The quality of our mind is the quality of our life
Training the mind and living life with attention
Wabi Sabi Life is a carefully curated serving of the imperfectly beautiful and unconventional from a Western Buddhist with a love of Japanese culture and aesthetics. If you love it, consider supporting me by becoming a paid subscriber for only £1.00 a week. Access more in-depth content, audio meditations, and the whole archive. Become part of Wabi Sabi Life.
I got lost in thought and emotion today. A couple of weeks ago I was accidentally charged £315 for a coffee. Apple Pay: too easy to click and walk away. You can imagine my outrage and shock when I got home and my e-receipt dropped in. My bank told me to start with the seller, who at first seemed fine to refund me. But, two weeks later no refund. I asked my bank to pursue it and they are even worse to deal with than the coffee seller. After an hour on the phone to the bank I lost my patience. I was swallowed up by the emotion of frustration and anger. But I didn't get angry with the person on the phone. I raised a complaint and came off the phone. I was visibly shaking. I needed to get rid of this bodily tension that had manifested in my mind. So I did a quick 15 minute workout to burn off this energy. Anger is an energy, a fizzing of mental events turned into physical sensation which consume us.
I’ve been working with the Satipatthana Sutta closely at the moment. Otherwise known as the foundations of mindfulness. This includes
mindfulness of the body
mindfulness of feelings
mindfulness of thoughts
mindfulness of mental objects or dhammas, this can be viewed as a reference to truth, to the universal laws of nature. Just as it is the dhamma of water to be wet, it’s the dharma of a person overtaken by anger to be miserable!
So of course I had immediate cause to reflect on my reaction to the whole coffee situation.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Wabi Sabi Life to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.