Easwaran describes the mind as a crowded train station in this week’s essay from Climbing the Blue Mountain. Our thoughts are the passengers, often hitching rides and forcing unscheduled stops.
“Goodwill has a ticket. Compassion, forgiveness, love, wisdom, are all qualified travelers with lifetime passes. But ill will, jealousy, impatience, greed, and resentment have no tickets. They should never be allowed on our trains.”
Fortunately, “Meditation functions much like a ticket inspector, polite but very firm.” This week let’s read the first half of this essay, pages 81–86,* where Easwaran sets the scene and assures us we too can learn to perform this tremendous feat of traffic control.
Identify something in your life that you find confusing at this time, and where you wish you could ask Easwaran for his tips. See what he has to say in our readings. How can you apply his words to your situation?
We have been making a second pass through our putting others first exercises and looking for ways to deepen them, for example by practicing more consistently or via a bit of extra effort or preparation. Here’s our exercise this week:
When you are feeling negative, tired, bored, sad, or anxious, try this easy fix-it. Do something for someone else. For instance, make some soup to share with a neighbor; do an errand for your partner; play a board game with the kids; call a lonely friend. Notice for yourself how quickly your own state of mind changes. Tell us how it goes!
* For those using electronic versions of Climbing the Blue Mountain with different page numbering: this week we are reading from the start of the chapter “The Ticket Inspector” and ending with “…you can learn to do it too.”
