Zen Master Technique:Feeling Alive
"People say that what we are seeking is a meaning of life. I don't think this is what we're really seeking. I think what we're seeking is an experience of being alive." ~ Joseph Campbell
Feel alive again.
As a Zen master once said; this technique is so simple that a 5 year old can know it, but a 90 year old man can fail to practice it.
It’s simply the practice of being in the now.
The past and future never exist except in your own mind. But how many of you have had your mind zip away to somewhere else while reading this article? How many of you are, right now, thinking of something you did or going to do, instead of being fully here?
Every moment you spend away from the present is a moment you lose, and the only time you can ever really be alive is now.
But centering yourself isn’t rocket science, it’s quite easy. You don’t have to go anywhere, find anyone or even do anything much.
All you need to do is breathe!
1) Decide to take a moment for yourself (maybe this moment? :)). Find somewhere you won’t be disturbed.
2) Close your eyes, if you can, and decide to focus on nothing else but your own breathing.
3) Start taking deep breaths, and become more conscious of how it actually feels to take deep breaths. How does it feel going into your nose? How does your chest feel when it expands? Focus on nothing except your breath.
4) If thoughts of any kind intrude, let the thought go and come back to focusing on your breath.
5) Repeat as many times as you like, until you feel centered and in the now.
6) Open your eyes, noticing how differently the world looks, hears and feels.
We get caught up in our errant thoughts that often we lose focus of what it really means to be a human being, not a human doing, and to focus on the only time we have to be truly alive.
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