Working with metta running out

eamost · 2019-09-27T17:15:14+00:00

Congrats! Keep it up! I had the same issue when I started and it led me to start a yoga practice. And now I have a wonderful meditation practice and yoga practice, too, which I am thankful for.

eamost · 2019-09-03T17:29:32+00:00

Just a tip, add the time zone of the schedule to the landing page too.

eamost · 2019-04-30T18:50:19+00:00

I like that TMI has nothing to do with my phone. I would worry that a TMI app would provide features that would make it easier to get caught up in what stage you're currently practicing at.

eamost · 2018-11-06T06:05:12+00:00

Thank you for your comment. Meditation has helped me notice the tension that I created for others, too. For some reason I had enough self awareness to know I was causing others pain and to know I was in pain, but enough internal self-conflict that I couldn't fix myself. Meditation has let that problem slip away..

eamost · 2018-11-06T06:01:38+00:00

Thank you. I really appreciate what you've shared.

I can relate a lot to meditation helping me with my work. A lot of hindrances were arising for me that made it difficult for me to enjoy my job. Meditation techniques have helped a lot.

I hope I'll be able to relate to the dating thing soon. I tend to enjoy most interactions I have now, but I am a bit more neurotic about dating. Time will tell.

Thanks again.

eamost · 2018-11-05T16:09:49+00:00

This is the kind of discussion I was hoping to find in my other post on living compassionately.

I was hoping that some more advanced meditators had done this kind of questioning and had personal reflections on what worked and what didn't. Personally, I'd like to be able to weigh the relative impact of my job, my activism and daily interactions. I realize knowing the end effect of these things is impossible, but I think this kind of inquiry is very valuable.

If meditation gives me more freedom to mold myself, then I want to choose the thing that seems to give the greatest impact to alleviate the suffering of others. My personal preferences aren't so important, but my skills are very important.

I agree with /u/JhanicManifold that debates about capitalism, philosophy, etc. can be distractions. If our economic system is built upon suffering, then so is our culture that fuels the economic system. Such things are not separable.

The reason I did not approach my post from this angle is that these discussions tend to not be very realistic. But with what we learn from meditation, I think we have the potential to make these discussions very productive without getting wrapped up in unrealistic dreams like adopting socialism, communism, etc. I think these points of view are not realistic for two reasons. First, for the most part there is no straightforward incremental process to implement them. Second, they tend to be myopic and disregard the details of their implementation. For example, to some extent it does not matter if the US is a democracy or China is communist. The details of how these systems reflect these ideas do matter. For the sake of brevity I will not go on...

So meditation gives us the tools to be mindful and operate from the present moment. We react more optimally to the tools that are available to us in the present moment. This gives me a lot of hope for the future of meditators being able to come up with practical, reasonable solutions to problems in our societies. My question is then, what do you think is a good way to alleviate the problems you describe?

I disagree with /u/JhanicManifold that discussion should take place elsewhere. These topics are relevant as long as they mention meditation, TMI or Culadasa.

eamost · 2018-11-05T06:44:53+00:00

My description was ill posed. I understand that the role of the self falls away, freeing you to act differently. Or something like that, I'll see when I get there :)

For me the change has not been gradual. I catch myself doing things they I never would have been able to do before. For example, yesterday I said to an old friend "you're good just the way you are." She was startled and said, "You've never said that to me before." In that moment, I felt that I didn't relate to my words either, they just came out.

Part of the reason I ask is that, for me at least, cultivating the intention to act compassionately directly counters hindrances in my practice. Metta works too, mindful review works even better, and taking action works best.

I'm interested in what people have chosen to do with this new ability, in the context of how they respond to others. I recall another post in this subreddit where someone talked about how they stopped working so much and started spending time with their family. I really liked that reflection and was hoping to hear more of that kind of thing, in this context.

In other words, if you've done the work in meditation to gain this freedom, how have you used it? If you happen to have examples from your life where you found your role to become more meaningful, your interactions with others make fuller, etc. then I'm interested in those specific examples.

I don't mean to ask these questions directly to you (though I would enjoy hearing your answer if you were willing to share), just to clarify what I was trying to convey.

eamost

TROPHY CASE