In my previous article, I talked about the ancient metaphor of the “sandal and the thorns”— to refer to the mental capacity we develop through meditation to navigate a complex world, about how we often feel assaulted by our thoughts and emotions, but the contemplative path reveals a profound truth: we are not our thoughts, we are something bigger.
Often, our emotions and our attachment to the ego cloud our judgment.
We imagine things that are not real, and we actually ignore things that are real. As we will see, the best decisions are those that are based on a careful assessment of reality. Now, in some respects, our contemplative practice provides us with the gift that is much more profound than that of self-awareness and self-management. As we achieve greater equanimity, we find ourselves with the space to place our attention on others. And during my retreat at Bonnevaux ‘Cultivating the Fruits of our Contemplative Practice’ , we will explore how this growing capacity to exercise other-centeredness can deepen our personal and professional relationships. It can also help us develop a greater sense of purpose as we experience how our own well-being can be enhanced by approaching life both professionally and personally, as an expression of service.
Perhaps the ultimate benefit of our contemplative practice, which in many ways builds on the benefits that I’ve mentioned – self-awareness, other-centeredness – is that it enriches our personal lives. This is powerfully expressed by John Main, the founder of the WCCM community, when he explains how the three elements : self-awareness, other-centeredness, and our relationship with the Divine – are all related and are revealed through meditation.
Let me quote him:
A final dimension of our retreat will be the exploration of how journal writing can enhance our contemplative practice. I would emphasize three potential benefits, which we will explore.
First, it helps us achieve equanimity when events trigger strong emotions. Writing them down gives us a sense of detachment. The process dilutes the power over us. We move the emotions from our heads to the paper.
Second, if you’re like me, meditation can sometimes deliver insights about ourselves and our environment. A journal can help us reinforce these insights. It can help us develop a narrative about our lives, a narrative that gives us a greater sense of agency and authorship. We can’t control the ups and downs of our life, but we can control how we interpret them. And in doing so, we give ourselves a sense of control which also gives us a sense of well-being.
And finally, a journal can help us work through difficult decisions. What do I mean by that? Well, when confronted with a complex choice, we are uncertain. And because that makes us feel uncomfortable. We instinctively try to find a simple solution, but it may not be the correct one.
Especially if we have jumped for a solution without assessing all aspects of the problem. Einstein once said that if he was given one hour to solve a complex problem, he would spend 55 minutes studying the problem and five minutes designing a solution.
So let me conclude. I think the key objective of both our contemplative practice and our journal writing is that both help us develop a greater sense of interiority, a greater capacity to listen to ourselves, to know ourselves. And I guess this is an apparent contradiction, or as the Zen Buddhist say, although both practices, meditation and journal writing, involve an internal journey, a personal journey, there are journeys that truly benefit other people, and as much as they enable us to place our attention on others and to be sensitive to their needs and who they really are, rather than as we would like them to be.
I very much look forward to taking this journey with you.
Curious to know more?
Sean will be leading a retreat at Bonnevaux this spring titled Cultivating the Fruits of our Contemplative Practice (21 – 24 May) to explore together how a contemplative practice can enable us to experience greater stability, strengthen our relationships and help us become more effective leaders.
