From The Daily Dialogue
From The Daily Dialogue
Broadcast of 11/17/98
Subject: [DailyDialogue #321] Addicted to the Mind
"We imagine we are addicted to food or alcohol or sex, but our primary addiction is to the mind. We think we are what we think. We suffer form a case of mistaken identity. We mistake thought for what s thinking. We imagine that every voice, every intention in the mind, is all that is real. We buy into every advertisement that passes through consciousness. We are giant consumers of the mind. We are so easily fooled. We mistake a passing cloud for the immensity of the sky. We keep losing ourselves in thought.
-- Steven Levine, Guided Meditations, Explorations and Healing
I'm a thinking junkie. My willfulness to have and guide my own thoughts seems unbounded. Many times, I refuse to give up my thoughts and focus my attention in dialogue practice with my partner.
Rather, I time-share my attention, carefully rationing it between my partner and my plans, my worries, my stuff. Unfortunately, this usually degrades my attention and understanding substantially. I leave out important points in mirroring her. Sometimes, I miss the whole point of her input.
It doesn't cost me anything to set aside my cares for awhile. But, our partnership suffers when I refuse to do so.
Experiment: For an hour, practice doing only one thing a time in solitude. No time-sharing. Take that same discipline into your next dialogue.
Affirmation: Our partnership grows strronger as we give up our addiction to thinking.
The Daily Dialogue is published each day of 1998 by e-mail. Copyright 1998, Eddy Brame and Marty Crouch, All rights reserved.
