"This Week" by the Bahrain Meditation Centre
10th February

The River of Life

Without doubt we now live in a world that is changing faster by the day, driven by technology and the speed of communication. Our expectations have transformed over the last two decades. We are almost addicted to speed as we expect to have our desires satisfied almost instantly. And when they are not we create emotional stress in the form of anger or fear. Be aware of what happens to your teeth when your computer 'hangs' for a moment. They clench and grit with tense frustration because the machine that should be speeding you through cyberspace has just come to a standstill. Watch your irritation levels rising as the driver in the car in front refuses to get a 'move on'. Notice your outrage at the latest political manipulations or maneuverings. Be aware of your fear, however subtle, as the latest statistics on global warming hit the front pages. While most of us are aware that we are surrounded by a fast changing world very few of us seem to be able to see that its not the changing world that is the cause of our mental and emotional discomfort, it is us.

What is the one thing every human being has to do when faced with any change? The most common answer is 'adapt'. The belief system that has conditioned us says ' adapt or die… if you don't adapt you don't survive'. This may be useful at times and in some situations. But if we live by this belief all the time, in an exponentially changing context, we will end up like the frog in the pan of slowly heating water that simply adapts its body temperature to boiling point and explodes itself to death! While our belief in the necessity of adaptation may not lead to 'boiled frog syndrome' it will likely take us into burnout. The right answer to the question of what does every humane being HAVE to do when faced with any change, is 'create a response'. And responses can vary from adapting to ignoring, from embracing to avoiding, from ignoring to empowering.

Most of your reactions to change happen so fast you find it almost impossible to see and understand both how and why you react. In slow motion the process of response creation is thought, feeling (emotion), attitude, words and action. This means that if there is any stress it is entirely 100% self created as no one else is responsible for what you think, feel and do. This is hard for most to see, never mind accept, due to that other predominant belief system that holds most minds in its grip worldwide, which is ' its not me its them'. This belief is what keeps you disempowered and enslaved to an illusion, while suffering from the most common form of self inflicted dis-ease known as 'victimitis'. The only cure is to fully understand why you create all your stress and what exactly is the root cause. So lets do it.

What is the most common response to change? It is to resist. Why? The emotion behind resistance is always fear. Fear IS stress at an emotional level. Fear of what? Fear of the unknown? No, because you cannot fear what you do not know. It is fear of losing what you already know or already have. And that usually comes down to one of the 7 Ps! – position, power, pay, possessions, privileges, people or prestige. Watch yourself or anyone else resist change and you are watching a fear of losing one of these seven things. A good friend arrives to say they are losing their job next week and what do we say or think, "Oh dear that's a shame"! Next thought? "I hope it doesn't happen to me". Its not even happened and already there are stressful worry thoughts being created. In reality, you cannot hold on to any of the 7 Ps. Do you still have the same money in your pocket from three days ago? No. Do you still have the same job you had five or ten years ago? No. Most of us will have many jobs in one lifetime. Do you still have the same people in your life as you did five, ten, twenty years ago. No. A few perhaps. But most come and go. Do you still have the same clothes in your wardrobe as you did five or ten years ago? YES! Because you don't want to let them go!

In fact if you stand back for a moment you may notice all these 'things' in life are designed to come and go. They are all simply forms of energy, and all energy is in a constant state of fluctuation and transformation. In fact, put them all together and you get what is often referred to as 'the river of life'. And what do rivers have to do? They have to keep flowing. But what do we do? We try to damn the river. This is known as the 'Damn It' philosophy of change management. And this is why we frequently feel pressure, because that's what builds up behind a damn. And what happens to the quality of the water behind a damn? It becomes stagnant and smelly. So our relationships become 'smelly' as we play games of suspicion, deviation and manipulation in order to hold on to what we imagine we may lose.

A few, but is seems only a few, are a little more enlightened. They practice the 'Judo' philosophy of change management. They turn and face whatever changes come. They humbly bow and give respect to what or who is in front of them. They embrace change, and as they do they catch the momentum of the change, and then make it work for them. So what is your philosophy? Is it the Damn It philosophy or the Judo philosophy? In truth everything comes and goes, and if you do not let 'every thing' go when it is time for it to go, you simply create and live in fear and act in resistance. It becomes a habit. Stress is just another habit. It makes for a very uncomfortable and unhappy way of life. The only solution is to be aware when the stressful feelings arise, and then look behind those feelings and see what you are holding on to, or what as yet unfulfilled desires or expectations you have. And then the only cure is to let go and go with the flow. But not just any old flow. That is almost as unenlightened as constantly resisting the flow. So next week we explore 'the flow' to see if you are going round the bend!

Question : What or who are you constantly resisting in your life at the moment and which one of the 7 Ps is it?
Reflection : Take a few moments to visualise what could happen as soon as you let go.
Action: Dedicate one day this week to the practice of letting go and consciously let go every time the opportunity arises in your interactions with others

Om Shanti
(I am a peaceful soul)
 Tel: +973-17-712 545, meditate@batelco.com.bh, www.bahrainmeditationcentre.org
Bahrain Meditation Centre is administered by B.K.W.S.U. (visit: www.bkwsu.org.uk)