The Answer Lies Within

It is time to be with the cow.

You may recall a blog back in the eons of time in which I told the story of how my teacher sent me to spend the day in a field with a cow. It was a long and a hot day , filled with many one sided conversations. During which I spoke in animated ways with the cows who gazed at me with lovely doe eyes and simply chewed the cud with the resigned patience of someone who has been given charge of a mad human to look after.

The bottom line was that when my teacher returned he required me to explain what the cow had taught me. My learning from the day was that while I was rushing around the field attempting to understanding something, anything, the cow was happy to ‘be’. To simply be a cow.

Later, in meditation practise it occurred to me that cow had it right. To be content in the moment in the now with no concern in what had been or what would be is now one of my own goals in my meditation. Learning to be, rather than needing to do, is now my guiding principle.

My daily meditation is my oasis of being in the busy world of my doing.

I am privileged to enter other people’s worlds, discover who they are and where possible help them find who it is that they would really like to be and change their lives. I love all that I do, though there is one downside. It can be easy no matter how skilled a therapist becomes at avoiding it, to load up with other peoples stuff, their stories, feelings and pictures. In short, if I spend the day working with people that have been abused I can feel like I am back in the grips of abuse. The same is true when working with depressions or anxiety, OCD or bereavement.

In the confused sea of other people’s emotions the sane place to go is the still place deep within, and for me that means meditation. So later today I am off to meditate. Ten days of silent meditation in a Vipassana boot camp. But this time I do not need to rush around worrying about who I am. These days I have become the cow. I have learnt to sit and become the observer of me and to enjoy the days when no body wants anything, I have nothing what so ever to do but spend sometime simply being.

Then I will come back, with my internal cupboard emptied and do what I love best, work with other people.

So have a think, how do you clear your emotional cupboard when it is full?

Take care

Sean x

Picture credited to 7304736-cow-eating-grass-on-mountain-pasture.jpg

By Sean

My name is Sean Orford. I am a therapist based in the UK, working for a variety of public and private organisations. I am also a speaker, writer and published author. I hope you enjoy my weekly blog. If you'd like to know more then please do get in touch.

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