Stasis on Demand.

I breathe in,

I breathe out,

Only I can liberate "me",

I return to myself to be free.

I scribbled out this note/poem in the fire truck today during one of the many occasions in which I was fortunate enough to be stuck in traffic on a miraculously beautiful day. This note exists in stark contrast when I reflect upon my ways of thinking as a teenager. At some point as a teenager I felt it incumbent to over complicate life. This trend persisted into my early 20s and surely these tendencies are reanimated even these days from time to time. I can recall days spent recklessly engaging in whatever philosophical resource that was made available and sparring with Tony in a friendly and challenging way.

Tony and I would address a belief, tear it down, reconstruct it to gain perspective, and ultimately decide it wasn't likely a very important subject anyway. Many times Tony and I were cynical, occasionally obsessive, but nearly always goofy. To this day I am still goofy, and Tony is too, but I find solace in simplicity whereas my past self thrived upon complexity.

Complexity was a novelty, in hindsight, because I became so entrenched in my cerebral ways that I began having trouble comprehending the very simple and beautiful aspects of life: sun peaking through the clouds, dew-coated morning lawns, a stranger on a bicycle, the relief of a cold drink of water. No more. Ever since my engagement with Buddhism I've found it easier and easier to retreat to the present moment. Thich Nhat Hanh had written in one of his many Buddhist works, 'Birds are chirping outside. I hear you bird. I hear you talking to me. I am here [in the present].' He called this a mindfulness cue.

For those unfamiliar: Buddhism is rooted firmly in the present moment. Moments spent dwelling on the past or fearing for the future are wasted moments, as the only significant moment that ever happened is the present one. Truly, it does no good to allow your mind to exist elsewhere. So often we are seeking refuge in a distraction: the internet, the TV, a video game, our smart phones. I am very guilty of this. Mindfulness cues allows me to break this cyclical behavior. Though I have been indoctrinated by consumer culture and the technological ephemera ever-present, I have the ability to rescue myself from these time traps.

When I observe myself becoming sad, depressed, down, or in a funk, I can usually trace it back to a relinquishment of good, nurturing habits and an acquisition of poor habits. Perhaps I put down my books and pick up the video game controller. Or I stop running or cycling and begin languishing in the vacuous internet void. And then I remain consistently poor with my habits. Sadness takes the reigns and I am perplexed as to why. Luckily as I have aged, I've become much more adept at recognizing when bad habits are surfacing and I buffer them out with good habits. This usually begins with realigning my thoughts with the present. I do so by observing my breathing, feeling the ambient temperature of what ever environment I may be in, feeling the texture of my clothing fabric resting against my body, feeling the warmth of my beating heart. After I have inventoried all of these systems, I continue to feel that heart-warmth, and often find a smile, which seems effortless and native, curling at my lips.

This has been a very powerful tool. It is stasis on demand, and it has guided me through treacherous moments on the job as well as the perils of the mundane when I am not at work. Perhaps it may benefit others as well. You do not have to be Buddhist to enjoy the philosophical advances it has yielded to humankind. Contrarily, many Buddhists would tell you that Buddhism is not a religion in the first place - and it certainly doesn't require membership tin order to employ the lessons it teaches!

I breathe in,

I breathe out,

Only I can liberate "me",

I return to myself to be free.

Reflect deeply upon the words, and you may find relevance within them as well.

Emotional Thrust, Mindful Vector.

The resounding theme thus far in "The Genius of the Beast" by Howard Bloom is that our economy, to this point, has been driven by emotion. This is not likely to change, unless there is a profound change in human tendencies in the future. That isn't to sound fatalistic, but up until this moment, mankind has been shaped by emotion more than any other sentient function. We are not doomed by emotion, however. As a matter of fact, we are very much at the wheel of our own emotions and therefore we can actually shape our lives.

I will provide an example: you are a well regarded and powerful citizen residing in a city which has just increased the millage rate for the services it provides to the public. Many people do not like having new changes (especially financially sapping ones) imposed upon them without consent, and so you have arrived at a conclusion about this issue: anger. If this emotion is not held in check and re-evaluated, it may not be long before you are engaging your colleagues in long, grating tirades about the dubious nature of this tax increase. Inevitably you will strike the chords of some colleagues and then they, too, may share your disdain for the situation. Do you see where this leads? A single-mindedness of a collective people, for one. That is a shame, considering we are all reared into existence with the necessary tools to think for ourselves.

When you apply the above scenario over the course of months and years, the implications can become tumultuous. In baseball, once a minor league prospect is branded with the title of "poor work ethic, bad attitude" it tends to linger around for a very long time. Once this powerful emotion has been broadcast about that respective player's work ethic and attitude, it can be a difficult stigma to shake. It is unsurprising to me that this has occurred even within the objectified realm of economics and in particular, the stock market. The stock market rises and falls with the collective confidence and timidity of the buying masses - a financial and objective realm conquered by the slippery nature of emotion.

Emotion has also lead us into some very high country, however. Consider landing on the moon's surface, or the construction of vast, elaborate monuments. These are ventures which were fueled by positive emotion.

As stated, we are not powerless versus the forces of emotion. We have within us the very powerful ability of regulating and tempering our reactions. Though much of this plays into ego (another post for another day), we can at any time live as the person we fancy ourselves to be in an idealistic sense. This is very hopeful, because if you can maintain the frame of reference of this 'idealized you' in every moment then there will be virtually no difference between you and that person! We are truly the gate keepers of our emotions and therefore all of the ensuing actions following that initial, visceral emotional response. In order to gain lucidity within the emotional universe we must realize that we control the emotional thrust of our engines with some form of vector. For those who are truly focused and in the zone, it may be that we have achieved a heightened sense of mindful vector. In this state, we can calmly and collectively guide our emotional responses and seek truth and understanding before committing to a particular action. But if our vector is impulsive, it will not be very long before the initial, visceral emotional response is manifest as a powerful and communicative action.

Below is Plutchik's wheel of emotion. Robert Plutchik created this wheel in 1980 which consists of 8 basic emotions and 8 advanced emotions (each composed of two basic emotions). I believe when this chart is viewed with the context of emotional thrust, mindful vector in mind, it is easy to see how a manageable situation can spiral out of control, almost innocently.

Plutchik Wheel

A large amount of vigilance is required to maintain control of our emotional reactions. I do not implore that we become emotionless robots - far from it. I believe we can achieve a greater sense of balance and happiness by employing deliberation and neutrality when considering our emotions on a matter. Some of the very best creations forged by human hands were a result of the rapid application of emotion into reality. It is also true that some of our best artistic, literary and musical efforts have been achieved through a very careful application of emotion.

This can be a retroactive application as well. When considering your emotional responses to various matters, look at your emotional responses in years past: have you changed as a person since then? Do you feel the same about certain topics as you did 10 years ago? If you do feel the same, is this a good thing, or a bad thing, or both? (Or neither?!) This form of evaluation is helpful, so long as the present moment is not abandoned.

From this day forward things can be different: on a personal level and on a very large scale. Emotions create actions which create awareness which creates a movement which ultimately creates relative triumph or victory. Our emotions and the careful application of them can guide the collective human race and the planet it inhabits into better times - though I believe we must act sooner rather than later, and that is not just my emotions speaking.