How to Train a Wild Elephant_ And Other Adventures in Mindfulness - Jan Chozen Bays [54]
We become so busy with the many activities of daily life that it is easy to put off the most essential human task. In some religions that vital task is described as becoming one with God or becoming like Christ. In Buddhism it is called becoming awakened. We have some understanding of how important our spiritual practice is, but somehow it gets pushed aside by the many other things we must do to stay fed, clothed, sheltered, raise children, and so on.
Some people procrastinate because they opt for what gives immediate pleasure and takes little effort, such as going to a movie instead of finishing a term paper. They ignore the unpleasant consequences that will inevitably occur in the future. Others procrastinate because of aversion. They feel tense and overwhelmed at the thought of beginning a task and do not realize that putting it off only leads to more anxiety. Many good projects never get started or are never finished because of fear of failure or criticism once the project manifests. Some people avoid doing a job by escaping into daydreams or into alcohol-induced forgetfulness.
Procrastination is by definition counterproductive. It often brings about the very thing we are trying to avoid, suffering. The essence of mindfulness practice is to stop running away. We stop, turn around, and walk straight toward what we have been trying to avoid. We put it at the top of our “to do” list and tackle it first thing in the morning, before procrastination-mind wakes up.
One evening I visited a woman who was dying in middle age, from cancer. She had been a respected scholar, translating ancient Chinese texts about Buddhism. Now she was a skeleton covered in skin, lying in a huge white bed. She had only a few days to live. After we talked and I was preparing to leave she said wistfully, “I always thought I’d get around to actually practicing meditation later. Now there is no later.” Recalling her words often helps me to sort out what is important and not procrastinate.
Final Words: If you were given a week to live, what would be the most important thing for you to do or say? Don’t put it off.
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Your Tongue
The Exercise: For one week, while eating or drinking, become aware of your tongue. When you notice your mind wandering during a meal, return it to awareness of your tongue. It helps to ask questions such as, “What is my tongue doing or feeling right now?” Become aware of the changing experiences of temperature, texture, flavor, and spiciness. Where does it sense various flavors most acutely? How is your tongue moving?
REMINDING YOURSELF
Post images of a tongue in places where you eat.
DISCOVERIES
If you have difficulty watching what your tongue does, it helps to curtail its movements on purpose, and then resume eating very slowly and see what happens. Is it possible for you to sip a drink, take in a bite of food, chew, or swallow without the help of your tongue? People find that if they stop their tongue from moving and try to chew, chewing becomes a useless up-and-down chomping movement of the teeth. The tongue is a busy little being. It is almost never at rest. It helps us a lot during meals, with chewing, swallowing, tasting, and cleaning up. It darts quickly in and out of our teeth, mixing, moving, and dividing up the food evenly on both sides. It acts like a small janitor, probing with its sensitive tip into the corners of the mouth for leftover little bits of food, checking to see if the teeth are clean.
The tongue detects flavors, including the basic tastes of sweet, salty, sour, and bitter. Recent research shows that the tongue also senses umami (protein or savory) flavor, calcium, fat, minty-cool,