1.3 & 1.4 Seeing Clearly

1.3 तदा द्रष्टुः स्वरूपेऽवस्थानम्
Tada Drashtuh Svaroope Avasthanam
Then the Seer dwells in its essential nature.

1.4 वृत्तिसारूप्यमितरत्र
Vrittisaroopyam Itaratra
Otherwise the movements of the mind are regarded as the Seer.

From the moment we are born, we attach meaning to the things we see. We associate our mother with love and nurturing and relate our milk bottle to a feeling of satiety.

There is a very good reason why we attach meaning to things. We would not have survived very long as a species, had we not learned early on to associate fire with pain and become fearful when faced with an angry bear.

The problem arises when we apply these instinctual associations to our day to day life in a way that does not serve us. We all carry trauma around with us. Perhaps your heart starts to pound in crowds, because you recall losing your parents in a crowd when you were little. Perhaps you avoid social gatherings because of a humiliating experience you had as a teenager. Or perhaps, like me, you have trouble controlling yourself around food, because it acts as an emotional comfort blanket.

Again, there is a good reason why your minds have made these associations. Your mind simply wants to protect you from getting hurt, at whatever cost to your sanity.

Letting go of all judgments towards people, things and situations is virtually impossible and not necessarily desirable. Nevertheless, we can benefit from practicing separation between what we see and the information we attach to that visual.

Next time you catch yourself going down the rabbit hole, stop, take a breath and focus on truly seeing what is going on. Instead of reading into a situation or worrying about what may be, just focus on what is right in front you.

Learning to let go of our judgments is a challenging practice and I will go into it more in the next blog post. In the meantime, I invite you to elaborate on your mindfulness exercises by practicing observation without judgement.

Let's say, for example, you step out of the office and are hit by a blast of cold air. Instead of attaching a story to the cold and how miserable it is making you, shift your attention to the physical sensations you are experiencing. You might feel goosebumps on your skin or experience numbness in your cheeks. Don't attach a judgement to the sensations, just observe them.

Happy mindfulness practice and see you next time for some more information on non-judgement!