{"id":1382,"date":"2011-06-06T08:23:27","date_gmt":"2011-06-06T12:23:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/mindfulnessmatters\/?p=1382"},"modified":"2011-06-06T08:23:27","modified_gmt":"2011-06-06T12:23:27","slug":"metaphor-monday-catch-and-release-a-variation-on-a-classic-metaphor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/2011\/06\/metaphor-monday-catch-and-release-a-variation-on-a-classic-metaphor.html","title":{"rendered":"Metaphor Monday: Catch and Release: A Variation on a Classic Metaphor"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The Buddha urged us not to get hooked by greed, desire, aversion, and so forth. Don’t be taken in and away by the temptations of transient things (or confusing them to be anything but transient). The fisher’s hook provides an apt metaphor. The fish gets tricked into thinking the lure is something that it is not. Our fundamental misapprehension of the nature of reality makes us just like the fish — biting into something that is not what it appears to be.<\/p>\n

Mindfulness practice offers a variation on this classic metaphor. When we practice, we will get hooked, no doubt. If you’ve attempted praciting this will come as no surprise. If you haven’t tried it yet, don’t expect to stay off that hook for long. Fantasies about the future, whether pleasant or unpleasant, commentary about what’s happening now — the littany of “I like” and “I don’t like”–, and review of the past will all be frequent visitors to practice. Follow any of these and you’re on the hook.<\/p>\n

Mindfulness practice is the practice of catch and release. When you find yourself on the hook, gently remove the hook from your mouth and throw yourself back into the waters of now. These waters may be calm or turbulent. And it doesn’t matter. Each time you find yourself on the hook, remove it and go back into the water. Don’t be surprised if you have to spend some time flopping on the deck of the boat. As long as you get back in the water that’s what is important.<\/p>\n

As you practice you can anticipate the hooks — see that they are lures that take you to places you don’t want to go. Perhaps you can avoid them once in a while. The more you practice, too, the easier it will be to extricate yourself from the hooks. “Oh, I’m on that hook again; no big deal, I’ll just take it out of my mouth; the water of now is waiting for me without judgment (perhaps I can aver self-judgment for being on this silly hook again.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Buddha urged us not to get hooked by greed, desire, aversion, and so forth. Don’t be taken in and away by the temptations of transient things (or confusing them to be anything but transient). The fisher’s hook provides an apt metaphor. The fish gets tricked into thinking the lure is something that it is…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":268,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,7,8,9],"tags":[39,106,172,79],"class_list":["post-1382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-buddha-101","category-metaphors-for-mindfulness","category-mindful-living","category-mindfulnesss","tag-buddha","tag-metaphors-for-mindfulness-2","tag-now","tag-present-moment-living"],"yoast_head":"\nMetaphor Monday: Catch and Release: A Variation on a Classic Metaphor - Mindfulness Matters<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/2011\/06\/metaphor-monday-catch-and-release-a-variation-on-a-classic-metaphor.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Metaphor Monday: Catch and Release: A Variation on a Classic Metaphor - Mindfulness Matters\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Buddha urged us not to get hooked by greed, desire, aversion, and so forth. 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Dr. Kozak's ability to translate ancient healing traditions into pragmatic applications suitable for modern lifestyles through the use of metaphors have made him a strong voice in healthcare and business. Beginning with a journey to India in the 80\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s where he took the Bodhisattva vows from His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Arnie Dr. Kozak began his lifelong practice in mindfulness meditation. Intent on finding a way to bring the practical healing attributes of mindfulness he began incorporating these techniques in his private practice. In 2002 Dr. Kozak created Exquisite Mind in Burlington, Vermont as a vehicle that could expand his wisdom to larger audiences beyond individual psychotherapy to professionals and corporations, health care providers, public groups and, most recently with Exquisite Mind Golf, amateur and professional golfers. His award-winning new book, Wild Chickens and Petty Tyrants: 108 Metaphors for Mindfulness (Wisdom Publications, 2009) is a thoughtful, funny, and inspiring translation of mindfulness practice through the inventive use of metaphor applicable to our daily lives. In addition to his work with Exquisite Mind, Arnie Kozak, Ph.D., Licensed Psychologist\u00e2\u20ac\u201dDoctorate has been a Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Vermont and is a Clinical Instructor in Psychiatry and Medicine, University of Vermont College of Medicine. He has studied and practiced clinical psychology, meditation, and yoga for more than 25 years. He has studied with several meditation masters, including S. N. Goenka, Larry Rosenberg, Gurumayi Chidvilasananda, and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. After receiving his bachelors degree with honors from Tufts University, he was awarded a Presidential Fellowship to get his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University at Buffalo. He completed his training as a Psychological Fellow at the Harvard Medical School. Prior to founding the Exquisite Mind in 2002, Arnie worked ten years in the private sector for the PKC Corporation consulting on mental health content for this revolutionary software company.","sameAs":["http:\/\/exquisitemind.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/author\/akozak"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1382","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/268"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1382"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1382\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1386,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1382\/revisions\/1386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}