Stickiness of Moods

Stickiness of moods is possible only where Sattva, the clear quality of mind, is absent, and where an alert presence isn’t maintained. Moods tend to come on gradually, one neurotic thought at a time. This means that the moment of power is when I recognize that I’ve had a neurotic thought, in that specific session. Consider this mental sequence:

• Feeling high

• Great thoughts

• One mild neurotic thought shows up, perhaps related to self worth or fear of some specific event unfolding in a certain manner in the future

• The feeling becomes more muted, and there is a feeling of stress mixed in with the feeling of pleasantness

• The single thought of stress multiplies into multiple thoughts of stress

• A narrative shows up related to one or another of these thoughts, and it is an old narrative, a very old narrative

• The old narrative leads to more thoughts of stress, fear, and anger

• The power of the neurotic narrative becomes just a little bit stronger

What I have noticed is that when I become regular and steady in my yoga (which includes meditation), I find that it is much easier to find the alert awareness that is required to recognize that I have strayed into neurotic territory mentally. This is something to consider.

Since I know for a fact that simply doing frequent short sessions of meditation leads to much better forays into mindfulness, and the agile, workable mind that is excellent at getting things done, shows up, I want to figure out whether this is something that I can repeat on a much larger scale. This doesn’t simply mean that I end up making many more short forays into mindful territory. It doesn’t simply mean that I end up making longer forays into mindful territory but at the same frequency. It could be a mix of the two. Moreover, simple Shamatha practice isn’t all that can be done in short, frequent sessions. Practice of the four immeasurables (maitri(loving-kindness), karuna(compassion), mudita(sympathetic joy) and upeksha(equanimity)) can also be done in this manner. 

Mingyur Rinpoche mentions how a deliberate sitting practice is very beneficial, and the short and frequent aspect of it appears to be the best way to learn here as well. This is likely to be true for the cultivation of skillful means as well.  The Buddha is clear that everything that exists, exists because of causes and conditions. Since such does appear to be the case, based on my own first person experience, wisdom dictates that I address the causes and conditions, instead of worrying about the symptoms and results which emerge from such causes and conditions.