How to Train a Wild Elephant_ And Other Adventures in Mindfulness - Jan Chozen Bays [17]
Listening is an excellent way to disengage from the endless ruminations of the anxious mind. As soon as you find your mind spinning in a squirrel cage of its own making, stop and listen to the music of the room. When you are frazzled after spending an entire day on your computer, step outside, open your awareness out into the darkness, and listen to the music of the evening.
There is a famous koan about sound. A koan is a question for opening the mind into a direct experience of deeper reality. The eminent Japanese Zen master Hakuin assigned his students the koan, “What is the sound of one hand?” It has become trivialized in modern times (and incorrectly repeated as “What is the sound of one hand clapping?”), but when it is taken on with all earnestness, it can open the mind into profound listening.
Reduce this koan to its essence, “What is the sound?” or just “Sound?” When your mind has wandered away down its endless twisting corridors, let this question bring it back to here and now.
Final Words: Even in what is called silence there is sound. To hear such subtle sound, the mind must be very quiet.
10
Every Time the Phone Rings
The Exercise: Each time you hear a telephone ring, chime, or buzz, stop what you are doing and take three mindful breaths to settle the mind before answering. (If you are a receptionist, you may need to shorten this to one or two breaths. The point is to pause and take at least one deep, cleansing breath before answering the call of the bell.)
If you get very few calls a day on your telephone, set an alarm to ring several times a day, using a long but unusual interval, such as every fifty-three minutes. When the alarm rings, stop and breathe.
REMINDING YOURSELF
Put a colored sticker, or a little note that says “Breathe,” on your phone in a place that you will notice every time you pick it up or flip it open to respond to a call.
DISCOVERIES
We were inspired to try this practice when a large group of students of the Vietnamese Zen monk Thich Nhat Hanh came to our monastery to do a retreat. They have a strong practice of observing mindfulness bells, which are rung at unpredictable intervals throughout the day. Whenever a bell sounded, a wave of silence swept over the room. It didn’t matter what people were doing—teaching a class, engaging in conversation, running the dishwasher, serving food—each person stopped talking and stopped moving for the count of three breaths.
Each time a bell rang, all the humming of people’s activity just stopped. You could feel the energy in the room settle and reestablish itself in a place of more stability and presence. One person noticed, “I saw two people having an intense discussion when the mindfulness bell rang. They stopped mid-sentence, their faces visibly softened, and then they smiled at each other.”
Most people automatically reach for the phone when it rings, answering it as soon as possible. It is difficult at first to interrupt this habit, to pause and breathe. Taking a few mindful breaths when the telephone rings is a very practical and useful new habit to cultivate, especially if your job requires you to talk to difficult people, people who are carrying a big load of mental or emotional pain and who want to off-load some of it onto you. It helps you encounter each client, customer, or patient with a clear mind and open heart. A receptionist said, “I’m learning to wait until the third ring of the telephone. It’s an opportunity to stop what I’m thinking or doing and compose myself. I practice emptying my mind so that I can give full attention to the person who’s calling.”
An emergency-room nurse said, “I’m used to working fast and continuously. I resented the mindfulness bell at first. I was weeding in the greenhouse,