So many of us are having to work from home or self-isolate and we are
starting to get overwhelmed by it all. That is no surprise because being confined
in our homes for days on end can have a detrimental effect on our mental
health. We start to over think and focus on the negative and forget the
blessings. If you have an obsessive nature or are prone to anxiety attacks,
this time can be particularly difficult for you. So, what can we do? Here are a
few things you may like to try.
Keep to your
routines
It may be
tempting to stay in bed longer, go to sleep later, not wash and get dressed or
eat at wrong times. All these things will eventually lead to a feeling of
desperation, despair and it could even lead to depression. Try to stick to your
normal routines where eating and sleeping are concerned. In other words, try to
do what you usually do, but without going outside. It would be helpful to
create a plan for each day and try to stick to it. As human beings, we crave a
little structure – so coming up with a plan for each day will help pass the
time and give you a sense of control.
Don’t overdo your
devices
Doing a
digital detox and limiting the amount of time spent on your phone or laptop can
help reduce anxiety and prevent you from feeling negative.
I understand
that stopping using your phone completely isn’t very practical, so set yourself
time limits. Make a commitment each morning to only use your phone at certain
times and for a set duration. Maybe, 30 minutes in the morning, again in the
afternoon and then in the evening.
It is true to
say that social media can be a great way to keep in contact with friends and
family during self-isolation, but we must keep in mind that overuse is known to
have a detrimental effect on mental wellbeing.
News overload
There is such
a thing as being too well informed. News overload can cause a lot of anxiety
and stress. As with social media, you should limit your exposure to it. Rolling
news only unsettles us. So, limit your news updates to mornings and evenings.
Start a hobby
There may be
something you have wanted to start doing for a long time. Now is the perfect
time to start. You could learn cooking, painting, sewing, writing or podcasting.
It will not only keep your mind occupied; it will also teach you how to be
mindful. When we are focusing on something it prevents our minds from wandering
off to dark places.
Do daily exercise
It is a well-known factthat exercising
releases all-important endorphins which boosts our mood. There is no need to
set up a home gym. You could do Tabata, Pilates or Zumba – there are many good
videos on YouTube that will help you with this.
Get some fresh air
You may be in isolation, but it doesn’t mean you
have to shut out fresh air. If you have a private garden, then go outside each
day. If you have a balcony, go and sit on that. If all you have is a window,
then open it wide and go and sit next to it. Just feeling the sun on your face
and breathing in fresh air will boost your mood and help you shake off mental
health issues.
Time to meditate and be mindful
Meditation and
mindfulness are great ways to banish feelings of anxiety or restlessness. When
we allow our thoughts to control us, they can take us into some deep, dark
places, especially when we are having to isolate. So, meditation and
mindfulness help us to take back control of our minds.
One reason to meditate is to stop the endless chitter chatter in your head, and to find the stillness and silence that lurks within. It will help you let go of those destructive thoughts that lead to anxiety and panic. In this guided meditation called ‘Allowing Your Thoughts to Flow,’ you will learn to see thoughts as just thoughts and so you don’t need to blindly follow everyone.
Mindfulness
practices will also bring your mind back under your control through bringing
awareness to whatever you are doing. The quickest and most simple way to bring
yourself into the present moment is to watch your breath or your five senses.
All you need to do is stop whatever you are doing, close your eyes and focus on
your breath. Just become aware of it flowing in and out of your body. There is
no need to judge or change the rhythm of your breath, just observe it. You
could also focus on what you can see, hear, smell, taste and touch. Again, do
not judge, just observe. So, look around you at five things of different
colour, touch four different textures, listen to three different sounds, become
aware of two different smells and see if you can taste one thing in your mouth,
Both these
practices will bring you into the present moment and help you to stop fixating
on the past or the future.
All of these points may sound quite simple, but even the
smallest of changes to your daily life can bring about substantial results when
it comes to our mental health.
During this time of isolation, I am conducting live mindful meditation practices on The Buddhism Guide Facebook page, so go to their page and check out the timings. If we can’t connect personally, at least we can do it virtually.
Please stay safe, stay healthy and stay informed.
You can read more blogs, listen to podcasts, watch videos and practice guided meditations on the Buddhism Guide app. Available from the Apple Store and Google Play.
If you would like to become a supporter of Buddhism Guides work, such as podcasts, blogs, videos and guided meditation practices, please visithere. You can support for as little as $2 a month.
