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DO YOU WANT TO live in bliss? Then don't
get uptight. Uptight is a perfect word for the opposite of calm
serenity. That's just what it feels like. When you're not deeply
calm, you have a feeling of seizing up. Clenching. Contracting.
Let's add a new word to the English language:
downloose — the opposite of uptight. And we have
several effective ways to get downloose:
1. Meditate
2. Relax tensing muscles
3. Take deep breaths
4. Think more relaxed
If you have been aiming at bliss, but it
seems unattainable, aim for being downloose instead. If you aimed
at a deep and abiding feeling of calmness or downlooseness, you
would do a lot better. And you'd probably experience more bliss,
because you know things you can do to get downloose, to
produce calmness. But you don't really know how to create bliss.
It is like the ultimate calm. A far-off distant dream. But deep
calm you can do right now. You can become calmer in this moment.
You can move more calmly. Breathe deeper. Relax tensing muscles.
Say a prayer. Repeat a mantra. Think about something differently.
If you did any of these, you would feel calmer.
Downloose is just a clearer, more concrete
thing to aim at.
Keep the primary purpose simply feeling
deeply calm. Aim all your activities in that direction. Some
activities, like writing, do not interfere with tranquillity,
but some do. And sometimes it's the way you go about an
activity that agitates. Pay attention and keep changing what
leads away from calm.
I felt disturbed today and things seemed
to go badly and I didn't know why. I gave it some thought tonight
and realized that speaking without thinking does not lead to
bliss. Or even to deep calm. It was a good insight.
I got the insight because I remembered
that calmness is my goal.
What did I do that took away the calm?
What did I do that disturbed the feeling of downloose, that made
me feel uptight? Good questions. The questions made it very easy
to see something I never would have thought of. I changed my
values with that insight. I have never valued silence, but now
I see how the breaking of silence directly disturbs the calm.
Read more about that
here.
Aiming for bliss or enlightenment is to
vague and too big of a step to contemplate from the foot of the
mountain. Aim to be less uptight at first. More downloose. Simply
aim for calmness. It sends you in the right direction, and perhaps
you can aim for better things from higher up the mountain. For
now, keep it simple and attainable, and you'll keep your motivation
to put in the effort. At least, that's what I think.
Aim for calm. |
