For me, J.D. Salinger was a bit of a Zen Master. In one of his few and wonderful pieces — Franny and Zooey, Zooey is engaging with his sister Franny. She is having a crisis, a spiritual breakdown. She is obsessed and in terrible anguish.
Zooey asks, “Why are you breaking down, incidentally? I mean if you’re able to go into a collapse with all your might, why can’t you use the same energy to stay well and busy?”
In meditation, we practice stopping. Merely sitting stops our multi-tasking and rush, rush, rushing. We develop the ability to pause during anxious, stressful times. We begin using our compassionate observational skills. We find that the more we pause, the more choices we have.
The next moment you find yourself going into a collapse with all your might, consider your perspective. Could you shift it to practice mindfulness or compassion with all your might?
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