Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Put Some Time into Being Calm

I think people don't spend enough time on things that are very basic because we think certain things just come naturally or are too boring to spend much time on.  In reality these things are often the background upon which other things in our life occur.  When you pay attention to improving fundamental things that you may usually take for granted you are creating a solid foundation of habits which will affect whatever you do.  Some examples of what I am talking about here is how we breathe, how we listen to others or the habitual movement of our thoughts.  These are very basic things that we do everyday, but don't pay much attention to.  If we were to do these things even just the tiniest bit better or more mindfully, we would see a big impact over time in other areas of our lives.

As discussed in the last post, our brain is plastic and will adapt to how we think and respond.  Our mind or brain is the foundation from which everything we do comes from.  Every situation we encounter in life will depend upon our brain/mind taking in information, processing and filtering that information and then responding.  Therefore it is of the utmost importance for it to function the best it can. Working toward a calmer and more relaxed mind improves the way the brain and body work.  It seems to me because of this that it would rationally be within every one's self interest to put some thought and effort into being calmer and more relaxed.

My family and I were very fortunate to have a chance to see the Dalai Lama give a public talk in front of the Capitol building in Washington DC a couple of weeks ago.  A common theme he discusses is the value and importance of having a calm mind.  He lays out many reasons for this including the fact that a calm mind can deal with problems and unexpected events better than an excessively reactive mind.  He asserts that we simply think better and make better decisions when we are calm.  He also focuses on the health benefits of having a more relaxed mind versus one that is constantly stressed out.  Medical science has been very clear that stress is a big factor in pretty much every type of disease and illness.  Reducing stress is a recommended remedy for every type of malady.

A relaxed person who is cool and collected under fire is something that many of us value or admire, but I think its not something many of us work very hard to cultivate in ourselves long term.  I believe that a calm mind is something worth while to pursue for all of the reasons that the Dalai Lama lays out and many more.  One thing I am often criticizing about American problem solving is that we want to have simple and clear solutions to problems even if reality often doesn't work that way.  However, I would argue that in developing a more relaxed attitude we find something close to the magic wonder drug that we are looking for.  We will age more gracefully, be happier and healthier, deal with disease and conflict better, and the list goes on.  Being calm also allows us to be our best selves more often.  So much of the time we are distracted by stress, fear or anxiety and we can't let our natural personality shine through.  Being calm helps the mind function well and be free to perceive what is occurring in real time and think quickly and holistically.  When too much emotion floods our system it slows the processing of our brain down and we can't respond at our best.

For all of these reasons I believe that the development of inner calm is of real value and will help people lead happier and healthier lives.  I have linked here a short video with Jon Kabat-Zinn discussing the value of meditation in training our minds to be more present and relaxed.  His work and research has been one of the bridges between modern medicine and meditation over the past 20 years.  The video is about 4 minutes please take a look, and in the next post we will take look at some of the new research about relaxation and how it affects our health and ability to deal with disease.

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