For the last few weeks as I have been experiencing my own stress related to this election, I’ve been experimenting with practices in an attempt to find quick, easy ways to release my attachment to whatever unhappy thoughts I might be thinking, and return to my center. For a while I worked with Loving Kindness Practice and while it worked, I found it to be cumbersome to do at times on the fly. Shifting to Gratitude Practice, I found it easier to move into during day to day life, but at times it seemed it was not challenging enough for my mind to shift over and really engage with it deeply enough to have an effect.
Then last Saturday, after James Comey’s...putrid fart...my mind was quite disturbed; however when I was doing morning yoga I noticed with each gust of wind leaves would rain gently down from the trees, and watching that made thought stop. It seemed like I was watching a video haiku and that gave me the idea to try working with haiku. So I wrote a haiku about watching the leaves fall, and that was enough of a challenge to engage my mind and turn it away from toxic thinking. Then throughout the day, when I noticed toxic thought had returned, I went back to the haiku. Remembering the haiku was enough of a challenge to draw my mind away, and engage my senses with the memory of the falling leaves which inspired the haiku. Haiku has the advantage of being short enough to remember, however it takes enough effort to dredge it up from memory to engage one’s mind.
So for the remainder of the campaign season, I’ve been writing a haiku every day and returning to it as needed through the day. And it has been just right. I am not an expert at Haiku, by any means. I challenged myself to make every syllable work, and to use language that draws one into the senses to bring attention away from the mind. Some days I was more successful with that than others. And some days I would edit the Haiku long into the day...more practice! :-) In addition to my own practice, I’ve been sharing the Haikus on Facebook each day, with the thought that if reading it might stop someone else from thinking toxic thoughts for a few seconds at least once a day it was worth doing. Below you will find some of the results of my creative practice; perhaps you might want to give Haiku Mind Training a shot yourself. :-)
Well, this is frustrating. In the course of adding the photo and moving it around I’ve lost the formatting for the haikus a second time. I’ve re-written the post once. I’m just going to add the returns, but if the first time is any indication, they still are going to appear wonky.
Breezy, leaves drift down
Autumn reverie follows
Sail away, thought stops
Plip! Plop! Raindrops fall
Wet tires swish on rainy street
Autumn drizzles on
Sun lit vibrant trees
Nippy air assaults bare skin
Clouds scud through blue sky
Leaden skies press down
Stillness lies like wet blanket
Whisper, rains approach
Moon hides behind clouds
Thunder rolls in inky sky
Soft rain kisses earth