I am on the plane returning home from Viet Nam and we hit turbulence. It's bad and it doesn't stop. I hate flying, the thought of being five miles above the earth in a tin bus with wings is unsettling. I sweat even when there is a light chop. I try not to think about dying at times like this.
But this time I tried something I've learned from reading Eckhart Tolle. I started observing myself, saying, "Oh, look, I'm scared. My heart is beating faster. I think I'm going to die." I made myself curious about what I was feeling. And a funny thing happened. While I was observing myself, the fear went away.
Maybe my mind was too busy being curious to allow scary thoughts. But that doesn't seem to be enough of a reason. I think it was objectifying of the situation, the separating of the me from the I. There was the I that was looking at the my fear. At that point I stopped being fear and started looking at it as something outside of myself. And the fear just dissolved.
I tried that yesterday when I had a craving to buy a steak and onion sandwich from D'Angelo's. Instead of resisting the urge, which I usually would do to no avail, I allowed myself to feel the wanting and look at it. I didn't push the idea away, I accepted it and let it be there. I looked at the desire as an object, separate from myself. Not fighting it. The inner emotion of wanting seemed to dissolve. I ended up making a large salad instead.
Wouldn't it be a wonderful thing if we could lose our fears and cravings simply by accepting them, looking at them, making friends with them. I think we can.
But this time I tried something I've learned from reading Eckhart Tolle. I started observing myself, saying, "Oh, look, I'm scared. My heart is beating faster. I think I'm going to die." I made myself curious about what I was feeling. And a funny thing happened. While I was observing myself, the fear went away.
Maybe my mind was too busy being curious to allow scary thoughts. But that doesn't seem to be enough of a reason. I think it was objectifying of the situation, the separating of the me from the I. There was the I that was looking at the my fear. At that point I stopped being fear and started looking at it as something outside of myself. And the fear just dissolved.
I tried that yesterday when I had a craving to buy a steak and onion sandwich from D'Angelo's. Instead of resisting the urge, which I usually would do to no avail, I allowed myself to feel the wanting and look at it. I didn't push the idea away, I accepted it and let it be there. I looked at the desire as an object, separate from myself. Not fighting it. The inner emotion of wanting seemed to dissolve. I ended up making a large salad instead.
Wouldn't it be a wonderful thing if we could lose our fears and cravings simply by accepting them, looking at them, making friends with them. I think we can.
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