"YOU KEEP ME HANGING ON"

"YOU KEEP ME HANGING ON"

Sometimes the issue is our automatic tendency to hang onto what we find pleasant. This can also create more suffering.

I love tennis. I loved it so much in the past that I would play it as often as I could. Even into my middle fifties, I would play summer tennis in the morning, afternoon and sometimes even in the evenings on weekends. I was a good player and love everything about the game. For me, tennis fully engages my body and my mind. It is a life long habit. However, I did not practice mindfulness.

If someone phoned me to play tennis I would go even if I were tired or sore. I would not listen to my body. I found tennis so pleasant, that I would put everything else on hold in order to play one more time.

Well, one summer my knees gave out. To me it happened all of a sudden, but in retrospect I can see I had not been practicing mindfulness in this area of my life. One knee required surgery. Because of the surgery I did not play tennis with my guy friends for over a year. I also can no longer run which was my second love to tennis.

When we seek to hang onto to what we like, we can do ourselves damage and lose something precious.

Can we live our lives mindful of what is pleasant, but not try to hang onto it. Can we let it have its place but not let it take over. WHEN WE CLING TO WHAT IS PLEASANT, IT INCREASES SUFFERING. The present moment comes and goes. Can we be with this moment breath-by-breath, observing and letting go, observing and letting be?