The Story

I've been thinking a lot about story lines I say that cause stress. Maybe this blog should be on my psychology blog, but I think this isn't incompatable with Buddhism. I think it's through meditation that I have gained insight into my stories as stories. Of course stories can be more pragmatic or skillful. We have to tell stories. I'd even go so far as to say I'm a story junkie--after a day of listening to people, I go home and read a book or watch some TV for more stories.

One story line I've dropped is "I can't handle the heat." One I'm conscious of is, "I don't take the holiday season well." December has historically be my least favorite month--the pressure I put on myself to give presents, my own laziness and overwhelmedness contributes. One person said to me that maybe I'm just selfish. OK, so I'm selfish and this holiday season of giving confronts that. My patients seem to think I'm generous. My sons do and don't, my girlfriend does and doesn't. One story line is that I'm a self only child. That's another story I have to work on.

So the holiday season presents challenging stories and demands, and I'm looking into it to see what's useful, what's not, and see if I can root out the negative stories.

Now that sounds like modern psychology, but I think Buddhism is all about the mind, and working with it, with a specific goal in mind.