Filling in the Full Picture
My grandchildren love a book called “Tiger, Tiger, Is It True?” Based on the work of Byron Katie, this beautifully illustrated little masterpiece helps Tiger, who is having a rotten day, understand that most of his misery is caused by his thoughts about his situation, rather than the situation itself. Turtle helps Tiger sort through his strong feelings and mostly not true thoughts through a practice of asking the question, “Is this thought true?” Can you prove it? Are you sure? What if it weren’t true - can you find examples when your thought was not true? It feels to me like a mindful practice.
Mindfulness and meditation are not equivalents; they are more like kissing cousins. Mindfulness presumes that most of us are only partially self-aware and limited by our fixations. Like Tiger Tiger, our compulsive ways of thinking and seeing the world often cause more suffering than is necessary. Ironic, right? Our compulsions are often ways we are trying to avoid discomfort, but they are actually increasing it.
“Mindfulness means seeing how things are, directly and immediately seeing for oneself that which is present and true. It has a quality of fullness and impeccability to it, a bringing of our whole heart and mind, our full attention to each moment.”*
Tiger Tiger was upset by his parents’ fighting, getting picked last at recess for a team sport, and his best friend choosing to play with someone else after school. A thorough examination of his feelings about these events reminded Tiger that his parents did fight AND they loved him bunches. He did get picked last, but his friends were still happy to have him on their team. His best friend did play with someone else, but he always saved him a seat on the bus, played games together, and loved to jam in a band with him.
How are we like Tiger? What are we missing as we focus on small pieces of information? Tiger needed more than xanax, he needed a bigger lens with which to see his world.
I have stilled and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with its mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me.
Psalm 131:2
In stillness and quiet, what is God’s spirit whispering to you today?
*Goldstein, J., & Kornfield, J. (1987) Seeking the heart of wisdom: The path of insight meditation. Boston: Shambhala, 62.
