A soaring endlessly curving path,
every few miles we have to rest.
I look around for my friends.
They've vanished in the wooded hills.

Rain floods the pine trees
and flows hushed among the rocks.
There are silent words deep in hill water,
a long whistle over the summits.

When I look at South Mountain
the sun floats white through the mist.
A blue marsh is luminous and clear.
Green trees are heavy shadows, drifting.

When I am tired of being closed in,
suddenly I come upon a clearing,
and the mind is at peace.
-Wang Wei (699-759) courtesy of dailyzen.com

One of the joys of being a psychotherapist is to witness a client's moment of clarity. The decision to seek professional help for psychological issues takes a tremendous amount of courage. We all want to believe we can take care of ourselves. I believe that each person who comes into my office arrives with the tools and solutions to their problems. I offer the space for us to discover them. Sometimes the discovery happens between sessions and my client walks in with a new confidence and wisdom; and sometimes it happens during the session and we are both aware of coming upon a clearing. The work shifts to understanding the meaning of the discovery so that my client knows what has been realized and what inner resources were utilized to allow that discovery to happen. What I take away from this elegant poem is the reassurance that when we help each other to quiet the myriad thoughts racing around in our minds we can experience that clearing;find our solutions;and enjoy the peace of confidence in ourselves.

Calming the Mind

Too much knowledge
Leads to overactivity;
Better to calm the mind.
The more you consider,
The greater the loss;
Better to unify the mind.
                -Shih Wang Ming (6th c) courtesy of dailyzen.com

Many of my clients report a tendency to “overthink” their concerns. This leads to exaggerating the seriousness or severity of the problem and a subsequent overreaction. It's interesting to note that they often have loved ones who tell them they overthink the problem and need to learn how to relax. All well and good but just telling someone to relax or calm down usually leads to the opposite reaction.
Shih Wang Ming tells us too much knowledge leads to overactivity. I think there is an important difference between having knowledge and seeking knowledge. Being open to new experiences potentiates our self discovery, reacting defensively creates impenetrable walls between us and the world. When we feel isolated or abandoned our anxiety generates the overactivity in our minds. When we feel curious there is a natural opening to the world around us. Our awareness of being in either of these conditions is our enlightened mind that by default has the calm and equanimity we need to unify the mind.
Mindfulness strategies are oriented to cultivating our enlightened mind so that we become more confident in all aspects of ourselves.We can utilize the calm from our enlightened mind to slow down;take a breath; and approach a difficult situation with an open heart.

This one word "awareness" is the source of all wonders. Because of delusion concerning this awareness, the marks of self arise. When it is assumed that there is "I" or "mine," liking and disliking automatically appear.
                                   - Chinul (1209) courtesy of dailyzen.com

Self awareness is a very common term in therapy. People are evaluated on their level of self awareness; distortions in their self awareness; and inhibitions of self awareness. The suffering of my clients comes from a variety of sources. A frequent source is the belief that their struggle is brought on by others. Their reactions are the result of what others are doing or not doing to them. A tough one is the abuse inflicted on a child and the impact that has on the now grown adult's life. The experience of helplessness and the rage of being victimized is profound and can be very disruptive.
When we can recognize the delusion concerning awareness our experience of our self deepens. We know our pain and our suffering in a new way. Instead of the helplessness and rage we can acknowledge our wounds as an important part of who we are; we can transcend the actions of others and discover the compassion of our true self.