No Coffee Day 9: Strength

This morning I went to Starbucks with my brother (Jon) for breakfast. Quite honestly, I was very tempted to grab a coffee. In my mind, the following thoughts were running through my mind:
"This couldn't hurt."

"Stop being so legalistic."

"You could actually use a cup today!"


Then something crossed my mind. I made a resolve to not drink coffee. Yes, I know I made this multiple times, but this time, my resolve is different. And I had the following thought, which made any urge to drink evaporate:
My success in not drinking coffee (or in anything) ... my willpower ... or rather, the willpower of a man, depends not on the strength of his emotions, but rather on the strength his resolve and commitment to his cause.


Comments

Mimi said…
I read recently about a Buddhist meditative technique called Vipassana. This meditation is the practise of pure regarding, witnessing your mind and offering your complete consideration to your thought patterns, but allowing none of these thoughts to move you from your seat. There is no mantra, no distractions. To give you an idea what it's like, an intro course lasts ten days during which you sit for ten hours a day in stretches of silence that last two to three hours at a time.

Physically and mentally, it's grueling. You are forbidden to shift your body at all once you have been seated, no matter how severe your discomfort. If you are feeling discomfort then you are to meditate upon that discomfort, watching the effect that physical pain has on you. In our real lives, we are constantly hopping around to adjust ourselves around discomfort- physical, emotional, and psychological- in order to evade the reality of grief and nuisance.

This meditation teaches that grief and nuisance are inevitable in this life, but if you can plant yourself in stillness long enough, you will in time, experience the truth that that everything (both uncomfortable and lovely) does eventually pass.

I know this is a bit austere but people do this. It's possible. And this is certainly a feat when there are mosquitoes out to get you!
Josh Wang said…
This sounds interesting - have you tried it? And this is a good lesson: that much of life is temporary. "This too shall pass." And Vispassana sounds like a powerful way to learn this. Big difference between "knowing" and really truly knowing.
Mimi said…
I have not tried this, though it is reassuring to apply this lesson to other stressful instances or overcoming obstacles.

I read about this. It was a story about a lady who did this as part of her search for devotion in India, hence the mosquitoes (and thankfully not a personal experience with these mosquitoes)

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