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Mindfulness in all its forms
Jul. 26th, 2007 08:52 amI forget how it came about, but on Tuesday Berlin mentioned Marsha Linehan. Now, we talked about the Dialectical Behavioral Therapy she developed, and as a clinical psychology geek conversation, that was great.
But what I think was even more exciting, to me and maybe to him, is how much her work takes from Zen practices. Something about that excited my heart. I don't know why.
We talked about the concept of radical acceptance. You'll find all sorts of schlocky self-help definitions on the internet for that term, but it's about accepting reality, accepting things that have happened, and your emotions about them, without judging them. It's about ceasing to struggle with liking or disliking these things, and approving or disapproving of them, but acknowledging and accepting them as reality.
Then Berlin said, "It's one thing to have an intellectual understanding of the term, but to feel it in the kishkes...." Berlin, in his private life, is a Jewish spiritual director, and is very clearly curious about all sorts of spiritual systems. Which is very cool, and makes me feel like I have room to be uncommitted, to radically accept my lack of commitment to a spiritual system? Yeah, that sounds about right. But it inspires me to do more thinking about it.
So I gave him a name in exchange for Linehan, since he'd brought up the Linehan and Zen connection. That name was Zhuangzi. I told him about getting Zhuangzi Speaks from K and reading it in spring of 2005 when I was stressed at work and then when Drew sent me that eviction letter, and how good that made me feel. I remembered how much I enjoyed the Zhuangzi sense of humor, both as K expressed it with his own sense of humor, and as I read it in that book. Made me wish I had a copy of Zhuangzi speaks-- maybe I'll go buy one.
I've been trying to meditate, off and on, since Drew evicted me in spring of 2005. I haven't been able to stick with it, and I kept feeling really guilty when I didn't stick with it. Time for more radical acceptance. And my own Zhuangzi book.
But what I think was even more exciting, to me and maybe to him, is how much her work takes from Zen practices. Something about that excited my heart. I don't know why.
We talked about the concept of radical acceptance. You'll find all sorts of schlocky self-help definitions on the internet for that term, but it's about accepting reality, accepting things that have happened, and your emotions about them, without judging them. It's about ceasing to struggle with liking or disliking these things, and approving or disapproving of them, but acknowledging and accepting them as reality.
Then Berlin said, "It's one thing to have an intellectual understanding of the term, but to feel it in the kishkes...." Berlin, in his private life, is a Jewish spiritual director, and is very clearly curious about all sorts of spiritual systems. Which is very cool, and makes me feel like I have room to be uncommitted, to radically accept my lack of commitment to a spiritual system? Yeah, that sounds about right. But it inspires me to do more thinking about it.
So I gave him a name in exchange for Linehan, since he'd brought up the Linehan and Zen connection. That name was Zhuangzi. I told him about getting Zhuangzi Speaks from K and reading it in spring of 2005 when I was stressed at work and then when Drew sent me that eviction letter, and how good that made me feel. I remembered how much I enjoyed the Zhuangzi sense of humor, both as K expressed it with his own sense of humor, and as I read it in that book. Made me wish I had a copy of Zhuangzi speaks-- maybe I'll go buy one.
I've been trying to meditate, off and on, since Drew evicted me in spring of 2005. I haven't been able to stick with it, and I kept feeling really guilty when I didn't stick with it. Time for more radical acceptance. And my own Zhuangzi book.
