Over the past few months I've been mostly inactive but deeply contemplative and investigative. Throughout this time I've discovered my newborn faith and will be sharing it here; not because I want to proselytize but because my goal has always been to help my readers become a better version of themselves. I hope what I've found will help you and those around you because whether we know it or not...
In some way everyone touches another person who touches another person who... It's kind of like what happens when you throw a pebble in a still body of water and watch the ripples flow outwards. Therefore, I believe that we all have responsibility for caring for those around us. Some of this care may be through friendship while other is through things like therapy.
Following this rabbit hole...
I've been thinking back a lot about therapy and the things that it's taught me through the years; what has worked and what has not. In doing so I've come to find that I've been taught a lot of Buddhist techniques. (Now please hear me out before you close this blog and think that I've become some sort of religious zealot.) Some of these techniques have included:
Meditation: I use to fear meditation because I thought that it meant leaving your mind open so that you'd have nothing in it for a while. Albeit this is important, meditation is more than that. It's also about witnessing your thoughts come and go so you can acknowledge their impermanence. In this way we can realize that although we may feel like shit 1 moment, the next we can choose to be happy again.
Mindfulness: This is a continuation of meditation - something you can carry with you throughout the rest of your day. It's simply pausing to do a full body scan so you can realize what's making you feel negatively and release it by refocusing on the present moment so you can have a good day. Eventually the goal is to learn to live in the moment, every moment but this is a lofty goal which requires a lot of practice.
Yoga: While I also had yoga suggested to me, I decided to look into something called Qigong instead. Essentially they're the same thing but Qigong is Buddhist. It's mindful movement while breathing and meditating. It can be done seated and works for every fitness level.
None of these things were taught to me as part of a religion, but recently I've discovered they're all at the heart of Buddhist practice. I believe that one of the main reasons why nobody has told me this is because they feared teaching Buddhism in their therapy sessions would've been seen as indoctrination (something which I probably would have agreed with initially). However, once you get past the fact that these things are "Buddhist" and recognize how helpful they can be to you, I believe they can change your life for the better (at least I know they have for me).
I've decided to share this with you for a few reasons, such as:
I've added my ChristoBuddhist (a combination of Christian and Buddhist worldviews) blog's link to the header of this site. I don't really want to keep things separate because doing so makes me feel disjointed.
I truly believe that knowing what you're learning and why you're learning it will be beneficial in helping you grow because when you know where something that's working for you is coming from you'll be able to go in search of more such techniques.
Currently I'm studying to become a dharma teacher (a Buddhist religious teacher) and I'm certain that this will impact some of the things I say here. The reason I can say this with such certainty is because I've watched myself grow and the things I say change while I studied and became a chaplain.
I feel called to be a spiritual leader and I'm watching things slowly unfold. I don't feel that this means I'm any better (or worse) than anyone else. I do feel that I want to know (at least) where to find answers so I don't lead anyone astray. With this being said, I'm going to mainly be closing down my diary and incorporating it more here instead.
I hope that the things I share that have been helpful for me will also be helpful for you. If you try something and find that it isn't working for you after about a week, I encourage you to put it on the proverbial "bookshelf" and come back to it at a later time. Each of us is at a different path and growing in different ways but the point is to keep growing so we can overcome the trauma we've experienced in our lives.
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