Perhaps one of life’s greatest challenges is realising the full potential of your own mind, a limitless territory that we rarely give ourselves the time to explore. And when I speak of realising it’s potential, I am not talking about the measurable or tangible successes to be gained from it, but the ability to delve inside your own head and say ah-ha! so this is what happens up here. Recently I have felt - despite all the commotion occuring in the world - that I have been lucky to have this time to root around inside my mind. An opportunity to see myself in a different light.
The majority of us take for granted that we know exactly who we are and thus rarely ask ourselves some fundamental questions. For example, I could tell you my name, age and birthplace without a second thought. Yet if I were asked to describe the complexity of how I feel in any given moment I wouldn’t know how to start. Most of us barely have enough emotional intelligence to stop ourselves from willingly jumping into destructive thought spirals (myself included). The words we are given to describe emotions and feelings - such as happiness, sadness and anger - are used so broadly that they are almost redundant. How are we meant to explore the multitudes of these emotional territories without even having the vocabulary to name them? I believe that words will never be able to encompass the range of feelings that humans have. However, what we humans do have is the ability to familiarise ourselves with them, by simply observing how they function - how they come, and more importantly how they go.
At this point I’m sure most of you think you know what this article is building up to...and in a sense you are probably right. I am here to add to the plethora of articles that praise the benefits of meditation and mindfulness. Many probably read those two words and sigh at the amount of times they’ve seen them plastered over the internet in these past few years. Perhaps you have even tried yourself and become frustrated with its lack of benefits. Really, what it boils down to is the ability to see through the fog of thoughts and feelings and simply BE. Easy right?...
From here I could go on to tell you how, much like the Buddha himself, I have become enlightened and am free from the chains of petty human emotions- but that would be a big fat LIE. At first I didn't see any benefits at all and still I err on the side of impatience. However, I eventually realised I was so focused on the results that I stopped myself from seeing the benefits of the process. In taking the time to simply breathe and be with myself, I have realised how little I actually know myself, and paradoxically by realising this I have been able to get to know myself a lot better.
As I mentioned before words can be very limiting, not only in terms of describing emotions but in how we identify ourselves. Most of us will tell ourselves certain “truths”, “My name is Tara and I am THIS” and in doing so we also assert what we are not. I am NOT an artist, nor a scientist, nor a musician. Such assertions become so entrenched that we convince ourselves they are facts. But if you take a step back and peek into the inner-workings of your mind you will see there are no fixed truths nor fixed states. Through taking the time to observe my mind (without judgement) I have been able to glimpse at the boundlessness of the self that I once thought was fixed.
Cast yourselves back to those early years, how present you were in every game you played and how when playing there were no limits because you didn’t play with a result in mind but simply to enjoy the process of playing. By allowing yourself to return to this childlike state you will be able to explore a creative potential that you may not even realise you have - in this past week alone I have been a poet, a painter and a playwright! ...(although still not a master of emotions).
With this article my intention is not to preach about the benefits of meditation (as beneficial as it is) but to get you to question how well you really know yourself. Perhaps you can use this period of isolation to take a step back, break out of your identity box and explore your full potential.
Written by Tara Watson