We can cultivate inner peace by breaking free from habitual reactivity and thought patterns.
Habits can shape our thoughts and emotions, resulting in predictable behavior patterns. Without awareness, these habits can become deeply entrenched in our minds, leading to either skillful or unskillful outcomes. By practicing mindfulness, we can begin to disrupt these patterns and create more skillful habits.
Whenever a thought pops up, it might only stick around for a second before moving on, or we can find ourselves getting hooked, like a fish on a line, and suddenly we’re stuck dwelling on the thought. I like to visualize the groove or rut of a tire that's been driven over, and the deeper it gets, the more difficult it becomes to get out of it. It’s somewhat like a trail in the forest; it’s been traveled over so many times that it becomes the natural path of least resistance. It may not be the most skillful path, but we get used to it, and it becomes our habitual way of being. Our thoughts and emotions are the same way.
Like a worn-down path on a mountainside, they become deeply ingrained in us, and we continue to follow them without fully realizing it. However, just as we can choose to step off the path in the mountains and forge a new one, we can also choose to break free from our old thought patterns and create new ones. With each new step, we gain a deeper understanding of ourselves and cultivate inner peace. It's not always easy, but we can create a new, more skillful path toward greater inner peace with practice and patience.
Meditation is the pause button.
In our day-to-day lives, we often encounter situations beyond our control where our usual habitual methods and propensities fail us. It’s like we come to a point on the path where there’s a puddle of water or mud. Our habitual tendencies make us want to step right into the puddle, but if we weren’t so bound by our habits, maybe we could pause to consider stepping around it.
Learning to pause is the first step in cultivating inner peace. Reactivity is not something we can fully stop, but it is something we can pause. Pausing can occur at any point during the cognitive cycle. These pauses can last for a split second, several hours, or even entire chapters of our lives.
Taking a moment to pause can be a powerful way to observe and absorb the unfolding experience. We can even pause mid-thought and observe without judgment. We can look at the bigger picture, and ask ourselves: “Is this the path I want to be on?” “Is this the most skillful path for me at this time?” This same technique can be applied to our emotions and actions. By pausing, we create a space between stimulus and response, allowing us to respond or act more thoughtfully and skillfully.
Sidenote:
Reactivity is sometimes a good thing, and there are certain situations where pausing isn't appropriate. For example, if we're standing in harm’s way, we don't need to pause and think about whether or not we should move out of the way. From an evolutionary perspective, we've survived this long as a species precisely because we're habitually reactive. When our ancestors heard a rustling sound in the bushes, they ran, avoiding being eaten by a lion. However, in modern times, it's not always wise to be caught in our habitual reactivity.
Pausing can be especially helpful during emotionally charged situations, such as conflicts with others, or when we experience intense feelings like anxiety or anger. Instead of reacting impulsively, we can take a step back, breathe deeply, and observe our experience without judgment. This can help us gain perspective and develop a more skillful approach to what action we will take next.
Think of meditation as a “pause button” for the cognitive cycle.
There are two primary types of meditation. The first type focuses on fixed attention, and the other focuses on keeping an open awareness.
Meditation as a flashlight
Consider the two primary types of meditation like a twistable flashlight that you use to navigate in the dark. Twisting the flashlight one way narrows the beam, making it more powerful and focused - this is akin to meditation that hones in on fixed attention. Here, you're zooming in, shedding a concentrated beam of awareness on a singular point, whether it's your breath, a phrase, or a particular sensation.
Twist the flashlight in the opposite direction, and the beam widens, illuminating a larger space but with a softer glow. This mirrors the other type of meditation that emphasizes open awareness. Here, rather than focusing narrowly, you're zooming out, expanding your awareness to soak in the whole panorama of your experience, embracing whatever comes into the light of your attention.
Both the narrow, intense beam and the broad, gentle glow of the flashlight serve useful purposes, depending on what you're trying to explore or understand. In the same vein, both fixed attention and open awareness meditation techniques have their unique benefits and can shed light on different aspects of your inner self. Practicing both can equip you with a versatile toolset to illuminate the various corners of your consciousness, promoting a more comprehensive understanding and fostering greater inner peace.