Contemplate the mind;
This king of emptiness
Is subtle and abstruse.
Without shape or form,
It has great spiritual power.
It can eliminate all calamities
And accomplish all merits.
Master Fu (497-569) courtesy of dailyzen.com
The time that is spent in therapy is often subtle and abstruse. We sit for 50 minutes and reflect on the events and the concerns of the past week.Exploring and working through fears is a difficult task. The goal is always to contemplate the mind.The effort to do that is not an easy one. Calamities tend to elicit strong feelings,we are reacting to very serious situations and we seek dramatic solutions to our problems. The decision to seek professional help happens when we are overwhelmed by the circumstances of our life. When we find a place to sit still long enough to tell our story the contemplation begins. By bearing witness to the pain and to the struggle I am able to carefully slow the pace of my client's experience and allow the subtle and abstruse qualities to emerge in our conversations. This is the essence of active contemplation. We discover new possibities and new perspectives in our careful study of the presenting calamity.Change becomes a natural outcome of this work. To sit still and listen to our breathing helps us to slow the pace of our experience and connect with a great power to work through calamities and grow stronger and wiser in the process.
A deeper understanding of ourselves and the process of change in psychotherapy.
Monday, October 20, 2014
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Truth’s naked radiance, Cut off from the sense and the world, Shines by itself. No words for it. -Pai-chang (720-814) We make our...
-
Pure morning, near the old temple Where early sunlight lights the tree tops, My path has wound, through a sheltered hollow Of boughs and ...
-
The spiritual light shines alone, Far transcending the senses And their fields; The essential substance is exposed, Real and eterna...
-
The teaching of the one vehicle that reveals the true nature holds that all sentient beings without exception have the intrinsically enligh...
No comments:
Post a Comment