Don't Run To The Hills

Last week during the State of the Union, President Obama delivered a funny line. He said to his fellow Democrats, who've been feeling embattled, "Don't run to the hills." Take a stand and deal with difficult circumstances, rather than attempting to hide and duck for cover, hoping to avoid what the moment may really need from us.

The other day, one of my friends who told they've been "tired" a lot more, sleeping at unusual times, because of stress. Another friend told me of how he heard "precisely" what he didn't want to hear and shut down emotionally from his peers. Someone else I know spends endless hours shopping, because it helps them to "feel better." Other people that I know are undercut by various forms of addiction. All the distraction and avoidance is a type of running to the hills, rather than turning to face and meet the issue head on. From my personal experience, this can be the result of tremendous fear and anxiety.

Through the process of zazen, sitting to unify mind, the truth I came to is that each of us have something... some unfavorable circumstance... some issue... some thing... that we would rather avoid. Through examining mind, I wasn't able to see anyone who didn't have some serious challenge. We can feel so out of our depth, that sometimes, running to our emotional or psychological hills is the only things that seems to make sense, to our survival instincts. It's often counter-intuitive to turn and fight our dragons... tigers... problems... hardships...

One of the many benefits of engaging in Zen practice over a long period of time is that we can gain a hand-hold or foot-hold within our own heart-mind and being. Rather than being over-run and consumed by the storms within our life, we have the ability to move to the eye of the hurricane or tornado and regain our balance and perhaps even move in a way with the unfavorable moments, so that we don't feel hurt... injured... wounded... destroyed...

Zen... Unifying the heart-mind is easy... but not simple. It does require a certain determination... not to give up, abandon ourselves or be driven our by fear and anxiety. It does call for a capacity for self-honesty, openness, hope and the steady application, rather than escape into our fantasy worlds. In this way, rather than running for the hills, we learn.. learn... learn... to stay present with the moment and meet our circumstances as best we can.

May Your Life Go Well,

Jaye Seiho Morris, Curator
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