Tag Archives: Present Moment

Living Meditation

Posted on by under Distraction, Living Meditation, Mindfulness, Present Moment

     Beating myself up for not adhering to a strict zen meditation routine is a daily occurrence. But I realized something after deleting Facebook the other day. First of all, the effect of simply removing cable television service and social media like Facebook is nothing to scoff at. Despite having been my lazy self when it comes to meditation and Step work, the last three days I have basked in the present moment. I have been living one moment at a time, one thought at a time, one action at a time. I have been moving slower, eating slower, and reacting less. Best of all, my incessant stimulus headaches are gone.

     What I have discovered is ‘living mediation’. Our lives can be a constant meditation. All we have to do is slow down and just do what’s in front of us, mindfully and deliberately. We don’t necessarily have to carve out time to pack in a good half-hour meditation session. Meditation can be a 24/7 thing, if we can discipline ourselves to live moment to moment.

     Removing distractions is just the first step, but an important one. It’s hard to clear out the mind and think one thought at a time if we’re constantly jamming clutter into our storage space. After that, it’s a simple matter of practice. I do what’s in front of me, but I try to do it slowly and deliberately. I try to just focus on that one thing. And if my head jumps into the future or the past, I pray for help bringing me back and keeping me there (or here, rather).

     Maintaining sanity and dosing ourselves with some peace of mind and happiness can be as simple as removing worldly garbage and slowing down. And if for some reason you find it hard to cancel Comcast or delete Facebook, pray for the willingness. I assure you, it will come. Plus, do you really want Facebook scum management selling your information to the NSA and the current administration to be scrutinized and assessed to see if you need to be detained indefinitely under the president’s illegal and wildly immoral NDAA act?

God, please teach me to live each moment mindfully and deliberately, that I may live my life in constant meditation…

Menial Tasks/Tactics

Posted on by under Menial Tasks/Tactics

     I now employ a slew of tactics to ward off the depression, anger, boredom, frustration and other spiritual demons. The Big Book refers to them as RID (Restlessness, Irritability, Discontent), and they occur when we remove the substances. In fact, they tend to occur when we remove any kind of distraction whatsoever. And besides the spiritual or psychological work that all of us addicts and alcoholics must do, I usually have to engage in all sorts of menial tasks to try to get out of my head and raise my seratonin/dopamine levels. Ultimately, however, there no is activity that can fix us or free us. We must turn to something much Greater. 

     But they sure are useful.

     Exercise is one. And sure it’s like a form of torture to get up and go for a run after years of remaining sedentary. Making it a routine is near impossible, but I can assure you that once you motivate to exercise enough times, it becomes less difficult, and eventually it’s just like eating or sleeping… or something you just have to do in order to ward off the various forms of insanity.
    Menial tasks such as cleaning, organizing or gardening can also bring me back into the moment and clear my head. Pick up a broom and see what happens. If your mind is in any way as active and nutso as mine, it may help. The past is gone and the future doesn’t exist yet, so why go there? Just to cause us more pain? To think that I might actually be pain-dependant, or something equally masochistic. How ridiculous.
     Finally, there is no such thing as missing out. I used to think that if I stayed at home and cleaned, then somehow I was missing out on life, on having fun, on some job, or maybe on becoming a star! Nope. There is no ‘missing out’. Because even if I was living some fantasy dream, none of it would matter if I was constantly suffering. 

     Who cares what we have, what we’re doing, or who we’re with if we feel like complete and total shit? All that really matters is how we’re feeling inside. If I am content and at peace, then it doesn’t matter where I am or what I’m doing. That’s why some of my happiest times are when I’m scrubbing scum off of my kitchen floor or scooping up a pile of dog shit in my yard.

God, please show me healthier, more productive ways to distract myself when necessary…