Inner Work

For the week of: August 27, 2007

Inner Occupations

What is it that occupies your mind and heart? What plans and dreams, worries and concerns, hopes and fears take center stage and drive your inner life? Noticing what goes on in you at random moments during the day reveals some truth about your recurrent inner patterns and situation. It also shows the preoccupations that fill the mental/emotional space that you could otherwise use for your practice of presence.

Many of our cares and concerns are necessary, such those regarding our responsibilities in this life. But many others are fleeting and froth that steal our inner resources and give nothing useful in return. This is not to say that we can stop our useless thoughts. We cannot. But we can turn them to account by having them remind us of our ongoing opportunity for practice.

Let’s say you frequently indulge escapist daydreams of what you would do after winning the lottery or getting that promotion. Or say you have a mild or temporary obsession with some person, with what they did or did not do. The inner resources, the time and energy that fall into such useless, but perhaps enjoyable, daydreams and obsessions serve nothing, wasting a piece of your life. If instead, you notice those daydreams and obsessive thoughts and take them as your cue to turn toward sensing your body, toward being present, that same time and energy, rather than vanishing, would feed your soul and thereby help us all.

When you notice your inner themes of fantasy or worry, you have a choice and it does matter. Will you forgo unnecessary inner occupations in favor of perfecting your eternal soul? Or not?

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