Dear Friends,
In her book, Happiness is an Inside Job, Sylvia Boorstein discusses a difficult scenario and different possible reactions one might have in that scenario.
I’ve adapted her example below…
Scenario: You walk out of your apartment and notice all the tires on your car have been stolen. You’re so upset you…
a) walk to the nearest mall and buy those pajamas you’ve been coveting
b) go to the building manager and give him a piece of your mind about the building security
c) feel exhausted and go back to bed
d) worry about what else might go wrong
e) blame yourself
… and after that, you call the police…
Which one of those five might reflect your initial inclination (although not necessarily what you would actually do…)?
In Sylvia’s story, each of the reactions corresponds to one of the five hindrances:
a) desire
b) aversion
c) sloth and torpor
d) restlessness (which often manifests as fretting or worrying)
e) doubt (which may be linked to insecurity and self-blame)
Sylvia says we have each of those habitual patterns, but people may find one of the patterns might be more predominant for them than others.
If you want to read more (without getting Sylvia’s book), here’s a link PDF from the Shambhala Sun magazine that has a version of the story:
https://www.lionsroar.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/SS-128-NOV-14_42-47-Boorstein.pdf
As with any difficulty in practice, we can bring RAIN to any hindrances we encounter. So today, you might want to play with the “recognize” part of that equation. When you come up against an obstacle, you can check: what’s your pattern in that moment?
We’ll investigate the hindrances some more in the next few emails!
With best wishes,
Andrea G