Most
neuroscientists agree that the left-hand side of our brain is used to interpret
the world. It does this through language, categorising and patterns. It is probably
through this process that our fictional self is born. The left-brain groups
things by some common feature and then treats it as one unit, such as our
thoughts, emotions and bodies, which it puts together and labels it ‘self.’
Our
right-hand side of the brain doesn’t see things in parts, like the left-brain
does, it sees things as a whole and processes the world as a continuum. It
doesn’t use language or patterns like the left-hand side, it is more intuitive.
It is focused on the present moment and doesn’t split things into past and future,
like the left-brain. During deep meditation or deep sleep, we move from our
thinking mind into the non-thinking right-hand side. Remember this side sees
things as a whole and this is possibly what the ancient masters meant by
‘oneness.’
A
neuroscientist had a stroke and for a while lost the use of the whole of her
left-hand brain. During this time, she felt enormous gratitude. This shows us
that gratitude seems to be inherent and is also a feature of the right-hand
brain.
Why I am
mentioning this is because I feel gratitude is more about experiencing the
sensations and less about thinking. It is more about being thankful for reality
and less about acceptance of it.
A few years back I did a guided meditation called ‘Experiencing Gratitude’ and at the time many people thought it was strange I was asking them to experience it, as they had been so used to expressing it. But I felt that more can be gained by non-verbally feeling gratitude and not merely thinking about it. Neuroscience these days seems to back up that claim.
In modern
mindfulness practices we are encouraged to think of three things we are
grateful for and that is obviously a good thing, especially if we are stressed
or anxious. But once we have brought them to mind, I believe we should feel the
sensations in our body and the warmth in our hearts, without judgement,
labelling or categorising. In fact, without thinking at all, just feel. Of
course, this is not an easy task, but beneficial things never are.
The best way
to achieve this is for you to think of something you are grateful for. It may
be a person, a place, your health, your life – it really doesn’t matter. Whatever
it is, bring it to the forefront of your mind and sit with that thought for a
moment. Now, stop thinking about whatever you are grateful for and start fully
experiencing the gratitude. Ask yourself these questions, ‘How does this
gratitude make you feel?’ and ‘What body sensations are tied up with this
gratitude?’ Just sit with your experience of gratitude for a moment. Let
yourself be engulfed by your feelings and body sensations. Truly experience
what gratitude feels like. I believe this is how we should be working with
gratitude.
The more you do this type of practice, the more you will be able to experience gratitude and not just think about it. Give it a try by visiting Buddhism Guide meditations page and listen to the Experiencing Gratitude guided meditation.
You can read more blogs, listen to podcasts, watch videos and practice guided meditations on the Buddhism Guide app. Available from the Apple Store and Google Play.
If you would like to become a supporter of Buddhism Guides work, such as podcasts, blogs, videos and guided meditation practices, please visithere. You can support for as little as $2 a month.
We are usually told about things that will benefit us
but Gampopa, a Tibetan Buddhist teacher from the Kagyu school of Buddhism,
taught ten things that are of no benefit to us.
No matter how much respect and honour are payed to your illusory body, it is certain that it is impermanent and will perish. Hence, such things are of no benefit.
It doesn’t matter if people show you lots of respect or shower you with honours, your body is impermanent and at the time of death that respect and honour will count for nothing. So, don’t let your ego and pride lead you down a wrong path. The kind and respectful things people say to you are just their perspective, so don’t believe the hype, because it is of no benefit to you.
No matter how much greed and stinginess we feel towards wealth and possessions, we will leave naked and empty-handed once we cross the threshold of death. Thus, such things are of no benefit.
A life spent accumulating
vast amounts of wealth is going to be of no benefit at the time of death. You
may have lots of money in the bank or in offshore accounts, but when you die
that money will instantly belong to someone else. Surrounding yourself with
lots of possessions you don’t really need is only going to clutter your life
and mind. Instead, live a simple, contented life. So, don’t waste this life
hording money or possessions, because neither are going to be of benefit to you
when you die.
No matter how much effort we put into building nice homes and mansions, we cross the threshold of death alone with our corpse being taken out the door. Hence, such things are of no benefit.
