The World of Mister Zen

"You don't think thoughts, thoughts think you." This is a statement I like to share with people that is often met with a look of utter confusion. I will do my best to illustrate what, exactly, I mean when i say this. Without conducting any kind of poll on the matter my assumption is that nine out of ten people (okay, ten out of ten) - if you stopped them on the street - would tell you that they are the thinker of their thoughts. Of course! Who else is thinking my thoughts? Their MINE aren't they? I must admit for a long time I too was under the illusion that I was the author of my thoughts. Only when I began to take note of what was going on in my head that a few things began to appear crystal clear to me. Here's the way I see it. Bear with me as I try to communicate this in the best way I know how. Let's look at this  - Firstly, and most obviously, how do 'you' think? I mean, do you know how to do it, to stop it, to have only 'good thoughts'?

In the past few months, I have been approached more and more by people curious about meditation. Often, they call me to one side and quietly ask, “what’s it all about?” Lately, buzzwords like mindfulness and promises of tranquility and increased calmness, stress relief or better mood  have caught the attention of many people who may not ever have given a second thought to such things. In that sense, it’s a good thing that word is getting out. However, it seems to me that (much in the same way we are fine-tuned to seek quick fixes and a direct hotline to nirvana) people have a tendency to assume that meditation is a bed of roses. There are many misconceptions about the ‘point’ of meditation and the ‘results’ it may deliver.  When I started meditating, my understanding was that it would help me in my ongoing quest to escape the pains of life, or give me much needed go-faster stripes in order to outrun the many demons on my trail. I, too, fell victim to the mind&#

 I like to share this story with people in order to illustrate the extent to which our pre-conditioned, destructive beliefs manifest themselves as habits in our lives. Many of our experiences as children leave mental footprints. Those footprints take the shape of assumptions or beliefs that we carry on into our adult lives. The acting out of these beliefs, which is often quite unconscious, shapes our relationships with others and our own sense of who we are. When I was about 7 or 8 years old, my parents got divorced. At that time, it was not quite as common to have estranged parents as it is nowadays. I didn't realize it but I had a strong sense that, somehow, I might have been responsible for the break-up. I recognize now the absurdity of such a belief but at the time I was quite unaware that I had assumed responsibility for an event that had absolutely nothing to do with me or my actions. My mother left my father (for a number of complex reasons far beyond the comp