William James provided a nice little description of neurotic behavior: Imagine it's winter and you’ve woken up in an ice-cold room under a nice warm blanket. You have a few options. You can get up and start the day or you can stay in the warm bed for the day. You also have a third option, the neurotic option, of staying in bed but unable to enjoy it, wondering if you should have gotten up.
We’ve all been neurotic at some point, and it robs us of the opportunity to enjoy the moment for what it is. It robs us of the chance to live as fully and joyfully as we otherwise might. We’re under the shadow of some sort of ubiquitous low-level suffering that has us questioning our decisions right up until we’ve made them, plus some. Its mantra: “Maybe I should have …” is familiar to most of us and we know it to be both unpleasant and unfulfilling. For some of us it’s also unremitting.
So, what to do, what to do?
Different forms of therapy can help. Meditation can help too. So can other practices we borrow from the world’s contemplative traditions. I’m thinking here, in particular, of death contemplation. That’s right, one of the most reliable methods for overcoming that low-grade, annoying neurosis is to contemplate the very fact that we will die.
Buddhist traditions, in particular, encourage us to reflect on our mortality and to accept it. The bottom line is this: Full story...
We’ve all been neurotic at some point, and it robs us of the opportunity to enjoy the moment for what it is. It robs us of the chance to live as fully and joyfully as we otherwise might. We’re under the shadow of some sort of ubiquitous low-level suffering that has us questioning our decisions right up until we’ve made them, plus some. Its mantra: “Maybe I should have …” is familiar to most of us and we know it to be both unpleasant and unfulfilling. For some of us it’s also unremitting.
So, what to do, what to do?
Different forms of therapy can help. Meditation can help too. So can other practices we borrow from the world’s contemplative traditions. I’m thinking here, in particular, of death contemplation. That’s right, one of the most reliable methods for overcoming that low-grade, annoying neurosis is to contemplate the very fact that we will die.
Buddhist traditions, in particular, encourage us to reflect on our mortality and to accept it. The bottom line is this: Full story...
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