Submitted by Irene Javors, LMHC
“There are many ways to discuss ego, but in essence… … it is the experience of never being present. There is a deep seated tendency, it’s almost a compulsion, to distract ourselves, even when we’re not feeling uncomfortable. Everybody feels a little bit of an itch all the time. There’s a background hum of edginess, boredom, restlessness.”
From Taking The Leap: Freeing Ourselves from Old Habits and Fears by Pema Chodron, Shambhala Press. 2009, p.17.
How well I know these feelings! I am in the middle of something and then my monkey mind takes me somewhere else, making shopping lists or going over all the things I haven’t done or I just zone out. Remembering that where you are is exactly where you need to be – such an easy thought, so difficult to live.
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1 Comment until now
Liked the quote.
I find that it’s quite a demanding discipline to give someone my undivided attention. There are so many competing demands from other work, the e-mail that’s just arrived, or what’s on the screen that it’s hard to shut them out. One of the ways I focus is to use what I call “the 2 question” method. I make sure that I ask two questions in a row and that the second question picks up on what the other person has just said in reply to the first. It takes mindfulness. The second question should show that you have really understood the first answer and allow the conversation to stay focused on the other person.
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