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Practice in the Workaday World
Right Effort Cont'd
Preventing unwholesome states from arising, which
have yet to arise, is a second type of right effort. Imagine that you are
in a situation, with a person, or people who push your buttons - it could be by through
the sound of their voices, their body language, their sense of humor or lack if it.
Perhaps they remind you of one of your parents, or they always have to be right.
Saying to yourself, "I'm not going to react, I know what is triggering me is an
example of this type of right effort. "Been there. Done that. I know the
results of reacting."
How many times do you have to tumble off the edge of a
cliff to know that the bottom is not where you want to land?
Say to yourself: "I have a choice
here. I can either
1) get upset
2) react
3) cry
4) scream
5) throw a fit
6) be
defensive
OR I can
1) stay calm
2) stay
connected to myself
3) stay
connected to my center
4) listen
(What a radical act that would be!)
5) respond
6) say nothing
7) let this
wash over or through me
8) have a
sense of humor about the whole thing
9) do what has
to be done.
Once again breathing helps.
Ben Franklin said: "An ounce of prevention is
worth a pound of cure."
Once you prevent the unwholesome then you can produce
the wholesome. If I choose not to react, how can I bring compassion, understanding
and wisdom to myself, this person, these situations?
Producing wholesome states, which have yet to arise,
is the third type of Right Effort. Wholesome states include love, compassion,
equanimity, joy and peace.
Doing simple acts of kindness is one way to apply this
third type. For people who irritate you and for those who don't.
Be generous with your kindness. The simplest of
offerings can make the greatest difference, to a person. Place a flower on your coworkers
desk, giving a poem, a cartoon, a kind word or gesture to someone. Sometimes telling
someone about upcoming events of interest, a concert, a lecture is a simple act of
kindness and shows thoughtful consideration.
Another way of producing wholesome states, thoughts,
words and deed is to make gratitude a habit and a practice.
One simple example arose as I discussed Right Effort
with our meditation group. Two members mentioned a practice they do when they awaken
grumpy in the morning. One man said. "I notice my mood and realize it
will spill out into the entire day if I keep moving in the direction of my mood. So
I stop and remember the power of changing my mood simply by smiling. I plaster a
smile on my face and it changes what ripples out from there, both for my self, my family
and my coworkers."
A woman mentioned the same phenomena and in response to
recognizing her grumpiness found something to be grateful for. "It may be as simple
as being grateful for the color of my sheets." The antidote can be quite
simple, nothing elaborate.
My teacher Ruth Denison is a walking breathing
advertisement for gratitude practice. Ruth taught us to greet each day with
gratitude. There we would be, huddled in the predawn chill on retreat in the desert
near Joshua Tree, in Southern California. We would be wrapped in blankets,
down jackets, hats and gloves and Ruth would come striding through the yucca plants and
sages wearing her rust colored Zen skirt and invite us into a circle. "Greet
this new day!" Sheer delight resonated in the timbre of her voice. "Reach
your hands up to the sky. Extend your arms. Look up. Notice the color of
the sky. Do you know that seeing is occurring? Smell the air. Open your
nostrils. Be aware of your sense contacts. Listen to the sounds of the birds.
Hear the sounds of a new day awakening."
The example of Ruth speaks to cultivating moment to
moment gratitude. There are also rituals of awareness and gratitude which are helpful in
causing wholesome states to arise that have yet to arise.
Before you partake of a meal call for a moment of
silence. Look at the food before you. See the colors and shapes. Be
aware of all the energies that have come together in order for the food to be on your
plate. Give thanks to those energies.
Leave any space you use better than when you first
entered it.
When you leave a place be it your bed, your house, your
place of work, thank it for what it provides you…rest, shelter, support.
Make gratitude a practice, a habit, a habit filled with
awareness.
A fourth right effort is cultivate wholesome
thoughts, words and deeds, which have already arisen. Keep moving in the
direction of the wholesome, especially when conditions are unfavorable and it is easy to
move into judgment, criticism, gossip, old mental and emotional habits, unwholesome
states. Once you have produced the wholesome, feed it, nourish it. Basically, keep
the ball rolling.
A precursor to right effort, what is required for
having the energetic will to apply any of these four efforts, is awareness. One must
have awareness of what is arising, of what is occurring, in order to take any of these
steps.
In Buddhism we speak of taking refuge, of finding a
safe harbor, a source of unshakable security, in three aspects.
1) Each of us, of our own accord has the ability to realize our full potential, to come to
full awakening and the end of suffering
2) Each of us has the ability to realize and understand Universal truth. 3)
There are those who have come to full awakening. Their efforts inspire us to continue our
own efforts. We are not alone. We are interdependent. We live in
community.
One of the greatest ways to infuse our daily lives with
our spiritual practice is to take refuge in awareness. Make it a place to which you
return. Come home to awareness. It is quite portable. It requires no
equipment, no money. It is easily applicable. You can apply awareness, in any given
moment, in any situation.
By having awareness we have choice… a choice to
prevent, a choice to stop, a choice to produce, a choice to cultivate. Choose
wisely.
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