It started this morning. I woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Not for any reason I can pinpoint, but an off mood nonetheless.
At breakfast I was making eggs for my wife and feeding the dogs and thinking all along how selfish she was for sitting there. I do so much! None of that came spewing from my mouth, but I was in a bad mood.
My mood was pretty stinky much of the day. By the time I was half through the day, I’d begun to suspect it wasn’t the breakfast dishes, the poor quality of internet in our area, the difficulty and unnecessary complexity of building websites, our checking account, being out of root beer, or my wife’s annoying ability to quietly go about her business that was the issue.
Right. You know where this is going. It was my wife’s fault!
Kidding!
No fault can be assigned. It’s just the natural flow of Thought/Experiencing to roil and bubble at times and to calm at others. As I write this my state of mind has shifted once again. How did I do it? Read on…
Ok. That was a bit of a set-up. I didn’t do it. I also didn’t not do it (with apologies to all teachers everywhere). The nature of experiencing is to constantly change. This includes our state of mind and with it the feeling tone of any particular moment.
Secret Technique
So the secret technique is this: DO NOTHING.
Observe. Experiencing shifts and flows. We get into trouble when we attempt to manage the flow of experience, trying to only have pleasant experiences or never be bummed out.
Try an experiment: for the next week notice how moods, thoughts, states of mind – experiencing – comes and goes. And do nothing about it. I don’t mean don’t do your work or neglect your kids. I mean let your experiencing be the way it is without attempting to manage it or change it or improve it.
When we stop fighting or attempting to change the experience we’re already having (can’t put toothpaste back in the tube and all!) we can rest. And when we back off a bit, our wisdom and insight come rushing in to fill the space.
Let me know what you notice.
Vince Flammini 