{"id":42,"date":"2010-10-01T18:46:03","date_gmt":"2010-10-01T18:46:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/mindfulnessmatters\/2010\/10\/we-are-metaphors.html"},"modified":"2010-10-01T18:46:03","modified_gmt":"2010-10-01T18:46:03","slug":"we-are-metaphors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/2010\/10\/we-are-metaphors.html","title":{"rendered":"We Are Poetry"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

The psychotherapist Connelly turned to William Carlos Williams to elucidate the “poetry” of living. Williams said, “The underlying meaning of all [our patients] want to tell us
\nan have always failed to communicate is the poem, the poem which their lives
\nare being lived to realize”<\/p>\n

The philosopher Suzanne Langer reminds us that a “Poem has the capacity to bring about a moment of
\nintense awareness of many feelings, paradoxical, yet confluent.”  <\/p>\n

Poetry is often used in teaching mindfulness and there are many poems that make the rounds in mndfulness teaching circles. Wonderful poems, by Mary Oliver, Rainer Maria Rilke, Derek Walcott, Wislava Symborska, Rumi, and many others.<\/p>\n

One of m favorite discoveries is a poem by W. S. Merwin entitled “One of the Butterflies” This poem captures the core of the Buddha’s teaching — how we create anguish for ourselves through our relationship to desire.<\/p>\n

Merwin says:<\/p>\n

\n

The
\ntrouble with pleasure is the timing<\/span><\/p>\n

\"butterfly.jpg\"<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

it
\ncan overtake me without warning<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n

and
\nbe gone before I know it is here<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n

it
\ncan stand facing me unrecognized <\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n

while
\nI am remembering somewhere else<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n

in
\nanother age or someone not seen <\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n

for
\nyears and never to be seen again <\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n

in
\nthis world and it seems that I cherish<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n

only
\nnow a joy I was not aware of <\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n

when
\nit was here although it remains<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n

out
\nof reach and will not be caught or named<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n

or
\ncalled back and if I could make it stay<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n

as
\nI want to it would turn into pain<\/span><\/p>\n

(from The Shadow of Sirius<\/a>)<\/span><\/p>\n


<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

When we are not being mindful, we are reaching missing our joys because our minds are preoccupied with some memory or some anticipation. We can our entire lives in anticipation and memory, the now abstracted into a story.<\/span><\/font><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n


<\/span><\/font><\/span><\/font><\/div>\n
When we cultivate mindfulness, especially through mindfulness meditation, we train ourselves to linger in experience before transforming it into memory where we attempt to hold onto to it. Life becomes a stream of experience and in that stream there is only joy, sadness, and beauty. There is no anguish or pain until we start to think about these experiences. <\/span><\/font><\/span><\/font><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/font><\/span><\/font><\/div>\n
Merwin captures the Four Noble Truths. There is pain and its self-inflicted. What Merwin only implies is the way beyond this self-imposed anguish. And that way includes mindfulness as a central practice. <\/span><\/font><\/span>
<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/div>\n

<\/span><\/font><\/span><\/font><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The psychotherapist Connelly turned to William Carlos Williams to elucidate the “poetry” of living. Williams said, “The underlying meaning of all [our patients] want to tell us an have always failed to communicate is the poem, the poem which their lives are being lived to realize” The philosopher Suzanne Langer reminds us that a “Poem has…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":268,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,7,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-buddha-101","category-metaphors-for-mindfulness","category-poetry"],"yoast_head":"\nWe Are Poetry - 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\/2010\/10\/we-are-metaphors.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"We Are Poetry - Mindfulness Matters\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The psychotherapist Connelly turned to William Carlos Williams to elucidate the “poetry” of living. 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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\/42","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=42"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}