Spending all of your
time, money and effort on building a big house is not going to benefit you when
you die. You will not be able to take it with you. So, build a simple house
that suits your needs and not your ego. You may like showing your beautiful,
big home to others, but once you die the home is going to belong to someone
else. So, there is no benefit of wasting your time and money on a luxury home.
Je Gampopa
No matter how many gifts you lovingly bestow upon your children and grand-children, there’s not even an instant of benefit at the time of death. Thus, such things are of no benefit.
It is always nice to give gifts to our children and grand-children but
spoiling them with lavish gifts is of no benefit to them or you. You are not
helping them by being over generous. You are just feeding their egos. Nobody is
going to benefit from such acts at the time of death.
Since all of your children and grandchildren are impermanent, even if they keep the things given by you, it is certain they will be left behind. Thus, such things are of no benefit.
Even if you do spoil your children and grand-children, they will not be
able to find any use for your gifts once they have died. This means your gifts
are of no benefit.
No matter how much love and care you have for friends and relatives, when you die you depart without anyone to accompany you. Hence, such things are of no benefit.
Getting attached to family and friends is not going to help you on your
deathbed. In fact, they will disturb your mind be crying and telling you not to
go, which is going to make your departure from this world extremely painful.
When we go, we go alone, so don’t allow yourself to get attached to family and
friends, because it is going to bring you more suffering at the time of death.
No matter how much one strives in working for the nobility and their subjects for the aims of this life, one will cross the threshold of death having been completely cut off from their land. Hence, such things are of no benefit.
You may spend your life accumulating land and property. What benefit
will they be once you die? They will become someone else’s land and property.
This means you have wasted your time and money on things that have no lasting benefit.
Novice monks learning the dharma
Even though one may have faithfully entered the gateway to dharma (Buddha’s teachings), if one does not practice according to the dharma, the dharma will become a cause for one to take rebirth in the lower realms. Thus, it would be without any benefit.
Instead of wasting this
precious life on wealth, family, friends, property, etc., we should study the
Buddha’s teachings. But if we only study them and don’t integrate them into our
lives, what would be the benefit? It would mean you will have a lot of
knowledge about Buddhism but would not have gained any wisdom.
No matter how much dharma you know, having trained your mind in study and contemplation, without putting it into practice there is no way to take such things with you at the time of death. Hence, it would be without any benefit.
If you have had many teachings on Buddhism and you have trained your
mind to study and meditate, but you don’t actually use the practice in your
daily life, why bother? Buddhism is not a belief system or a religion, it is a
way of life. So, we need to study, meditate and then take what we have learned
and use it to help ourselves and others. There really isn’t any benefit in
being able to recite Buddha’s teaching from memory if you are not going to put
them into practice. The world doesn’t need intellectual Buddhists, it needs practicing
Buddhists.
No matter how long you stay in the presence of a spiritual master, if you yourself do not believe what they are teaching, you won’t receive any of their qualities. Thus, it would be without any benefit.
We cannot just surrender to a teacher and think, ‘Job done.’ The teacher is there to guide, mentor and support you. They are not there is magically pass on blessings or do the work for you. It is your path and only you can walk it. Of course, at first, we have to have faith in the teacher and teachings, but once we have experienced for ourselves what the Buddha taught, we no long need faith. Remember, the teacher is there for us to learn from and not lean on. So, find a teacher, study Buddha’s teachings, meditate and implement them into your life, that is the way to benefit from the Buddha dharma.
The point
Gampopa is making here is that we are all heading towards death and so we
should not waste our time on unimportant things. By that I mean, things that
are not going to help us at the time of death. Studying and implementing the
Buddha dharma is one thing that can help us at that point. This is because it
trains our mind to be peaceful, stable, open and compassionate. So, when we are
on our deathbed our mind will be calm and able to let go without any regrets. I
can’t think of anything worse than being scared to take your last breath
because you didn’t want to leave behind your big house, luxury car and
impressive bank account.
You can read more blogs, listen to podcasts, watch videos and practice guided meditations on the Buddhism Guide app. Available from the Apple Store and Google Play.
If you would like to become a supporter of Buddhism Guides work, such as podcasts, blogs, videos and guided meditation practices, please visit here. You can support for as little as $2 a month.
Searching for happiness seems to be one of the most important things in people’s lives today. Here in India, we’ve got the ‘Art of Happiness’ program, in Bhutan they’ve got their gross national happiness (more…)
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