Thinking habits can be looked into and interrupted with attention to the breath.

Meditation is primarily a way to scan emotional and physical pain to see how optional a lot of it is. The 2nd characteristic of dissatisfaction is seeing how draining a lot of our thinking and intentions are. When impermanence hits home it can throw you into a vantage point of someone who is looking over their life and trivial things get put in their place and are easier to let go of. Much of these Buddhist contemplations originally took place at a time when people had shorter lifespans, non-existent healthcare, as we understand it, so death was much more of a present atmosphere for people even in their 20s. Paying attention to the 1st characteristic, vibrating impermanence, especially looking back at past situations you worried about, how sometimes those strong emotions evaporated, and how periods of zeal and interest turned into boredom and stress, can hit home that anything you pursue will have a predictable outcome of dissatisfaction at some point or another. Yet, nirvana is waaaaaay over there, and preliminary practices of concentration leading to Jhanic flow-states and insights leading to that early feeling of control, provide low hanging fruit that convinces that there is something to these practices.Īs people get better at the Three characteristics (3Cs) of Buddhism, the mind can begin to enjoy staying in the present moment. There’s a temptation to dabble in meditation practices to take control of one’s stress when it seems to be uncontrollable. Yet the people who yearn for more peace are most often the ones who are drowning in these modern environments. Living in cities with modern access to addictive substances, or entertainment on tap, is a challenging environment to be practicing meditation in. When people are called to a goal, including something rarified like Nirvana, it’s often a curiosity that is humbly set aside as too unrealistic.

Wrong way sublime mp3