Australia and the World Past and Present

In Buddhism it is sometimes said that you should take refuge in the breath.

This is because it is a place that you can find some calm and peace from the troubles of the world.

This is particularly important if you have had difficulties in your past or feel crushed under the weight of things in your future.

The past has gone and can’t be changed.

If we have had a particularly difficult period, perhaps very recently, it is often the case that our thoughts will return to those thoughts again and again and again. But we will cause ourselves further pain.

Sometimes these thoughts drag us back like a powerful magnet.

We somehow need to break the cycle of reliving certain distressing events.

The future is different from the past in the sense that it hasn’t actually happened yet. Past events are concrete. They did in fact take place, even though our memories of them may be pliable and change over time.

The future is more uncertain.

Some things may have a high probability of occurring in the future, but they are still inherently uncertain.

When we project our thinking forward into the future, we are engaging in a form of daydream.

We are constructing possible scenarios which may take place in a way similar to how we imagine them, but they will never be exactly how we imagine them.

You may be staring down many pressures that are waiting for you in the future and they may appear overwhelming.

But you can go to the breath.

Your breath is the present. Therefore, focusing on your breath takes you away from your past and future.

Closing your eyes helps you shut out things in the present that are distracting you.

When you close your eyes you are in the vault of your own mind. Because there are no other distractions, there are only your own thoughts.

Your breath gives you an anchor even if you are assailed by negative thoughts with your eyes closed.

Here you can find some calm and refuge.

All of us will have some happy memories of the past. What was the happiest moment of your life? Some people know immediately what their answer would be. Others may not be able to recall such an event right away. It would serve you well to identify a bank of 5 memories – times when you were extremely happy. If you find yourself stuck in unhappy thoughts, you will be able to produce an antidote in the form of happy memories. This can also give you some relief.

It is best to have a number of happy recollections in your arsenal. The breath is quite a neutral object for meditation. Therefore it can be difficult to stay with. Often it doesn’t seem interesting enough for the attention to hang onto. Happy memories will provide a bit more colour and interest for the mind and as a result they may be easier to stay with. But the mind will still try to wonder. So having a variety of memories will allow your mind to move on to another memory of your choice.

When you in a loop of negative emotions, it can feel that it is a lot of work to focus on your breathing. You will probably feel that it is not working – that it is ‘wrong’. And overexertion in meditation can be problematic. It should be relatively peaceful and easy – not a battle royal.

Thinking about the future is a form of daydreaming as we are imagining what will take place. Some people focus on all the things that go wrong instead of all the things that might go right. If you find yourself falling into this trap, again, build up a bank of 5 images of things that can go right for you in the future. It might be the near future or the more distant future. These can help balance out too many negative images.

The mind is a powerful thing. When thoughts become dark you will too and you will be weighed down from the pressures of the world. A clear, bright mind makes such a difference. In this state, thoughts comes and go freely and won’t hinder you. You will be able to navigate and sail through the world much more easily and you will appear this way to others.

Thoughts can spiral. Once negative thoughts gain traction they can generate further ones. Bad thoughts tend to reinforce bad thoughts. That is why they can be so difficult to overcome. The more negative they are, the more effort will be required to get out of them. Conversely, happy thoughts generate further ones. Then you have a natural upwards spiral. I find that when I look at very happy individuals, they seem to sail through life. Things seem to get better and better for them.

The mind is a powerful thing. If the past and future are causing you grief, shrink your world to the minute present and take some refuge in the breath.