THE PATH TO CLAIRITY

Have you ever struggled with what is called the Five Hindrances? They are obstacles in our mind that hinder progress in daily life. They can throw us in disarray.

1.     Sensual Desire – all senses, positive and negative emotions, fantasy and imagination. This is especially difficult in today’s digital deluge. When we don’t always get what we want, the world can be painful. It can become easier to feel the dissatisfactions than to uproot this habit and find freedom from our constant craving to satisfy our senses.

2.     Heaviness – lack of motivation, depression, impatience, hard to make and effort. This can appear as overwhelm, brain fog, freeze, or collapse, or can disguise itself as ordinary sleepiness or disinterest. The output is low energy and is rooted in deep layers of loss of purpose, weak or unclear intention in practice.

3.     Ill Will/Desire – can be thought of broadly as encompassing many manifestations of judgement and negativity. It is the opposite of loving kindness and compassion. Negativity bias is an unconscious survival strategy. 

4.     Restlessness and Worry – mind cannot settle, future or past is where you stay, rejecting or judging.  This can be felt with the pace we keep, the multitasking, and the short attention spans we’ve become accustomed to. We simply don’t take time to come into stillness. We may feel like this is a mental counterpart to physical restlessness is the obsessive rumination of worry, anxiety, or vigilance. 

5.     Skeptical Doubt – indecision, can’t do … what is this, what is that, stay stuck. The most difficult of the hindrances is the slippery mental and emotional territory of doubt. The main antidote is seeing it and naming it for what it is. When we see a discouraging narrative for what it is, the story loses some of its power over us.

There is a four-step process – using the acronym RAIN which can achieve centeredness which is mindfulness and compassion.

1.     Recognize what state you are in

2.     Allow and accept that what you are going through can also be a gift or an opportunity.

3.     Investigate and ask 5 whys (to discover the cause rather than the symptoms), what are consequences/cost if I remain?

4.     Nurture – practice – I am not the body, mind, emotion – I can see each – but 50% of my perceptions are not the truth. I can feel each, but I am neither the feeling nor the perception.

Want to learn other paths to clarity, let’s talk.