Apr 9 (edited) • Program Q&A
Questions from Labeling
asked these questions in a chat, but given they are not personal and others might benefit, so I am reposting and speaking to them here.
He asks: I was under the impression during the meditation to notice that when we label something it takes us out of being present in the moment. As if to say, "Oh, this is this anger," and then to stop looking at it. So, I take from the lesson that labeling takes us out of the present, but the Two Arrows chapter speaks to how labeling helps us to ease anxiety. So, I'm unsure what to do with labeling.
Lastly, I'm sure you've seen the list of foreign words that describe emotions that Americans have but don't have a word in English. I always find it a relief to know that my emotion that I don't have a word for is so universal that at least the Japanese have a word for it. Wabi-sabi, the experience of finding beauty in imperfection. That labeling seems helpful, but I can see that it ends the exploration of the moment once you have a label for it.
I think these are really insightful questions, and I have a few thoughts: The idea of labeling is not to take you out of the present but to allow you to step back in. If I am in a state of unrecognized anger, or despair, or fear, for example, then I am not present. Why? Because almost always, nothing happens in the current reality that would match that experience. Mainly in the current reality, I am alive, breathing, safe, whatever - the experience of fear (or whatever) is a function of some perceived future threat - I am living in that threat and not in the present. Labeling the experience I am having as something, giving it a name, creates a separation - I am not angry, I have anger. There is a me beyond the experience, a "me" that is actually experiencing something. It's a way to uncollapse what's happening from what I am saying about it. Oh, that's anger over there. I am over here. In the present.
That also lowers stress and anxiety. Living in the present, in the moment, is almost always not stressful - there si so rarely anything stressful happening in the moment. There are peak moments of stressful things but mostly our lives are doing the dishes, cooking meals, going to and from work, boring boring boring. Or beautiful, beautiful, beautiful if you'd rather. Of course, you are welcome to have all that be stressful, but you can't do it by living in the present.
Then there is the issue of language, which is my favorite thing. Language is the whole ball of wax tbh. So yes, the language you and I share will not cover every experience the way some other languages do for those that speak them. I suppose their languages won't cover some experiences as well as ours does on occasion. Be that as it may, just see what word you have available in the moment that comes closest to capturing the experience in the language you feel most comfortable. It's not the important bit. The important bit is that you notice how it lives for you is very much a function of what you are saying. Said another way, all the suffering is a function of the second arrow, and the second arrow is all that you say (and you say it in the language of your choice).
0
0 comments
Questions from Labeling
skool.com/living-a-grateful-life-1910
The home of Living a Grateful Life in a Fcked Up World mindfulness meditation course. A place where all your resources, videos, links, etc. will live.
Powered by