I began as time wore on to feel that I was meant to switch careers and that I should be working full time at the homeless shelter. They wanted me to do this as well. They offered me a job full time, except it was on the night shift which I didn't want to work. So I waited and hoped that they would offer me a position on the day shift. All the while I still worked my day job at GE with the expectation that I would soon be quitting to persue a more "spiritual" career. Well, as Life had it, this is not what was meant to be. I was given the job at the Homeless shelter to help me learn to not attach to my job(I was fired after the Program Director found out I was an ex-heroin addict and took exception to the fact that I was teaching yoga and meditation to the homeless despite this...I had not hid the fact that I was an ex-addict, she just hadn't clued in until a certain conversation occured)....to not identify my BEING with what I do for a living. This was a hard lesson to learn as that job made me feel so darn good about myself (EGO!!!) and I really enjoyed it and was very good at what I was doing. But in the end, I wasn't meant to switch jobs....not yet anyways. I still work for GE today, and the longer I am here and the more stable my practice set becomes, the more I realize WHY I am still here. This job at GE affords me a lot of opportunities I would not otherwise have. At this job I am able to spend a lot of my day focussing on yoga.....I am able to help people here......I am able to inquire into all the situations that happen here that cause me distress.....there is growth because of this job. This may not have been the way it was at any other job. You are where you are meant to be at any given time. It can be no other way. There are no "shoulds" in life. If you are saying to yourself "I should be working somewhere else", then you are forgetting about the beauty of where you are NOW. Stay open to possibilities and opportunities but don't expect anything. Just allow. You will know when the time is right to move on because it will happen naturally without extra effort on your behalf.
Love,
Carson |
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mr_anderson
USA
734 Posts |
Posted - Jun 25 2009 : 12:25:44 PM
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Thanks Carson, another really great answer.
quote:
There are no "shoulds" in life. If you are saying to yourself "I should be working somewhere else", then you are forgetting about the beauty of where you are NOW.
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karl
United Kingdom
1812 Posts |
Posted - Jun 25 2009 : 12:35:47 PM
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I remember reading something on this forum I think.....
before enlightenment.......chop sticks.
after enlightenment.........chop sticks.
It keeps me going through those difficult times when you can feel the need to run away and find a sanctuary where you can hide away and meditate.......that too is attachment and I think it all is attachment until you are truly free.
Most days I go through the same thoughts of leaving my job, starting a retreat, wandering the Earth helping spread the word. All is attachment, I know it and can see the way my mind clouds the truth with ignorance and still react as always. It certainly has changed though and it does help that I actually like the job in the first place. |
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CarsonZi
Canada
3189 Posts |
Posted - Jun 25 2009 : 12:52:09 PM
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Hi karl...
In Theraveda (maybe others styles too I don't know) Buddhism the 2nd Nobel Truth is that the origin of suffering is in craving...there are 3 types of craving....craving for sensual things (kama tanha), craving eternal existance (bhava tanha), and craving for non-existance (vibhava tanha). Included in the third type of craving, craving for non-existance, is the craving for being anywhere but where you are. Running from uncomfort. This is just as much an attachment as anything else. Abiding in what Is, regardless of whether or not it is comfortable or not, is a sign of growing away from attachments/clinging/craving. Thanks for pointing this out.
Love,
Carson |
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mr_anderson
USA
734 Posts |
Posted - Jun 26 2009 : 03:40:03 AM
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Karl - I can associate and experience that also.
CarsonZi - Thank you again for that, thinking about the 3 types of craving is very useful for me.
I never expected to get so much value from everyones responses. Thanks so much, it's been very useful.
I recently did a lot of work opening up fully to discomfort in my emotions, and embracing it rather than rejecting it. My emotional hell has intensified, but as I turn to face it and be present with it, I am able to move through it into some new foundation for consciousness that is no longer solely motivated by my personal agenda.
Love,
Josh |
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Shanti
USA
4854 Posts |
Posted - Jun 26 2009 : 10:38:28 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by mr_anderson
I recently did a lot of work opening up fully to discomfort in my emotions, and embracing it rather than rejecting it. My emotional hell has intensified, but as I turn to face it and be present with it, I am able to move through it into some new foundation for consciousness that is no longer solely motivated by my personal agenda.
Hi Josh,
You are blessed with something bigger than you realize. At times, having the intensity is a huge blessing.
Here is a techniques that may interest you: Something to try...
Also this lesson from Yogani may help: Lesson 340 – Transforming Emotional Energy for Enlightenment |
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mr_anderson
USA
734 Posts |
Posted - Jun 26 2009 : 10:43:22 AM
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Thank you Shanti.
I'm an incredibly intense person, and have always had very powerful emotions. I'm also highly sensitive.
I've only just begun to realise in the last 6 months that this is raw fuel that drives me into spiritual realisation. It's like a fire that consumes the boundaries of everyday consciousness. |
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Shanti
USA
4854 Posts |
Posted - Jun 26 2009 : 11:05:54 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by mr_anderson
I'm an incredibly intense person, and have always had very powerful emotions. I'm also highly sensitive.
I've only just begun to realise in the last 6 months that this is raw fuel that drives me into spiritual realisation. It's like a fire that consumes the boundaries of everyday consciousness.
Awesome!!!
You have always had the intensity.. and now you have the tools to use that intensity. What a beautiful blessing to have. |
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Coping with freedom from attachments and aversions
