Wise Heart Way

not fixed

I'm behind on my Wise Heart reading, but even farther behind on my posting here. Miss Racing Thoughts is always challenged to make action catch up to intention. So I am backtracking a bit  to Chapter 4, The Colorings of Consciousness and the practice: Recognizing Mental States.

As the Wise Hearts know, I've been doing group therapy for a little over a year now. The term "therapy" rankles me. "Therapy" connotes something negative, something that needs to be "fixed." I have always been the person who needs to be "fixed" -- in my own mind, and in the minds of my significant others. No wonder I  always dragged around a feeling of heaviness and suffered a low-grade depression.  Now I look at my drive to understand myself in a different and more positive way. And -- glory be -- Buddhist psychology supports me. 

With hope & love to a few brilliant friends...

Playwright John Patrick Shanley opens Doubt, A Parable with Father Flynn telling his congregation “Doubt can be a bond as powerful and sustaining as certainty. When you are lost, you are not alone.” Perhaps if I’d heard this sermon preached in my church when I was howling to God for help, and heard only silence, I’d still be attending. Ah, but my doubts and questions indicated I was “yee of little faith” and the answer to my dilemma was “read the Bible” and “take care of Skip.” Since then, I’ve discovered that in that silence lies hope and healing.

In Chapter 3, Father Flynn is instructing his players on how to shoot a foul shot. The dialogue speaks beautifully to Lez’s comments. “…at the foul line it’s you against yourself. And the danger is you start to think. When you think, you stop breathing. Your body locks up. So you have to remember to relax. Take a breath, unlock your knees. Come up with a routine, concentrate on the routine, and you’ll forget to get tensed up.” Great advice!