Benefits of Ridding Life of the Weight of Doubt

Cutting our doubts with regard to the ground brings conviction of the view.
Preserving this without distraction is the essence of meditation.
Skillfully enacting the meaning of meditation in everything is the supreme conduct.
May we gain certainty in the view, meditation, and conduct.

~ Rangjung Dorje, the Third Karmapa,
from his Song of Mahamudra (trans. by Rosemarie Fuchs)

When we suspend our disbelief and have no doubts that we will be able to survive, our focus on any aspect of life can be enhanced. Meditating on this aspect without the weight of these doubts brings enormous clarity in our vision which assists in the final outcome of our decisions.

Nearly everyone does this to some degree everyday. For instance, when someone does not concern themselves with the stability of the floor of a building, focus on what we are attempting to accomplish in the building is made easier. If in every step we had to question if it was safe or not, it would become quite difficult to achieve our objectives.

Expanding this way of thinking to the rest of our lives can yield amazing clarity in making active decisions that are founded in true foresight, knowledge and wisdom.

Foresight comes from the added focus gained from less distractions in our surroundings and the ability to see what is ahead instead of what is behind or beneath ourselves. Knowledge is gained in a much similar manner. When the mind is expending energy on worries regarding something that is either a constant or something that is out of one's control, it becomes much more likely that knowledge can be gained. With more mental capacity available for the task, any useful wisdom from past experiences can be found more easily and utilized in the decision-making process.

Ridding ourselves of the weight that doubt imposes on our life can be a releasing and amazingly moving experience, as it increases our capacity to receive necessary input, utilizes previous knowledge, and engages wisdom in making critical decisions.

And you can Quote me on that. The Quotable Queer

Progress as a Cycle, Not a Straight Line

There are times in life when making steps backward in progress are both necessary and supportive in making permanent the worthwhile steps forward. Many may feel shame, guilt and disappointment in these moments of regression. Successful dealing with these emotional outcomes of backward steps are at the core of making permanent the past and future progress in our lives.

It is part of the progress and forward, upward movement to have moments where we take steps back. Three steps forward, two steps back. Five steps forward, six steps back. There is no mathematical equation to make sense of this cycle of progress. The only sense to be found is in the inner and natural turmoil that is co-created with both steps forward and steps backward.

I’m sure many of us can acknowledge the consequences of moving through situations at too fast of pace. We might be able to reach our goals and objectives quickly, but the foundation upon which those very goals and objectives rest is quite fragile. Due to that fragility, major events or a series of minor events in quick succession will make the reaching of those goals and objectives only temporary and not sustainable in the real world.

It’s similar to the poor construction of a building along an active fault line. It could stand easily for quite sometime, but when an earthquake does in fact occur, the poor construction falls apart quite quickly. To build a solid foundation, a solid structure to the building will allow it to stand stronger, longer and withstand many more earthquakes before a re-construction is required.

When the inevitable steps backward happen, many times we burden ourselves with unintentional new obstacles to overcome like feelings of shame, guilt and disappointment over momentary failure.

One of the most critical aspects of shame is secrecy. By the very act of making regressive actions and behavior a secret, shame is automatically attached. Why else would there be a need to make these situations secret? In the time of critical need for outside support, we limit ourselves through keeping secrets from those that can offer the support we need. How can we receive outside support if no one really knows what is happening to us both internally and externally?

This reminds me of the scandal involving the Mayor of the District of Columbia, Marion Barry, being arrested for using crack. By accepting his use of crack and accepting his subsequent arrest for crack, he ultimately regained the seat of Mayor. If he had drowned himself in the shame that often accompanies crack use, he would have never been able to focus himself successfully at being re-elected as Mayor of D.C.

The guilt and disappointment that are also felt when we misstep in life can quite literally make moving forward impossible to attain. There should be no guilt or disappointment for the natural course of events. All people make mistakes, make poor decisions and to compound those very mistakes and decisions with the weight of guilt makes moving forward again quite difficult.

Through acceptance of our mistakes and our decisions, we empower the self that we are truly the one that is in charge of our life and that we do have the power to make great change, both positive and negative, in our life. Concentrating on learning from our mistakes and the power of decision-making instead of the alternative of feeling guilt about what we have done frees us to immediately make decisions based on our personal experience to create positive change.

Living life fully is definitely a cycle of moving forward and backward towards our objectives and goals. Acceptance of this natural order of true progress will yield a much more positive, fulfilling and stronger set of ultimate outcomes than the alternatives that living life in shame and guilt offers.

And you can Quote me on that. The Quotable Queer