stressors
The country in which I live, the Netherlands, has a very specific culture. It's actually Satanic to some degree - if we for a moment forget the widespread stupidity, which in the last few years even found its way into the government. A large portion of the population is open-minded and accepting; not so terribly afraid of 'immoral' behavior. We've got nude women on tv, smoking marijuana is allowed to a certain degree, being gay is quite accepted and we even have a political party defending pedophilia. Also, Dutch people are very down to earth, pragmatic and active. This last characteristic needs to be emphasized. I live in a very busy country. There's little peace and quiet down here.
There's a problem with that, because Dutch people are also very stressed. The term 'burn-out' is very common; people who cannot handle the stress of their jobs anymore and need to quit for large periods of time. All the unbridled activity leads to inbalance. To my opinion, productive activity is only possible if it's done from a contemplative state of mind. Otherwise you'll end up with activity that is uncontrolled, heading nowhere and ripping a person of his sense of doing something worthwhile. This attitude, what I call 'contemplative', points at a mental state which is relaxed and sharp at the same time. This should be incorporated into your character. Only from such a state of mind it's possible to deal with things efficiently; without losing direction and getting utterly restless and chaotic.
This is not the first time I write about this subject, see for example the essay 'centering'. Talking about it is useful, but we need to do something to bring it about. This kind of attitude doesn't come all by itself. It needs training. One such training is doing the meditative technique I propose in the mentioned essay. A nice aspect of that technique is it's scope; it can be applied in different ways.
A side effect of doing this technique is an increasing understanding of the kind of mental states you're in. Often the mind seems to go unnoticed into restless ways of being. Also you'll notice that certain situations push the mind gently and automatically into a similar meditative state (not everyone is able to experience this right-away. Some people are so used to be busy all the time, that they cannot easily reach calmer states of mind. If there's not enough input, the mind can easily start an internal train of thought, which is just as active as full input). That's because in such a situation the level of mental-input is lowered.
This happens for example when walking. Preferably alone and not too fast. Preferably in a quiet park. In my neighborhood there happens to be a quite dense park, which is actually more like a small forest. This is even more perfect. The mind reorganizes itself, clears up and leaves you in a much more alert state.
There's a problem with that, because Dutch people are also very stressed. The term 'burn-out' is very common; people who cannot handle the stress of their jobs anymore and need to quit for large periods of time. All the unbridled activity leads to inbalance. To my opinion, productive activity is only possible if it's done from a contemplative state of mind. Otherwise you'll end up with activity that is uncontrolled, heading nowhere and ripping a person of his sense of doing something worthwhile. This attitude, what I call 'contemplative', points at a mental state which is relaxed and sharp at the same time. This should be incorporated into your character. Only from such a state of mind it's possible to deal with things efficiently; without losing direction and getting utterly restless and chaotic.
This is not the first time I write about this subject, see for example the essay 'centering'. Talking about it is useful, but we need to do something to bring it about. This kind of attitude doesn't come all by itself. It needs training. One such training is doing the meditative technique I propose in the mentioned essay. A nice aspect of that technique is it's scope; it can be applied in different ways.
A side effect of doing this technique is an increasing understanding of the kind of mental states you're in. Often the mind seems to go unnoticed into restless ways of being. Also you'll notice that certain situations push the mind gently and automatically into a similar meditative state (not everyone is able to experience this right-away. Some people are so used to be busy all the time, that they cannot easily reach calmer states of mind. If there's not enough input, the mind can easily start an internal train of thought, which is just as active as full input). That's because in such a situation the level of mental-input is lowered.
This happens for example when walking. Preferably alone and not too fast. Preferably in a quiet park. In my neighborhood there happens to be a quite dense park, which is actually more like a small forest. This is even more perfect. The mind reorganizes itself, clears up and leaves you in a much more alert state.
posted by Christiaan SHOW COMMENTS
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